It is easy to forget to have your irrigation system winterized. There are so many things going on with the school year moving along, holidays quickly approaching and busy work schedules to keep up with, the thought of winterizing your irrigation system is surely low on the list. However, when living in a cold environment winterizing your irrigation system is a must. Failing to winterize is one of the most common causes of irrigation system damage.
Irrigation Winterizing Benefits
- Financial Savings -Irrigation systems are a large and important investment for maintaining your property, so is protecting your investment. If a irrigation system is not winterized system pipes, valves and numerous other components can expand during cold temperatures causing these parts to crack and damage the system, which can lead to hundreds and sometimes even thousands of dollars in replacements and repairs. Removing your system of all water with a professional irrigation winterization is the only way to ensure that it will still be working properly when spring arrives.
- Protecting Your Tap Water – The backflow prevention device on most irrigation system is designed to prevent outdoor contaminants such as pesticides, animal and insect droppings and fertilizers from getting in to your homes water line. Usually these contaminants are often sucked into irrigation systems when the system is not running and sink into the ground, howver a backflow prevention device keeps these lines separate from your household water. The backflow prevention device is above ground and exposed to the elements if your system is not proerly maintained it can early become cracked of damaged. The backflow prevention device is one of the most expensive components of an irrigation system.
- Protect Your Property – When a irrigation system becomes damage, the repairing and replacement process can cause a variety of problems on a well maintained lawn and garden. Since irrigation systems run underground your lawn and garden will be dug up to do repairs on cracked pipes and other components that can be damaged from the cold. Having a delay in the spring to repair an irrigation system can also lead to an unhealthy lawn and tree damage when can lead to even more out of pocket costs for the home owner.
For these reason it is essential to ensure your irrigation system is ready for the cold water before the first big freeze. October is the ideal month to have a system winterized.