Irrigation Winterization: How and Why to Properly Shut Down Your Irrigation System Before It Gets Too Cold

With the approach of cold­er months, com­mer­cial and edu­ca­tion­al facil­i­ty man­agers must be cog­nizant of the unique needs of their land­scapes. As tem­per­a­tures drop, care for com­mer­cial irri­ga­tion sys­tems must rise. Many might think that irri­ga­tion sys­tems are ​“set and for­get” pieces of infra­struc­ture, but that’s far from the truth. Par­tic­u­lar­ly as win­ter looms, tak­ing steps to prop­er­ly shut down these sys­tems can save you sub­stan­tial amounts of mon­ey and stress. But you shouldn’t attempt to go it alone — a facil­i­ties man­age­ment ser­vice provider like The Budd Group can help keep your land­scape prop­er­ly win­ter­ized so that your facility’s occu­pants can enjoy the flo­ra for sea­sons to come. Here’s what to know about win­ter­i­za­tion support.

What to Know About Irri­ga­tion Winterization

The Impor­tance of Win­ter­iz­ing Your Irri­ga­tion System 

As the cold sea­son approach­es, ensur­ing your irri­ga­tion sys­tem is appro­pri­ate­ly win­ter­ized — before cold weath­er sets in — becomes crit­i­cal. For com­mer­cial and edu­ca­tion­al facil­i­ties, the land­scape plays a piv­otal role in cre­at­ing a wel­com­ing envi­ron­ment, and irri­ga­tion is at the heart of main­tain­ing that lush land­scape. Win­ter­iz­ing your irri­ga­tion sys­tem is much more than a rou­tine mea­sure; it’s a proac­tive strat­e­gy to safe­guard your invest­ment. By neglect­ing this vital step, man­agers risk fac­ing expen­sive equip­ment dam­ages, increased oper­a­tional costs, and a poten­tial­ly com­pro­mised landscape.

The sci­ence behind the need for win­ter­i­za­tion is straight­for­ward: when water freezes, it expands. When this expand­ing frozen water is con­fined with­in the pipes, valves, and sprin­kler heads of an irri­ga­tion sys­tem, it exerts immense pres­sure. This can lead to cracks, breaks, and oth­er types of dam­ages that not only pose imme­di­ate prob­lems but can also have long-term reper­cus­sions for the sys­tem’s effi­cien­cy and lifes­pan. With large facil­i­ties often hav­ing expan­sive land­scapes and cor­re­spond­ing­ly large irri­ga­tion sys­tems, the poten­tial for exten­sive dam­age and high repair costs can be daunting.

Fur­ther, a well-main­tained irri­ga­tion sys­tem is an indi­ca­tor of a facil­i­ty’s com­mit­ment to sus­tain­abil­i­ty and oper­a­tional excel­lence. Dam­ages to the sys­tem can lead to water wastage — a grave con­cern in today’s envi­ron­men­tal­ly con­scious world. For edu­ca­tion­al facil­i­ties, in par­tic­u­lar, this also presents a missed oppor­tu­ni­ty to lead by exam­ple for stu­dents and demon­strate the impor­tance of resource con­ser­va­tion. Put sim­ply, the act of win­ter­iz­ing isn’t just about pro­tect­ing equip­ment; it’s about uphold­ing an insti­tu­tion’s val­ues and reputation.

What Hap­pens When an Irri­ga­tion Sys­tem Is Not Winterized?

Ignor­ing the crit­i­cal task of win­ter­iz­ing an irri­ga­tion sys­tem can lead to a cas­cade of prob­lems, many of which man­i­fest when least expect­ed (and often at the most incon­ve­nient times). One of the most imme­di­ate con­cerns is the phys­i­cal dam­age to the sys­tem. Unat­tend­ed water in pipes and com­po­nents can freeze, expand, and rup­ture these ele­ments. Such break­ages not only dis­rupt the sys­tem’s func­tion­al­i­ty but also can result in flood­ing or leak­age, jeop­ar­diz­ing the health of the land­scape and caus­ing ero­sion or water­logged patches.

Beyond the vis­i­ble sur­face, the con­se­quences of a non-win­ter­ized sys­tem stretch to the very roots of the land­scape — lit­er­al­ly. Improp­er water dis­tri­b­u­tion, whether due to leaks or block­ages, can cause incon­sis­ten­cies in water­ing. Over­wa­tered zones might expe­ri­ence root rot, while under-watered areas can lead to plant stress, mak­ing them vul­ner­a­ble to dis­eases and pests. For com­mer­cial and edu­ca­tion­al facil­i­ties, where first impres­sions mat­ter, such incon­sis­ten­cies can result in an unat­trac­tive land­scape, reflect­ing poor­ly on the insti­tu­tion’s image.

Addi­tion­al­ly, the finan­cial ram­i­fi­ca­tions of an unpre­pared irri­ga­tion sys­tem in win­ter can be sig­nif­i­cant. Burst pipes and mal­func­tion­ing com­po­nents often require expen­sive irri­ga­tion repair or replace­ment. There’s also the height­ened water bill to con­sid­er from leaks or over-irri­ga­tion. For facil­i­ty man­agers oper­at­ing with­in tight bud­get con­straints, these unplanned expens­es can be a strain, divert­ing funds from oth­er essen­tial areas. The say­ing ​“a stitch in time saves nine” is par­tic­u­lar­ly apt here, empha­siz­ing that the costs of proac­tive win­ter­i­za­tion are minus­cule com­pared to the poten­tial repair and replace­ment expenses.

Meth­ods for Drain­ing and Shut­ting Down Your Facility’s Irri­ga­tion System

When it comes to win­ter­iz­ing an irri­ga­tion sys­tem, under­stand­ing the appro­pri­ate drain­ing method is para­mount. The pri­ma­ry goal is to ensure that no water remains with­in the sys­tem, as it’s this resid­ual water that pos­es the threat of freez­ing and con­se­quent dam­age. There are three pre­dom­i­nant meth­ods employed for this pur­pose: man­u­al drain, auto­mat­ic drain, and the blow-out method. Each has its mer­its and spe­cif­ic appli­ca­tions based on the sys­tem’s design and size.

The man­u­al drain method is the sim­plest and involves open­ing all the drain valves in the sys­tem man­u­al­ly. Once opened, the water will flow out of the pipes by the force of grav­i­ty. This method is most suit­able for small­er sys­tems where the ele­va­tion ensures that water can drain entire­ly by grav­i­ty. The auto­mat­ic drain method, as the name sug­gests, uses auto­mat­ic drain valves that open when the pres­sure inside the sys­tem drops below a cer­tain lev­el. These valves are typ­i­cal­ly installed at the low­est points in the sys­tem. Upon shut­ting off the main water sup­ply, these valves acti­vate, ensur­ing a thor­ough drain­ing of the sys­tem. This method is par­tic­u­lar­ly effec­tive for mod­er­ate­ly sized irri­ga­tion sys­tems with vary­ing terrains.

How­ev­er, for larg­er and more com­plex com­mer­cial and edu­ca­tion­al facil­i­ty sys­tems, the blow-out method is often the pre­ferred choice. This method involves using an air com­pres­sor to forcibly blow out any resid­ual water from the sys­tem. Giv­en the inten­si­ty of this process, it’s cru­cial that it’s con­duct­ed by trained pro­fes­sion­als. Over-pres­sur­iz­ing the sys­tem or improp­er­ly using the com­pres­sor can cause fur­ther dam­age. It’s espe­cial­ly crit­i­cal for facil­i­ty man­agers to under­stand the intri­ca­cies of their irri­ga­tion sys­tem and choose the most appro­pri­ate method, or even a com­bi­na­tion of meth­ods, to ensure com­plete winterization.

How to Keep Your Irri­ga­tion Sys­tem Run­ning Prop­er­ly Dur­ing the Win­ter Months

While the pri­ma­ry focus of win­ter irri­ga­tion is on safe­guard­ing the irri­ga­tion sys­tem from poten­tial freeze dam­age, it’s equal­ly impor­tant to ensure its con­tin­ued effi­cien­cy for those occa­sion­al warmer days or spe­cif­ic land­scape needs. First­ly, even dur­ing win­ter, peri­od­ic checks of the sys­tem can be ben­e­fi­cial. Look out for signs of dam­age or leaks that may have occurred due to a sud­den freeze or exter­nal fac­tors. Iden­ti­fy­ing and address­ing these issues prompt­ly can pre­vent them from esca­lat­ing into larg­er prob­lems when spring returns.

In regions with milder win­ters or unex­pect­ed warm spells, there might be times when irri­ga­tion is nec­es­sary. Dur­ing these instances, using the sys­tem’s man­u­al mode can be advan­ta­geous. By man­u­al­ly oper­at­ing the sys­tem, facil­i­ty man­agers can pro­vide water where need­ed with­out acti­vat­ing the entire sys­tem. This approach allows for tar­get­ed irri­ga­tion, reduc­ing the risk of excess mois­ture accu­mu­la­tion that can lead to fun­gal growth or oth­er land­scape issues. How­ev­er, post-irri­ga­tion, it’s cru­cial to drain any resid­ual water to pre­vent poten­tial freezing.

Keep in mind that win­ter is also an excel­lent time for cal­i­bra­tion, fine-tun­ing, and even irri­ga­tion sys­tem repair. With less fre­quent oper­a­tions, facil­i­ty man­agers can assess indi­vid­ual zones for effi­cien­cy, check sprin­kler heads for prop­er align­ment, and ensure that there’s no water wastage. It’s also an oppor­tune peri­od to upgrade or inte­grate tech­nol­o­gy, such as weath­er-based irri­ga­tion con­trollers. These devices adjust water­ing sched­ules based on real-time weath­er data, ensur­ing opti­mal water usage through­out the year. By stay­ing proac­tive dur­ing the win­ter months, man­agers can ensure a smooth tran­si­tion into the warmer sea­sons, keep­ing land­scapes vibrant and sys­tems func­tion­ing seamlessly.

How to Pre­pare for Next Spring With Prop­er Win­ter Maintenance 

Win­ter pro­vides a respite for irri­ga­tion sys­tems, but it’s also an oppor­tune time to lay the ground­work for the upcom­ing spring. Prop­er win­ter main­te­nance not only ensures a sys­tem’s longevi­ty but also its peak per­for­mance when warmer months roll in and you’re won­der­ing how to turn on the irri­ga­tion sys­tem after win­ter. First and fore­most, review­ing the past year’s irri­ga­tion pat­terns and iden­ti­fy­ing any inef­fi­cien­cies or overuse can be invalu­able. By assess­ing this data, facil­i­ty man­agers can antic­i­pate adjust­ments need­ed for the com­ing year, ensur­ing a more sus­tain­able and effi­cient water­ing approach.

Phys­i­cal inspec­tion and main­te­nance should not be over­looked either. While the sys­tem is dor­mant, replace worn-out parts, inspect for poten­tial vul­ner­a­bil­i­ties, and make nec­es­sary upgrades. Sprin­kler heads, for instance, often bear the brunt of reg­u­lar wear and tear. Check­ing their align­ment, ensur­ing they aren’t obstruct­ed by over­grown veg­e­ta­tion, and replac­ing any that are dam­aged can set the stage for an effi­cient spring start­up. Sim­i­lar­ly, ver­i­fy­ing that sen­sors, timers, and con­trollers are in opti­mal con­di­tion is essen­tial. These devices play a piv­otal role in automat­ing and opti­miz­ing the irri­ga­tion process, and ensur­ing their func­tion­al­i­ty can pre­vent wastage and land­scape issues in the future.

Trust Irri­ga­tion and Land­scap­ing Pro­fes­sion­als From The Budd Group With Your Winterization

Engag­ing in a struc­tured irri­ga­tion win­ter­i­za­tion strat­e­gy — be it through self-man­age­ment or with the exper­tise of orga­ni­za­tions like The Budd Group — offers peace of mind. It’s a tes­ta­ment to for­ward-think­ing, high­light­ing a com­mit­ment to pre­serv­ing both the tan­gi­ble assets, like the irri­ga­tion infra­struc­ture, and the intan­gi­ble ones, such as the rep­u­ta­tion and image of an institution. 

The Budd Group is a facil­i­ties man­age­ment com­pa­ny that has been serv­ing clients across indus­tries and sec­tors through­out the South­east Unit­ed States for over 60 years. We offer all clients a ​“Make It Right” guar­an­tee — our promise to you that we will meet or exceed your expec­ta­tions in the deliv­ery of high-qual­i­­ty facil­i­ty sup­port solu­tions. If we don’t, we will ​“Make It Right.” Con­tact The Budd Group today to get started.