How to turn off Backflow Preventer Valve

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Okay, guys, we have freezing temperatures. If you have not had your sprinklers winterize by a professional company or somebody who knows what they're doing, make sure you do this. If you have a backflow preventer valve, only flip the camera around and show you exactly what you can do. All you need is a flathead screwdriver. So this is the backflow preventer valve, you've got these four small valves if you notice, they have a spot where a flathead screwdriver fits in, what you're going to want to do, you're going to want to open every single one of these, and likely what's going to happen is water will drain. See that water draining? What this is doing is allowing the system to breathe, allowing it to get air in and out of the system. So you want to make sure your waters off. But basically, if the screw is flat, that means it's shut.

As you turn it that is fully open, what I like to do is do it in a 45 halfway open halfway close. So if you look down in right there it is closed as I turn the screw. You can see it opening up closed, open. So you want to open up each one of these valves. So that the system is letting air in and out to see how that is fully charged. So that's just the pressure that was existing in the system. That will go away. One other big mistake we see people shut these valves completely sideways. If you get water trapped in there, you better believe it is going to freeze and crack right out of the side of this brass ball valve. You're going to come next year and there's going to be a big slice right there. So same thing, leave that halfway open and halfway close. We always recommend getting your system winterized and blown out with compressed air. But that is one extra step you can to do if you're not going to take the measures of blowing it out. This could save you hundreds of dollars next spring. As a last step make sure you know how to turn off your sprinkler water, if you dont then this blog will give you some quick tips on how to do just that.

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