As to your first question, I would say install a tee and use a compressor to blow the lines out at the end of the season. If you use drains, and you are on a municipal water system, it is just wasting water, and causing stress on your pipes by re-filling them every time the system turns on. We have serviced systems that are older where the drains are actually worthless now because they have either become clogged, or the pipe has shifted enough in the ground over the years that is no longer slopes properly toward the drains. For the investmest I would say use compressed air to winterize the system annually. As for your second question about the lines crossing each other, just run one of the lines just above the one its crossing, it won't hurt anything to have the lines touch or have one a little higher than the other. And as for teflon tape, I would go by the manufacturers recommendations. If Rain-Bird recommends not using teflon tape, then don't use it. We only install Hunter products on our irrigation installs, and we use teflon tape all of the time. I have never had a problem with it. Any other questions, just let me know.
Tony Posey
Ridge Run Landscapes
