Here at Landscaping in Pretoria we have sold a lot of drip irrigation kits in the recent years. Owners of these kits need to take time to winterize them properly for many more years of use. Here are some general recommendations for owners of hanging basket, window box kits and antelco landscape kits.
If your drip irrigation kit includes a timer, go ahead and disconnect them from the water source and remove the batteries and store them in a heated environment. A lot of our kits also include some type of fertilizer injector such as the ez flo’s. You should disconnect them from the water source as well and drain all water and fertilizer out of them for the winter. Once they are drained, you can store them anywhere once the water is removed. On all of the kits you should let the water drain out of the main line. I would recommend that after all water is out of the main line you cap it off in some way. This will prevent trash and insects from entering the main line and causing problems next spring. If you have a source of compressed air you can blow out the system to be sure that no water is left in the line.
Owners of larger systems such as sand/media filters should drain the tanks using the drain plugs located on the bottom of the tanks. If the filters are stationary, I recommend removing the manifold and being sure that no water is left there as well. If the filters are mobile, usually the water comes out of the manifold during transport to the storage area and it is not a problem.
Many of our customers have electric, gas or diesel pumps for their systems. Be sure to drain the pump by removing the drain plug that should be located on the lower part of the pump housing somewhere. Once the water has been drained, you need to put the plug back in and we recommend using antifreeze to be sure that if any water is left in the pump housing it will not freeze. Along with many of these systems you also have foot valves on the suction line that need to be disconnected from the pump. If at all possible, you should drain the suction line as well.
