Shutting Off Your Sprinkler Water

(Detailed Version-Preparation for Sprinkler Blowout)

This guide is a pictorial reference for our customers to assist them in shutting off the water supply to their sprinkler systems.  Please don't let the detail of these instructions intimidate you.  This is a very detailed explanation of a simple task and is primarily designed for our new customers who may have never done this two-minute job.   We try to cover the details we find on the typical tract house with a standard, professionally installed sprinkler system in the following series of pictures. For those of you that have done this before and are just reviewing, you can just read the bold print in each step below.

STEP ONE: FINDING THE CORRECT PIPE.

Your Sprinkler Water Supply Valve is located on the pipe that goes to your back flow outside. If you’re not sure where your back flow is, it looks like the picture below and is usually located on the opposite side of your house as your garage. So, to find your sprinkler pipe you may start by taking a look outside to locate your back flow.

                                              Back Flow                                                                      Back Flow Location On Side Of House

Now that you’ve located your back flow on the outside of your house, you can go downstairs to that corner of your basement. Once there, you’ll see a copper pipe coming in from outside. This is the Sprinkler Supply Line.

 

Corner of Basement Where Backflow Is Located Outside

The Sprinkler Supply Line branches off of your main house water supply line. It is either ¾” or 1” in diameter. It will lead to the outside of your house at a point just above your cement foundation. In the picture below, notice that there are two lines leading to the outside. The line on the left is only ½” and goes to the spigot/hose located near the backflow. Also, you can see that it does not have a shut off valve to it. The copper pipe leading to the back flow that has a valve on it is your sprinkler supply line.

Sprinkler Supply Line Going Outside to Back Flow
 

The picture below shows the Sprinkler Shut-Off Valve located on the Sprinkler Supply Line.

Sprinkler Supply Line and Sprinkler Shut-Off Valve

 

STEP TWO: SHUTTING OFF THE VALVE

Once you have located the correct valve, you should now shut off the valve. You will have one of the following two types of valves pictured below. The valve on the left is a lever-type or Ball Valve. The valve on the right is a turn-type or Gate Valve.

Ball Valve (Still On/Open If you have a Ball Valve, you simply need to turn it 90 degrees (a quarter turn) to shut off the water supply.  This type of valve is best.	Gate Valve If you have a Gate Valve, you must turn it approximately 15 to 20 turns clockwise to shut off the water.  Once you begin to feel it get tight, continue to turn it clockwise VERY tightly.  You may even want to put on a pair of gloves to help.  This type of valve must be completely off, VERY tightly, to ensure that the water is fully shut off to your sprinkler system.
Ball Valve (Closed/Off)	Gate Valve (Turn Clockwise Tightly To Close)

STEP THREE: OPEN THE PETCOCK

The final step is to open the petcock to allow the water that is still past the valve to drain. Both types of valves should have a petcock on it. Sometimes they are hidden from plain view; that is, it may be on the backside depending on how the valve was installed. To open the petcock, you simply turn it counter clockwise at least a turn or two. Some customers choose to remove it completely (3-4 turns), which is fine, but you’ll need to remember where you put it next spring (you can tape it to the pipe). You can also turn it just enough to direct the flow of water - that will come from the small black dot on the side of the petcock cap - in a direction you want it to go. This may be into a cup or bucket, against the cement wall or just away from anything nearby you might not want to get wet. Note the black dot and the water coming from it in the picture below.

Petcock With a Drop of Water Coming From The Black Dot on Side of Petcock Cap

When you open the petcock there will be some water come out. It can range from just a couple of drops to several cups. For this reason, we suggest that you have a cup or pan handy to catch the water. The initial water should stop coming out of the petcock after a minute or so; if it doesn’t stop shortly, your valve is not shut off all of the way*. In some cases, there may be more water that comes out of the petcock when we do the blow out, so you may want to place a pan under, or hang a bucket from your valve to catch this water. The most water that should come out is equal to the volume of water left in the copper line between the valve and the backflow.

 

Bucket Hanging Under Gate Valve to Catch Water	Bucket Hanging Under Ball Valve To Catch Water
To help direct the water into the bucket even better, some customers will tie a rage or an old sock to help direct the water into the bucket during the blow out.  In most cases, we're only expecting a small amount of water, but if your shut-off is in a finished part of your basement or near something you don't want to get wet, these tips should help.
	Rag Directing Water From Petcock Into Bucket

 

 LEAVE THE VALVE CLOSED AND THE PETCOCK OPEN ALL WINTER!

*In the past, we have see some pretty good examples of what can happen if you don’t have your water completely off and you don’t leave your petcock open. If water continues to drip from the petcock after a reasonable amount of time, recheck that your valve is fully off, especially if you have a Gate (turn-type) Valve. Gate Valves must be turned off very tightly and Ball (lever-type) Valves may need tweaking just a little bit left or right of 90° to get the water to stop.

If these two tips do not work, do not just close the petcock and ignore the problem, especially after the blow out has been done. It doesn’t take long to fill your system right back up one drop at a time.  Call us and we can replace your Gate Valve with a new Ball Valve or help advise you with whatever the problem is.

Below are a couple examples of when the water was not fully shut off and the petcock was left closed...

Remember... before the week you choose begins, all you need to do is turn off your sprinkler water, and then we can do everything else from the outside.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It is important that you remember to turn off your water before the week you choose begins.   This is the only step you need to do, and we will do everything else from the outside.  This allows us to keep our prices low and schedule these sprinkler blowouts most efficiently during this short but busy time of year.