Winterizing

It's best to be ready for winter before winter hits. This includes a lot, but most especially draining irrigation systems. Dad has got through winterizing everything except draining the pump and mainline. 

This pump site on the Bluff Canal feeds the irrigation on the entire ranch. 

The ultimate destination of the water it supplies is the pivot sprinkler, just to the south of the barn. By the time the underground mainline gets there, it is almost a 1/2 mile of 6" pipe.

To drain it sufficiently, Dad has a system. The hose side of this valve leads to the pivot point, which the pipe is still full of water. Step one, close the valve and unbolt it from the pump filter housing. 

Once free, drop it in the canal, opening the valve on the way down. There is plenty of fall to push the water out through gravity. But as the line goes along the highway, there is some flat spots that don't drain out by gravity alone.

By throwing the line in the canal, it ensures that this is the lowest point. By doing this while it is full of water, it creates a siphon as it is flushing out. When the end of the water gets to these flat spot that won't drain on their own, the vacuum of the siphon sucks all the water out and keeps it going to the lowest point, which is the canal. Good game plan.

The last step is to pull the inline, screen filter that comes off the pump. Dad will pressure wash this and put it back for the rest of the winter. 

That's it. We won't be back down here until next spring when it is time to fire back up. By doing a thorough job of winterizing, we shouldn't have any problems when we go to do so. Not our first rodeo. We ranch on.