[denemante]

I have a Rainbird system. I've hunted for how-to winterize videos on Youtube, but it seems like everyone has a different configuration than me. My system came with the house, so I never really got an overview of my system.

It has a "main" valve in the ground out towards the street, which appears to be in line with my main water line coming to the house. It's in a 6 or 8 inch buried riser pipe with the round green plastic cover.

All the way out back by my patio, there are two more like this.

You look inside and there is a little valve and some capped wires. The one out front and one of the ones out back have the valves inside - the other out back just has the capped wire bundle.

So I have no idea what any of this is. I presume I need to blow out my system with my air compressor.

Also, I don't see any above-ground access points anywhere.

Where do I start?

 

[joecaption]

http://www.irrigationtutorials.com/winter.htm

 

[merle]

Best Idea is to call someone who installs and repairs irrigation systems. they will know how to winterize your system and they don't cost a lot. up here in Michigan it is $65.00 Your home compressor has the right pressure but you need a large volume of air to get the heads to pop up and blow out the water. Trust me it will be the best money you ever spent. He should also be able to show you where the connections are to hook up to.

 

[burnt03]

I have a Rainbird system. I've hunted for how-to winterize videos on Youtube, but it seems like everyone has a different configuration than me. My system came with the house, so I never really got an overview of my system.

It has a "main" valve in the ground out towards the street, which appears to be in line with my main water line coming to the house. It's in a 6 or 8 inch buried riser pipe with the round green plastic cover.

All the way out back by my patio, there are two more like this.

You look inside and there is a little valve and some capped wires. The one out front and one of the ones out back have the valves inside - the other out back just has the capped wire bundle.

So I have no idea what any of this is. I presume I need to blow out my system with my air compressor.

Also, I don't see any above-ground access points anywhere.

Where do I start?

Does the valve box out front have anything else in it? Typical installation around here is the stop and waste curbstop way underground, lines comes up to surface irrigation box where there's a ball valve, a tee with a hose bib on the short side of the tee, a backflow preventor and then into the system. In the winter, the curbstop is shut off, the water drains back through the waste hole. Then the ball valve is closed, compressor hooked to hose bib to pressurize system and run through the zones on the clock until it's only shooting out air.

If you have a picture of your main valve/valve box, might be able to help out more?