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charging sprinkler system
Hello, i reside in long island new york and work for a condo complex. our fertilization company is looking to come in and put down pre-emergent down the last week in march and requires the sprinklers to be charged to water areas. it has been fairly warm lately but still drops down in the high 20's low 30's every night. all our valves are in ground including the rpz valves and need to be turned on with a curb key. is this way too early to be charging the sprinklers right now so i can make necessary repair work from winter damage and plow damage? i dont want the rpz's to freeze or any of the lines. we have lines ranging from1 inch to 1 1/2. and pvc feeder lines.
You flat-out can not open a system like you describe for a watering in March. Regretfully inform the fertilization guys that they will have to change their plans.
Only a system with every single pipe protected from cold air can be safely activated ahead of schedule. This lets out any RPZ installed to the factory specs of a foot above grade. They do make "hot boxes" to protect the above-ground backflow preventers, but they would cost thousands to install.
Now, if it happens that the RPZ valves are located below-grade (against most regional codes) in pits, their integrity will depend on the pits themselves. Very deep pits afford better protection than shallow pits. Sight unseen, mid-March is too dangerous a date to open a system in your area, even if it's all below grade. We still can't count on the weather two weeks out.
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