Water Conservation

September is here, and that means one thing for us in this area - sprinkler blowouts! We service the Ft Collins / Loveland greater area. The cost is only $50 per system, regardless of the amount of zones you have. Most companies, and even "Man in a Van" businesses that do blowouts tend to charge by the zone. We do not nickel and dime customers. I try and build good relationships with my customers, and want their business (repairs and blowouts) for years to come. Most importantly - we will be around again next year. We have an extensive multi-year trend of 99%-100% successful blowouts. Meaning the following year 99% to 100% of customers turn on their systems in the spring and have NO problems or freeze damage. I personally have 17 years of experience, and in that time have gotten the blowout routine down to eliminate the possibility of freeze damage. When 3 Aces comes and does a blowout for you, a number of things will happen to ensure your system will be safe for the winter. Starting from inside your house, your drain will be left open all winter (any CAP or PLUG will be TAPED with colorful electrical tape nearby if taken off). The ball valve that closes the line to the sprinkler system may not seal completely, letting a slooooooow drip by that can fill up the pipe to the winter temps outside. This is not good. When the actual blowout happens, we will run through each zone from your controller - manually. We will pay attention while pushing air through each zone individually, and then we also cycle through things a second time, to help get any residual water trapped out and ensure for piece of mind we get as much water out of line as we can. Outside, the ball valves on your backflow assembly, and the small ball valves in the testcocks (the ones you need a screwdriver for) will be left at a half on / half off state all winter. If the ball valves outside during the winter are left in a full open or full closed state, water can (and most likely will) get into the "guts" of the ball valve and cause it to break. If you have a drain cap or plug installed outside, this will be taken off for the winter, and will be taped with colorful electrical tape nearby. With all of your zones blown out, ball valves outside put at a half on / half off state, necessary caps outside off, and the inside drain open over the winter, we have now created a situation where your sprinkler system is free of water, and it is factually not possible for freeze damage to occur. I very seriously put my business and my name on the line every winter, and it doesn't cause me to lose sleep. I know my customers will be A-OK come springtime. Additional things to be aware of concerning blowouts We will need the water to the sprinklers off, or access to turn it off. I have no problem if you do this yourself (it actually saves me time) just please take the drain cap off and store it safe or nearby. We will need access to your sprinkler controller, and we will need to run it manually. This is very important. A vast majority of controllers can be ran manually. Long time trusted brands like Rainbird and Hunter are fine. Rachio controllers are fine. Some of these controllers I'm seeing people are finding online though are not. If you are unsure, please get ahold of me and ask. We will not be running zones manually (from your in-ground valve box) nor do we run the system from a phone or app. We really need access to a controller that allows manual operation. Help if an unexpected freeze is coming Sometimes people don't have their systems blown out before the first freeze of the year. There is always going to be a chance of freeze damage if the temps drop below freezing. Don't panic though. Just do a few easy steps 1. Inside the house, turn off the water to the sprinklers, and open the drain valve on the line that goes outside. 2. With a screwdriver, go outside to your backflow assembly. Turn the valves with handles to a half on / half off state, and do the same to any other small valves you see with the screwdriver. 3. Go to your controller now and run a cycle manually. Following those easy steps should drain the water from the exposed pipes outside. These pipes are going to be the first to freeze, and the most important to drain. They are exposed to the cold. All of your individual zones are still full of water though. The system still needs to be blown out, but being deep in the ground will protect things until you can get a blowout completed.