[Shop-talk] Winterizing Sprinkler System

[Steven Trovato]

I am not sure if that is a good assumption.  A 
swimming pool is a closed system designed to 
operate at whatever pressure the pump 
produces.  A sprinkler system is designed to 
operate at the pressure of the water supply.  A 
sprinkler system may have hundreds of feet of 
tubing.  I used a shop vac to drain lines on a 
hot tub.  I can't imagine doing my whole sprinkler system that way.

I am certainly no authority on this.  I can just 
tell you what I did.  If I was going to do some 
more research, though, I would try to find 
something on how to winterize a sprinkler system, 
rather than a swimming pool.

-Steve


At 09:47 AM 11/8/2019, Scott Hall via Shop-talk wrote:
>Jim,
>
>I'm going to assume this is a similar thing to 
>winterizing a swimming pool. Â
>
>For pools, there are frequent warnings abounot 
>using a compressor to blow the lines, or to make 
>sure to keep the PSI below 20. Â
>
>It is frequently mentioned that a shop vac or 
>dedicated blower tool is preferred.  The 
>thought is that to remove the air high pressure 
>is not the goal (and that high pressure and 
>damage the PVC pipe and related fittings) but 
>rather high volume.  And that a shop vac is the better way to achieve that.Â
>
>At least that's what the internet said.Â
>
>I used my compressor, set to 15 psi.  I guess 
>we'll know in the spring how I did--it just hit 
>18 degrees here this morning. Â
>
>It sounds like your sprinkler system operates similarly. Â