This is the first time in almost 15 years, and from doing almost 10,000 sprinkler blowouts that we have been hit with such a storm putting a temporary halt on our blowouts. At this point, until some of the snow melts off the yards the sprinkler blowouts will be difficult to do. The snow is hard, and even with only being a few inches deep, sprinkler heads won't pop up properly to release the water they hold.
I removed several inches of snow off the cover of my own main valve and also my backflow box so I could at least turn off the water, open the drain, and open the pet cocks of my backflow as described in the post I wrote a few years ago. Good news is that the water in my backflow wasn't frozen which also means others that have their systems underground are probably safe as well. Snow is a good insulator, and the freeze level hasn't dropped enough to cause serious sprinkler system damage at this point.
The weather next week is going to be in the 30's in most areas around the Treasure Valley. We will be able to blow out sprinklers as long as the above freezing temperatures melts off a portion of the snow in your yards. Even then I do not recommend opening valves manually because if frozen they could be damaged. Finding the main shut-off in the snow is one thing, but trying to find valve boxes in the snow is a whole other problem in itself. The best solution is the timer. They could still be sluggish and hard to open even with the timer, but it is still the best option. That being said, we are going to need access to sprinkler timers when we resume. For us, no other option is available.
Tuesday, if weather permitting, We will be resuming our sprinkler blowouts. That being said, before the storm hit we had around 145 left to do of the 750 or so sprinkler blowouts we received, and since valves will be sluggish, we will not get as many finished in a day as we usually do. It is our estimation it will take 10-14 days to complete our remaining sprinkler blowouts.
I will post more instructions on this blog when we are ready to resume, and will also be emailing those remaining on our list. This will be our last post until that time. It is a suggestion that all customers click on the "Entries RSS" link on the right side of this blog and subscribe so when a post is made you will get a notification.