Winterization

Winterization

Every year in the fall, the ritual of irrigation "Blow Out" becomes priority for all systems where the frost level extends below the depth of installed piping. Water left in a system can freeze, expand and crack piping, fittings, valves and sprinkler heads. To minimize the risk of freeze damage and costly repairs, your system will need to be "winterized". Jetstream will perform this service for you every fall for a minimal service charge*. Access is necessary to the basement and to the garage. The easiest method is for the homeowner to be home when Jetstream arrives. If you can't be home at your scheduled appointment time to allow us access, here are a few alternatives.
  • Leave your door open and we will lock up when we finish.
  • Give a key to a neighbor for us to access your interior system.
  • Ask someone else to be in your home during the appointment time.
  • Perform Winterizing Prior to Jetstream's Arrival for completing interior steps of winterization process.
Still not comfortable with any of the above options and want to reschedule? Call us at 810.694.9315 and we will do our best to accommodate your needs. Please remember, we are working hard to get everyone's system winterized before a freeze occurs. 
Every year in the fall, the ritual of irrigation "Blow Out" becomes priority for all systems where the frost level extends below the depth of installed piping. Water left in a system can freeze, expand and crack piping, fittings, valves and sprinkler heads. To minimize the risk of freeze damage and costly repairs, your system will need to be "winterized". Jetstream will perform this service for you every fall for a minimal service charge*. Access is necessary to the basement and to the garage. The easiest method is for the homeowner to be home when Jetstream arrives. If you can't be home at your scheduled appointment time to allow us access, here are a few alternatives.
  • Leave your door open and we will lock up when we finish.
  • Give a key to a neighbor for us to access your interior system.
  • Ask someone else to be in your home during the appointment time.
  • Perform winterizing prior to Jetstream's arrival for completing interior steps of winterization process.
Still not comfortable with any of the above options and want to reschedule? Call us at 810-694-9315 and we will do our best to accommodate your needs. Please remember, we are working hard to get everyone's system winterized before a freeze occurs. 

Standard Winterization Information

Your lawn sprinkler system was prepared for winter by evacuating the water from the piping and heads by means of air pressure. At Jetstream, it is our desire for your sprinkler system to operate year after year with little or no problems. The following information will help to prevent an event that occurs occasionally in sprinkler systems.

Your system has a main shut off (either a gate valve or ball valve) most often located in your basement. The closing of this valve is one of the first things we do when rendering the “blow-out” service. If the valve were not closed, water would continually fill the system as quick as it is evacuated and freeze damage would occur. Occasionally, this valve is faulty and despite closing it, it leaks water through it at an extremely slow if not imperceptible rate. 

When this occurs with the sprinkler main shut off valve, water will leak back into your system and cause freeze damage. It may take a day or two or
more often, several weeks for this problem to even be noticed. Sometimes the problem is not even identified until the spring and by this time, freeze damage has occurred. Generally, the first thing you would notice is water dripping from your Pressure Vacuum Breaker (PVB), sometime after winterization. As a precaution, we leave the hose spigot on this apparatus open for this exact reason. If your main valve does leak, the water will eventually start to drip from this opening, rather than refilling your sprinkler pipes.

What should you do to minimize this possible problem?
  1. Make a 10 second inspection of your PVB about 5 then 14 days after we have winterized. Look for dripping water or ice build up.
  2. If water/ice is present, your main shut off valve is indeed faulty and will need repair or replacement…call us now to schedule this repair.
Do not be alarmed, this situation is not common, but with your help we can minimize serious problems resulting in costly repairs next spring. If you have any questions, please contact us. 
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Pump Winterization Information

Preparing your lawn sprinkler system for winter requires all the water in the pump, sprinkler piping and heads be evacuated by means of air pressure. At Jetstream, it is our desire for your sprinkler system to operate year after year with little or no problems. The following information will help to prevent problems that can occur in lake pump sprinkler systems.

When winterizing your system, great care is taken to evacuate all the water from your lake pump. When available, the lowest drain plug on your pump will be removed and all water in this unit will be blown out through this orifice. This drain plug is not reinstalled at this time, but taped on or near your pump for installation in the spring. Despite this and other winterizing measures, we have been finding an increasing number of problems with
pumps come spring. Some of these problems are:
  • Snow build-up and/or consistent moisture on the pump may cause the windings in the motor to rust and “freeze up” come spring.
  • Snow build-up and/or consistent moisture on the pump may cause the starter switch to freeze up also.
The easy solution would be to remove your pump each fall, store it inside for the winter and reinstall it in the spring. However, this is often not practical and can be costly and time consuming sometimes requiring nearly an hour to remove (each situation is unique) and perhaps two hours to reinstall. It is not our desire for you to incur this type of added cost each season, nor are we excited about the extra mechanical work with your pump.

What are some remedies? We offer two basic suggestions:
  1. Build (or have built) a “dog house” style enclosure for your pump. You can customize this structure to your liking, but make sure it either can be removed or has a removable roof for access and service. The enclosure must also be ventilated on two sides to eliminate overheating during hot summer months.
  2. Purchase from us or elsewhere a plastic type enclosure (looks like a boulder) The goal here is to protect your investment and insure continued operation of your sprinkler system, year after year with minimal service requirements. Call with questions! 
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