How To Flush Out Your Lawn Sprinklers

Properly maintaining your home's landscape requires paying attention to the small details. An important landscape maintenance task is to clean out your sprinkler system before you first use it early in the springtime. This is particularly vital if it has had very little use during the winter months. During periods of disuse, debris or silt in the water lines can collect in each nozzle under the screen, resulting in clogs that will cause your sprinkler system to malfunction. Dealing with this preemptively by cleaning out the system will help you avoid any problems during the spring and summer. Not doing so might result in damage to the sprinkler heads.

What You Will Need

  • Hex Keys, Screwdriver or Sprinkler Key (depending on your sprinkler system)
  • Paperclip
  • Plastic Bowl
  • Dishwashing Liquid
  • Toothbrush
  • Garden Hose

Step 1. In order to clean your filters, you will have to remove the sprinkler heads. Starting with the first one, use a hex key, screwdriver or sprinkler key (depending on the type of sprinkler you have) to loosen the head. Generally, you insert the correct tool, turning it counterclockwise clockwise.

Step 2. Now take hold of the nozzle and unscrew the sprinkler cap by turning it counterclockwise. Once you have loosened it, pull the cap off of the nozzle.

Step 3. Now pull the nozzle itself up and out of the sprinkler. Look down inside the nozzle at the filter screen. Use a straightened paper clip to snag one square of the screen so you can pull it up and out for cleaning.

Step 4. Repeat steps 1-3 with all the other sprinkler heads in your sprinkler system.

Step 5. Fill a bowl with warm water and a few drops of dishwashing liquid. Allow all of the screens to soak in the solution for a few minutes.

Step 6. Remove each screen from the water and use a stiff toothbrush to clean both sides. Rinse each screen using your garden hose.

Step 7. Clean out each of the nozzle bodies by flushing them with clean water from your garden hose. You want to get out all the debris and dirt.

Step 8. Turn on your sprinkler system so that the water can flush the lines of any trapped dirt or debris. Once you see clear water coming out, turn the water off. Reassemble your sprinkler heads, reversing the steps you took to take them apart. You can now water your lawn with the sprinklers.

If you want to hire a professional to care for your lawn, contact Sound Landscape Professionals.


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