Winterize Sprinkler Systems? (Houston, Sugar Land: renting, home, move)

[clhpam]

We just moved to Houston from Hawaii and are renting a home in Sugar Land. We received an email from the Property Management that we need to winterize our pipes and sprinkler system. How do we do that? I would assume it's more than just turning off the system? Do pipes freeze easily here?

[TheMoreYouKnow]

Originally Posted by clhpam

We just moved to Houston from Hawaii and are renting a home in Sugar Land. We received an email from the Property Management that we need to winterize our pipes and sprinkler system. How do we do that? I would assume it's more than just turning off the system? Do pipes freeze easily here?

You've got to blow them out with compressed air to remove the water from the lines.

[LonghornHotspur]

Originally Posted by clhpam

We just moved to Houston from Hawaii and are renting a home in Sugar Land. We received an email from the Property Management that we need to winterize our pipes and sprinkler system. How do we do that? I would assume it's more than just turning off the system? Do pipes freeze easily here?

Google winterize backflow preventer. Only worry about exposed pipes. You don't have to blow out the lines like up north, it never gets cold enough in the ground to freeze.

And disconnect any hoses from the bibs, those hold a bit of water and can freeze and crack

[travelguy_73]

We clear out the water from the backflow preventer (the bell-shaped thing next to your house), and you definitely want to do this if we are going to have a hard freeze. Not sure I have ever done it for a light freeze (just a few hours of freezing temps overnight).

[snackdog]

Do you clear it out before every forecast frost? Can be tricky since temps porpoise up and down here so can go from watering dry grass to a freeze pretty quickly.

[TheMoreYouKnow]

Originally Posted by snackdog

Do you clear it out before every forecast frost? Can be tricky since temps porpoise up and down here so can go from watering dry grass to a freeze pretty quickly.

People generally stop watering their lawn when things get cold enough to freeze down here, in addition it's been raining around here every day so watering the lawn isn't needed much.

[clhpam]

Thanks all for your feedback. So I found a backflow preventer next to the detached garage. I moved the switches (?) perpendicular to the pipes. The pipes were already wrapped. Do I do something with the dome on top or should it be good to go? Our property manager said it doesn't need to be blown out but to be sure the water is out of the pipes? How the heck do I do that? Or does turning off the switches at the pipes force the water out of the pipes?

[travelguy_73]

Originally Posted by clhpam

Thanks all for your feedback. So I found a backflow preventer next to the detached garage. I moved the switches (?) perpendicular to the pipes. The pipes were already wrapped. Do I do something with the dome on top or should it be good to go? Our property manager said it doesn't need to be blown out but to be sure the water is out of the pipes? How the heck do I do that? Or does turning off the switches at the pipes force the water out of the pipes?

Honestly, I would go on You Tube and watch videos of people clearing them out. I have to do that every single time because I can never remember what combination of screws to turn. All I know is if you leave water in the pipes during a hard freeze, the water will expand and you have a mess.

[LonghornHotspur]

Originally Posted by clhpam

Thanks all for your feedback. So I found a backflow preventer next to the detached garage. I moved the switches (?) perpendicular to the pipes. The pipes were already wrapped. Do I do something with the dome on top or should it be good to go? Our property manager said it doesn't need to be blown out but to be sure the water is out of the pipes? How the heck do I do that? Or does turning off the switches at the pipes force the water out of the pipes?

Turn off the one on the vertical. That stops the flow from the main.

Turn the two small pitcocks to release the water still under pressure and in the backflow. Close the pitcocks for when you turn back on in the spring.

Tap a few times on the top dome of the backflow to push the baffle down (and a bit of water out).

That should do it. You can also run your sprinkler on manual mode to get the remaining water out on the downstream side of the backflow.

Or just google/youtube it like many have suggested.

[snackdog]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ib1KC4xBAk8

Here is a good video specific to Houston