'Tis the season

In the last two weeks we have had two good snowstorms that dropped around 12" total, accompanied with some pretty cold nights.  Prior to the 1st storm we drained down our bridge crossings where the irrigation mainlines hang underneath, exposed to the elements.  We have four bridge crossings that we isolate and drain during very cold weather to prevent ice from building up in the lines.  Three of the crossings happen to be on holes 5 and 6, so we isolate those holes from the rest of the irrigation system, the other crosses the wetlands on hole #13, which is also isolated/drain from the rest of the system. 

On Monday we began draining down and blowing out the outlying areas including the clubhouse and entrance areas.  The process of blowing out is pretty straight forward if you understand the layout of your system.  We connect a 185 compressor set at 70psi as close to the water source as possible blowing water out of the mainline first. 

Once the mainline is clear we run each electric valve until it blows only air, working away from the compressor until the majority of the water is clear.  We usually run through each zone a second time to be sure all of the water has passed through.  Blowout of the outlying areas typically takes about one day.  This year we had a little extra time, so we blew out the entire driving range, and area that typically receives the least irrigation this time of the year.      

 

We irrigate the entrance to Legacy Ridge parkway at 104th and 112th including some medians in between.  When the course was built in 1993, there were no homes around the course but the entrance areas had to be landscaped to facilitate the development of the neighborhood.  The majority of landscaped areas along "the parkway" are maintained by HOA contractors and irrigated with direct connections to the reclaimed system.  For whatever reason, the entrance areas remain connected to our system.      

We typically wait until a little later in the year to blowout the on-course irrigation, depending on the weather.  It's a double edge sword, if we blowout too early the weather can dry out and the need to pressure back up arises.  It's also possible to wait too long to blowout, the sprinklers can freeze and crack and blowout will no longer effectively remove water from the lines.