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Phew, you gave me ease of mind, since in central WA, it's going to get down to 25 soon. We had lots of warm days a couple weeks ago, and I was worried the underground system might freeze. But, this all makes sense, as it would take a looooong time of below 20-25 degree temps to freeze my system.
Back in Feb we dropped to 6 degrees overnight, I tool a soil temps 18 inches down near the source of our lawn water and it measured 51 degrees! Under our irrigation control panel in the lawn 6-9 inches down it read 38-39. One day for sure I'll get too trustworthy of the integrity of my system but yeah, I rarely worry about below ground stuff freezing. The above ground spickets and hoses and valves etc are a different story though. 😅 they will freeze overnight if it gets to 31! Lol
Here in Northern AZ, our coldest weather comes in January. Average high of 53, average low of 28. It’s my first winter with a lawn, and my neighbor said his cold season grass grows all year long. So I’m guessing I don’t need to winterize?
What is the frost line in your specific area? Are your pipes below that? The sprinkler heads are easy to replace, so if the pipes are fine, I would only worry about the backflow preventer.
@@juzoli frost line says 3-12” but I’ve never seen our ground actually freeze. Pipes are at 12” deep. Soil temperature was 48 yesterday at sunrise, and 62 by the afternoon (2” deep). We are at 5,000 feet so the sun warms the soil quickly during the day.
@@JohnConrad The official frost line is usually the very maximum of how deep the freeze can get. They build building structures based on that after all, where the base cannot be frozen not even occasionally. So I believe it should be valid even for the coldest parts of the ground, which gets zero sunlight during the winter, so the worst case scenario. The average freeze depth is like half of that. So if the official frost line is 12”, and your pipes are at 12” where it gets some sunlight, you should be fine. But you might doublecheck it with your building department.
Hey there, I live in OK where last week it went down to the teens for three days. Before that it was in the high 70s during the day. Well, my stupid self turned on the system when it was warm out and forgot to turn it off so had a morning where it was in the teens my system ran. I came outside and saw the frozen lawn. Since all of my pipes are underground and the backflow is also inside by the water heater....do you think my pipes are going to be ok? I asked my builder about it and they said every zone has a self drain on the lowest sprinkler....I am hoping when it was on during the teen temp days(2-3 days last week) the water afterwards self drained and my pipes are alright...curious on your take.
I can never be sure so keep that in mind but everything is most likely just fine. I've run my sprinklers in temps below freezing too accidentally and the lawn looks crazy the next morning also I keep my irrigation system charged into December each year even though we regularly get overnight temps below freezing starting in Oct. This year I finally drained my irrigation in advance of our temps droping below 10 back in mid-Dec. Everyone's system is a little different and I could never be sure about yours but I'd bet everything is fine.
@@TurfMechanic Thanks for your reply, I just turned the black flow value on and heard the initial pressure sound and jolted it a little then the water pressure sound went away and I am not seeing any leaks in my garage yet....planning on turning on my system later this week. Our weather started today will be in the low to high 70s. Thanks again for your time in responding to my question.
Hi, In March 2021, I turned on the tap (in my basement) for my sprinklers. Before any water comes through any of the sprinklers (auto set the previous year), I saw water shooting out of my outside tap (backyard) so I immediately (within 5-10 mins from the moment I turned on) turned off the tap in my basement and left it at that through the whole season. I did not use the sprinklers for the whole season. Do I still need to do the sprinkler blow-out now (I mean this week)? Thank you so much! I am in Denver.
You're getting out of my league with that question. At 5k+ feet up and your temps dropping quickly you gotta jump on this. I'd recommend calling a local service provider for advise on this. Sorry for the somewhat not helpful response Yanni.
►►► Want to fix your lawn for the long haul but don't know where to start? I can help! Click here right now and get started today: turfmech.link/dont-know-where-to-start ◄◄◄
Phew, you gave me ease of mind, since in central WA, it's going to get down to 25 soon. We had lots of warm days a couple weeks ago, and I was worried the underground system might freeze. But, this all makes sense, as it would take a looooong time of below 20-25 degree temps to freeze my system.
Back in Feb we dropped to 6 degrees overnight, I tool a soil temps 18 inches down near the source of our lawn water and it measured 51 degrees! Under our irrigation control panel in the lawn 6-9 inches down it read 38-39. One day for sure I'll get too trustworthy of the integrity of my system but yeah, I rarely worry about below ground stuff freezing. The above ground spickets and hoses and valves etc are a different story though. 😅 they will freeze overnight if it gets to 31! Lol
could you just turn off the supply water and turn on the sprlinker untill the pressure is super low. wouldn't that be sufficient ?
My question too.
Here in Northern AZ, our coldest weather comes in January. Average high of 53, average low of 28. It’s my first winter with a lawn, and my neighbor said his cold season grass grows all year long. So I’m guessing I don’t need to winterize?
What is the frost line in your specific area? Are your pipes below that?
The sprinkler heads are easy to replace, so if the pipes are fine, I would only worry about the backflow preventer.
@@juzoli frost line says 3-12” but I’ve never seen our ground actually freeze. Pipes are at 12” deep. Soil temperature was 48 yesterday at sunrise, and 62 by the afternoon (2” deep). We are at 5,000 feet so the sun warms the soil quickly during the day.
@@JohnConrad The official frost line is usually the very maximum of how deep the freeze can get. They build building structures based on that after all, where the base cannot be frozen not even occasionally. So I believe it should be valid even for the coldest parts of the ground, which gets zero sunlight during the winter, so the worst case scenario. The average freeze depth is like half of that.
So if the official frost line is 12”, and your pipes are at 12” where it gets some sunlight, you should be fine.
But you might doublecheck it with your building department.
Hey there, I live in OK where last week it went down to the teens for three days. Before that it was in the high 70s during the day. Well, my stupid self turned on the system when it was warm out and forgot to turn it off so had a morning where it was in the teens my system ran. I came outside and saw the frozen lawn. Since all of my pipes are underground and the backflow is also inside by the water heater....do you think my pipes are going to be ok? I asked my builder about it and they said every zone has a self drain on the lowest sprinkler....I am hoping when it was on during the teen temp days(2-3 days last week) the water afterwards self drained and my pipes are alright...curious on your take.
I can never be sure so keep that in mind but everything is most likely just fine. I've run my sprinklers in temps below freezing too accidentally and the lawn looks crazy the next morning also I keep my irrigation system charged into December each year even though we regularly get overnight temps below freezing starting in Oct. This year I finally drained my irrigation in advance of our temps droping below 10 back in mid-Dec. Everyone's system is a little different and I could never be sure about yours but I'd bet everything is fine.
@@TurfMechanic Thanks for your reply, I just turned the black flow value on and heard the initial pressure sound and jolted it a little then the water pressure sound went away and I am not seeing any leaks in my garage yet....planning on turning on my system later this week. Our weather started today will be in the low to high 70s. Thanks again for your time in responding to my question.
@@Alex-ss4bk so what happened??
Hi, In March 2021, I turned on the tap (in my basement) for my sprinklers. Before any water comes through any of the sprinklers (auto set the previous year), I saw water shooting out of my outside tap (backyard) so I immediately (within 5-10 mins from the moment I turned on) turned off the tap in my basement and left it at that through the whole season. I did not use the sprinklers for the whole season. Do I still need to do the sprinkler blow-out now (I mean this week)? Thank you so much! I am in Denver.
You're getting out of my league with that question. At 5k+ feet up and your temps dropping quickly you gotta jump on this. I'd recommend calling a local service provider for advise on this. Sorry for the somewhat not helpful response Yanni.
What about water trapped in small irrigation hoses for garden beds, etc?