mid-April is the time to fire up the home sprinkler system
In a normal year, mid-April is the time to fire up the home sprinkler system. But this year, if you haven’t already, now is the time to turn it on.
You don’t have to hire a professional to do it. Do-it-yourselfers easily can turn on their system.
Here’s how to do it. And don’t forget to read how to quickly drain your system if a hard freeze is forecast to avoid damage to your system. The last average spring frost is mid-May.
Start it up
1. Close inlet and outlet BALL VALVES and both petcocks on your backflow prevention device.
2. Fully close the ½-inch BALL VALVE in your basement or crawlspace that should be partially opened to allow water to drain from the system to your floor drain when you blew the system out.
3. Slowly crack open the 1-inch brass ball valve, which is the main shutoff valve for your system, allowing the water to slowly fill the copper pipe to the 1-inch inlet valve on your backflow prevention device.
4. Once the line is completely filled, which you will know when you no longer hear the water running, open the main shutoff valve completely.
5. Go outside and open (quickly) the 1-inch brass inlet valve of the backflow device to about half open. Do not be alarmed if there is overflow water from the bell housing, round top of the backflow prevention device, for a few seconds. This is normal until the bonnet and poppet assembly seat and seal off the water.
6. Once the device is sealed, fully open the backflow prevention inlet valve. Check for leaks around the backflow assembly and valves.
7. Once the mainline of the sprinkler system is completely filled (you should stop hearing water running) fully open the 1-inch brass outlet valve all the way.
8. Walk around your yard to look for any signs of leaks indicated by bubbling water around heads or spongy grass surfaces around cracks in the line.
9. Once the line is completely pressurized, go to your controller and cycle through each zone, checking to see that all heads are running properly and that they are spraying the grass, not the concrete.
10. Set your control timer and you're ready to go.
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