Irrigation systems have become very prevalent in residential and commercial landscape properties throughout the United States.
What Are Irrigation Systems?
Irrigation systems provide your landscaping and plants with scheduled watering that alleviates over-watering, time, and costs brought on by doing it by hand.
But your irrigation system also needs care and maintenance. Rotors, spray heads, tubing, filters, pumps, and lines all can become damaged. Mineral build up can clog the spray heads and filters need to be changed on a quarterly basis.
During the winter, your irrigation becomes unnecessary and needs to be turned off. But before you flip the switch, you must winterize the entire system to avoid costly damages.
Dos and Don’ts of Irrigation System Maintenance
Follow these steps to keep your irrigation system warm and happy during the winter months.
Do: Shut Off Water Supply
Your irrigation system has a main valve that brings the water in from either the city supply or a private well if you have one. This valve needs to be turned off to cut all supply of incoming water to your irrigation system. Once off, cover the valve with a protective wrap that will keep cold air from causing it to freeze and crack. Foam insulators or even a rag or old tee shirt wrapped around it will keep it from freezing.
Don’t: Leave Your Garden Hoses Outside
Be sure to empty and disconnect your hoses from your outdoor faucets in the winter. In addition, you should insulate your outdoor faucets and any exposed pipes.
Do:Drain The System
The most crucial part of winterizing your irrigation system maintenance is draining the system.
Why? Water stays in all the lines and pipe work of your irrigation even when it is not watering. Leaving this water in during the freezing winter months can cause your pipes and lines to freeze, expand, or crack and explode. The lines and pipes are buried in the ground so you cannot tell if and when this even happens.
When spring comes, damaged lines can cause your system to not run properly and fixing the problem entails blind digging to find the problem areas. This is a cost you definitely want to avoid.
Do:Turn Off The Controller
Irrigation systems are powered and run by a controller. This is where the scheduling, time, days, rain-sensor and other power components are held and managed. There is an “OFF” setting for all controllers which will deactivate any watering and keep the system permanently off until switched back on.
Irrigation systems are complicated and multi-faceted installations. For the best care and protection for your irrigation system, hire a professional landscape service to maintain it year-round.
Call Us for Proper Irrigation System Maintenance
A properly working irrigation system is an important part of keeping a healthy lawn. Not all sprinklers are made the same. It’s important to make sure your system is prepared properly in the winter to maintain a healthy lawn in the spring.
At Mansell Landscape Management, we will winterize your system and check to make sure your irrigation system is properly maintained. We are a full-service lawn care company located in Roswell, GA. With over 25 years in commercial and residential landscape services, the professional landscapers at Mansell Landscape can help you with all your landscaping maintenance needs. We provide metro Atlanta with quality and affordable lawn care services, including lawn maintenance, landscape maintenance, hardscaping services, residential lawn care, commercial lawn care, lawn treatment services, and much more.
Our experience in lawn care ranges from commercial lawn care to custom residential landscaping, to lawn care that improves property value. Our philosophy at Mansell Landscape Management is to combine the latest horticulture techniques with exceptional service to create guaranteed solutions.