Sprinkler Blowout with Air Compressor FEBCO 765 Full Guide, FEBCO 765-1 Backflow Preventer PVB shown 

Thank you, and thanks for watching! : )

Thank you! : )

Yes, it's a great way to save a hundred bucks or so! Thanks for watching : )

Thanks for watching! : )

Thanks, and Happy Thanksgiving if you're in the USA! : ) About disconnecting the air hose: I do and show that as a double-redundancy, just to be absolutely certain (and to reiterate) that there's no air applied the system until a zone valve is open. So, it is just "belt and suspenders", so to speak! It's fine to just use the cut-off valve, as long as you're consistent and certain that air is only applied when there's a zone valve open - that's the main concern. I hope that helps - thanks for watching! : )

It entirely depends on your local climate: here in Colorado, we must drain the PVB and evacuate the sprinkler system ("blow-out") because every year we get severe deep freezes, and anything above the freeze/frost line will freeze and stay frozen (it is not unusual for us to go a week or more during which time the daily high temperatures will not leave the 20's F and overnight lows will be sub-zero F). The freeze/frost line here is also deep (about 3 ft), so obviously the sprinklers are well above that and would freeze if not evacuated. So, here in CO, we must remove the water. The reason there is no insulation shown in the video is because the blow-out process removes the water, so there's no need for insulation. Other parts of the country, like Texas, might have a cold front dip in from time to time, but never a deep freeze that would require blowing out the sprinklers, and in that case, simply draining the PVB and wrapping the above-ground pipes with insulation will be enough to endure the short cold snap. It just depends on the local climate! Perhaps you can ask your neighbors and local contractors what is done in your area. I hope that helps : ) Thanks for watching, and Happy New Year!

Thanks! About the pancake - unfortunately, a pancake compressor is just not capable of supplying adequate flow rate (CFM) for the average 10 - 20 GPM residential sprinkler systems because the compressor/motor itself is just too small to displace enough outside per minute to deliver to sprinkler system (CFM), at the required pressure, to hold the sprinklers up for that 1 minute blowout time and get the water displaced. For example, I have two pancake compressors: the older one is a 6 gallon Porter Cable CF2600. Here's a look the insides of that compressor - the motor: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-bf6c2dnG-Ew.html According to the specs from Porter Cable, that compressor is capable of displacing an intake air mass of 3.7 SCFM @ 40 psi, and 2.6 SCFM at 90 psi. So, at a target blowout pressure of 50 psi, that value would decrease to perhaps about 3.2 SCFM, and then that intake SCFM would translate to just 0.7 actual CFM going to the sprinklers for the blowout at 50 psi regulated. Recalling the "rule of 7.5" mentioned in the video (43:06), such a low CFM would be barely adequate for a sprinkler system of just 5 GPM. Most residential sprinkler systems include zones of about 10 - 20 GPM water delivery. So, the pancakes just can't deliver enough air for an average sprinkler system zone. What some people do with pancake compressors is piggy-back them onto auxiliary/storage tanks. But, adding an aux tanks doesn't increase the ability of the compressor itself to displace more intake air because that "SCFM @ psi" value is a fixed metric based on the cylinder size and electric motor ability. So, since adding an aux tank is not doing anything to increase the compressor motor ability itself, adding the tank doesn't change the "SCFM @ psi" rating. That said - what adding an aux tank can do is increase the initial CFM delivered (flow rate) - as in the air delivered before the compressor motor starts - and on a small sprinkler system, that may be enough to get the job done. Here's this technique in action: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-_39RGATIkOg.html I think the biggest temptation people encounter when attempting to blowout a sprinkler system with a low SCFM compressor (like a pancake) is that they'll hook everything up, dial the regulator to the correct pressure (say 50 psi), then apply the air and either nothing happens, or the sprinklers heads pop up for a few seconds, then fall back down. In that case, the proper response is to realize that the compressor setup is simply inadequate to supply the required air flow to the sprinklers, and that the solution is to move up to a larger compressor setup (or add an aux tank). But, sometimes people think "I'll just increase the pressure and blast the sprinklers up", so they'll dial up to 90 or 100 psi, recharge the tank, and "blast" the system - not realizing that higher pressure means lower flow rate, and not realizing that they're accidentally working against themselves and increasing the possibility that they might physically damage their sprinkler system components by applying that little burst of very high pressure air to a system that's not designed for such a load. So - that's a long answer! The summary is: technically, yes, you can use a pancake on a very small system - and by "very small" I don't mean a small yard with three sprinklers, I mean something like a super-low GPM drip zone or maybe a system with a single outlet (sprinkler). And again, that's because with a little pancake you're limited to replicating a flow rate that is consistent only with something like a 5 GPM or less zone. If you add an aux tank, you're effective reducing the duty cycle of the compressor since you have more of your "1 minute per zone" period supplied by you stored air, but again the storage itself doesn't increase the CFM delivered by that little motor once tank pressure falls below regulated pressure, and so once tank pressure drops, the regulator is irrelevant because you'll only get the air displace the motor itself can produce. All that is to say - if you have a pancake and small, low-GPM system, you can give it shot and see what happens, but don't be tempted to compensate for flow rate by increasing pressure, because it is physically impossible as they are inverses. Ideally, you want use something capable of delivering adequate CFM, which for most sprinkler systems is likely something close to what's seen in the video. As shown at 49:29 with the compressor reviews, smaller compressors can be used, depending on the systems. But all things being equal - go big, go bad if possible! : ) I hope that helps - thanks for watching!

@@L35inColorado Thank you for taking the time to write very detailed explanation, I see there are multiple videos on RU-vid people doing with just using small pancake compressor. Anyways as you suggested I will give it a try next season. By the way one of your old videos on Sienna spark plug replacement with excellent step by step instructions gave me confidence to do it myself and saved money.

@@mr.j8297 Nice! Great job on your Sienna spark plug replacement! Blowing out the sprinklers is much easier and more enjoyable than that spark plug job : ) Thanks for watching!

You might get some help if you can say where it's leaking and/or show pictures.