Freeze warning/irrigation

Should I mothball my irrigation before freeze warning?

  • Yes—system must be blown out to prevent water damage

    Votes: 4 80.0%

  • No—a few hours of 31 degree temps is fine

    Votes: 1 20.0%
  • Total voters
    5
  • Poll closed .
9ah-figlet

9ah-figlet

Well-known member
My area is under a freeze warning for Sunday night/Monday morning with temps rising to the 60-70s later in the week.


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If the freeze warning is only for 31 degrees for only a few hours, would you bother closing down the irrigation for the season? I feel like rolling the dice….
 
Thanks @"ktrain"#2 and @"Figgerlickinggood"#7

I shared your recommendation w/hubby and we’re going to wait for any forecast updates tomorrow before we make a final decision.
 
Nina,
I'm running my irrigation system with sprinklers over my young trees.  Since it's only one day of freezing with only a few hours of freezing, and with many nice days in the 10 day. I'm going to waste some water Sunday night/Monday morning. 
The 55 degree water out of the sprinklers will keep the barely freezing temps off the trees.
 
I am with.@Ktrain on this one. Why risk the system, it's likely to blow out the smaller lines.
 
A couple/few hours at 31 degrees air temp will not freeze anything hard.  Hard freezes are what breaks pipes.
The forecast temps are air temps not ground or solid matter. 
Rigid pipes are the first thing to worry about.  
Most people have very little rigid pipes in their systems, and for that little bit you may have, you could flow a small amount of water through it.  
You are probably familiar with letting a faucet drip to keep it from freezing in a home when it gets really cold. Same theory
 
Husband checked his two favorite weather apps which he says are more precise, and they say we aren't dropping below 40. We're not going to blow out the lines for tonight. I'll let you know if this was a good or bad idea tomorrow. ;)
 
What do you mean by "close it down"? At the end of the season I remove the 4 zone water timer and bring it in.... That's it. I've never even blown out the lines. I've never once had a problem. Every spring I put the timer back on and start it up without even flushing. I usually have to replace a couple of drippers but that's it. The quality of this stuff is so good now that moving and/or cleaning it out is more work than the couple of bits I need to replace once in a while.
 
I meant to remove the hoses from the timer, remove all the end caps and use a compressor to blow out the lines to remove any standing water. Then put the end caps back on (so they don’t get lost) and if it truly were the end of season, store the timer inside. We leave the whole system outside all winter.

We didn’t do anything last night, and we were fine. The fig leaves weren’t even frost damaged.

Is your irrigation buried where it might get more protection?

I just watched this video from DripDepot (where I bought my system) on how to winterize your irrigation system. Our yard is pretty flat so we’ve used an air compressor instead of gravity, but gravity certainly looks easier!

[video=youtube]
 
My irrigation sits right on the ground. I have the 1/2" supply running throughout the gardens and from them, 1/4" tubing up to the plants. No protection. I leave the caps and connectors on as well. In one spot I need to remove a section so I don't damage it shovelling snow. I disconnect the 1/2" line and tie a plastic bag over the end to keep debris from entering.

I'm sure it wouldn't hurt to blow the lines. One thing I have noticed is that they seem to be a bit longer every year. maybe stretching from water expansion...
 

Thanks @"TorontoJoe"#1 .
My husband will be happy to hear this (well, if I decide to tell him 😏). Who am I kidding? I’m honest to a fault.
 
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