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Pet Safe Lawn Fertilizer
IRRIGATION &
LAWN SPRINKLER MAINTENANCE
Allowing
freezable fluids to become trapped inside a pressure vessel,
i.e. irrigation system or lawn sprinkler system valve, header etc., can result in damage to the
system when the fluid is allowed to freeze solid. To avoid
system damage, drain trapped water from your system.
Drip irrigation
systems usually have no moving parts other than the
valve in the timer. If you have a good clean source
of water and always use a 150 - mesh filter, your
drip irrigation system will require very little
maintenance.
Drips
Small
drips at the
pressure regulator (PR2) or
anti-syphon valve (V4) are normal and may be
ignored.
Flushing
Whenever
you add new tubing to a drip irrigation system, turn
on the water and flush the tubing before you install
drippers or sprayers. That way any dirt in the
tubing is washed out and cannot plug small openings
in drippers. If you take the care to make sure that
there are no dirt or plastic shavings in the system
tubing at installation, it will pay off big time by
reducing the time to troubleshoot and repair later.
At the end of the
summer, take the end stops off all tubing and flush
until the water runs clear. If you are using well
water that may have fine silt, try flushing each
month. If the flush water is clean, put off flushing
for two months. If the flush water is still clean,
flush only at the end of the season.
Filters
Use the
same procedure with all filters. Remove the filter
body and check the screen at the end of the first
week. If the screen is clean, check the filter each
month. If there is no dirt at the end of a month,
then you may only have to clean the filter once per
season.
Drippers
Once a
week, walk along your drip irrigation system when
it's on and look to make sure that water is flowing
at each dripper. If a dripper is not working,
replace it. If an entire section of the circuit is
not dripping, look for a kink in the mainline
tubing. It's simple to replace a section of tubing
by using two
barbed couplers (FB4) and a length of new
tubing.
Deposits
If you
have hard water, mineral deposits may eventually
form around the small openings of drippers and
dripline. The deposits only form when the surface
dries, so that if you place drippers or dripline
under mulch, you may keep the drippers damp enough
that they never really dry and the process is
slowed. Mineral deposits are removed by soaking in
vinegar or a comparable acid overnight, rinse and
dry.
Winter
Drain
all tubing before frost. Leave the tubing ends open
for a few days then close them again to keep insects
out. Water that remains in any hard plastic fittings
will expand when freezing and may break the fitting.
You may leave all tubing and fittings in place in
the garden over the winter as long as all water is
drained.
Take timers indoors
for the winter and remove the batteries. Use a fresh
set of batteries in the spring and they should last
the entire growing season.
Source:
Drip Irrigation Store |
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