Day of pride

My previous boss called me to day to do a blowout that his compressor couldn't do (he's using 3/8'' hose still)...

I'm wondering if you guys have any advice before I do it this Friday... I've never winterized a pump job

I have a 185cfm compressor with 200' of 3/4'' hose (apparently it'll take all 200' to get to the lake) ... I'm thinking I'll let the pressure loose a little for it

I haven't seen it yet but apparently it's a pretty big hill to get from the lake to the front yard... he has about 8 rotors a zone... that's a lot of volume I need... what is the minimum inlet that I should be using? I have to take some tape out there to tape the suction line closed so crap doesn't get in it?

He already tried to do it so hopefully I don't need the waders to pull it out of the water or anything...

(purp haze is posting at least 12 more posts per day than me... and apprently that's not counting the off topic forum... how do you find 12.26 things to comment on a day?)

 

he's not self employed

 

LOL (See how easy it is to reply.)

 

It's easy. My wife doesn't really understand the subtle nuances of irrigation and you guys do. I'm one of those guys who goes to a training class/seminar and won't shut up. I've never been afraid to ask questions.

Besides... I'm trying to run my post count up. Jon tells me that you get a free frozen turkey when you hit 1000 posts. LOL

 

Assuming its not a submersed pump, and that the proper check valves were installed there will be a union (probably a 2" galvi one would be my guess). Take that puppy off and pull the suction tube out of the water. Leave it dissasembled like that until next year. You don't want water in the suction tube to freeze, or get it frozen into the lake.

There should still be a check valve before that union, so you should be able to hook up to the priming valve with your compressor.

Something to think about, is it ok to spin a pump backwards blowing air through it?

I'm still waiting for mine, Sean says you get a free truck when you hit 10,000 .

 

Pump systems with the pump a long ways from the street are great reasons for hooking up to a hose bib in the yard, or blowing through a zone. Pull a rotor and connect the air to it instead. Depending on the setup - I prefer to pull the pump and or suction and have a shutoff infront of the pump. I can then crack the shutoff to blow the main, close it and blow the system, then open it partway when I'm done to bleed the air down to disconnect. As to running the pump backwards with air, if the pump setup allows the pump to reverse, then I doubt any harm will come from what would occur winterizing.

This brings up one of my favorite questions. Why is everyone so hung up on connecting the air at the POC? It really makes zero difference as long as you blow everything. Testcock #4 works great for blowing all the water out back to the POC, and when your done, you can crack #s 2-4 and pull the water out of the backflow with #4 running full out. If your worried about getting all the water out of the backflow for some reason, a jumper hosed from #4 to either 1 or 2 will let you blow the backflow out through #3

 

Come to think about it, don't forget to throw a pair of large channel locks or a pipe wrench in your truck that morning. If you don't work with large fittings often you might not have them, and your really going to be irritated trying to loosen a 2" union with a pair of regular channel locks

 

i bought a large pipe wrench for just this sort of thing... I cant forget that

What do I need to do as far as power for the pump? Am I ok just unhooking the MV/pump wire at the controller before I blow it out or do I need to trip a fuse for it or something?

I mean it might just have an outlet at the lake so it might just be a matter of unplugging that

 

If its off a relay, you can unhook it in the timer.

If its off a pressure switch, then you'll want to unplug it/trip the breaker.

 

Wanna borrow my 48" and 36" pairs of pipe wrenches???