Air compressor to blow out sprinklers

[DEAGLER]

Gonna go blow out a few sprinklers for the winter. Anyone have recommendations for a possibly cheap but functional air compressor to blow out sprinklers? Don't need anything fancy but someone small will be nice since i'll be doing a few homes.

[ray1970]

Doesn’t take much. I usually regulate mine down to about fifteen pounds and that seems more than adequate so I would guess even one of those little ones for running something like an air nailer would work.

[meatman]

I picked up one of these when it was on sale for under $100. It works fine for blowing out sprinklers.

https://www.lowes.com/pd/PORTER-CABLE-6-Gallon-Electric-Pancake-Air-Compressor/4764588

[Erni]

CFM is the key here, recomendation was to stick to 40psi to prevent melting anything. The number I saw said 8CFM at 40psi. My compressor does 4cfm but has a larger tank. So I run it up in pressure and down regulate to 40psi. I do one line, let it bump back up, and repeat. Size of system and number of heads matter.
If you can find two smaller compressors and siamese them to get CFM that might be a good option.

[NFATrustGuy]

This is what I've found, too. Volume (CFM) output is more critical than pressure. Your household water pressure is almost certainly somewhere shy of 55psi. I wouldn't use more than about 40psi to blowout the sprinklers. I borrowed my brother's 20 gallon compressor last year and it was pretty marginal. I was hoping to have my big 60 gallon 220volt unit installed before this year, but it hasn't happened... Always some other project burning at my feet!

[BladesNBarrels]

Recommended air pressure I have seen is 50 lbs for flexible underground irrigation line, 80 lbs for rigid PVC lines.
It takes 60-80 lbs for my spring-loaded heads to fully pop up, so I use 80 lbs.
I have seen videos that say the air should be introduced after the back-flow preventer valve.
This requires an additional fitting between the shut off valve downstream from the back-flow preventer and the valve box.
Other videos connect the air to the pressure relief valve and run air through the back-flow preventer.
I had my sprinkler system blown out by different professionals the first few years I lived in the current house and they all ran the air through the back-flow preventer valve, so that is what I do.
The reason I started doing my own sprinkler blow outs was scheduling problems with the professionals.
If a hard freeze was predicted like this week, they usually were booked and advised me to drain the system and wrap the back flow preventer until they could get to me.

[Ramsker]

I have a 33 Gal Craftsman that I picked up on CL a few years ago that does the job . . . eventually. I blow a zone and let it cycle back up and hit it again, so it takes a bit to blow out all my zones. Probably overkill, but I'd rather spend the extra time blowing out than digging later to find a problem to fix. Beats paying someone else to do it, though. I tried it with my 15 gal and it just didn't have enough oomph to do it very well.

[beast556]

For years I used a 3 gallon, Last year it finally gave up and I got a ridgid 6 gallon and it works perfect. Unless you have huge zones I would go with one of the 6 gallon compressors.
I got myine from home depot for 139$ if I rember correctly.

[OtterbatHellcat]

I bought an oil less Kobalt model compressor from Lowes about five years ago....never had a problem with it. You can dial in the p.s.i. that you need, and oil less will run real nice when it's fukkin 5 degrees in your garage. The purchase I made did include some air tools and the air hose, but the hose broke off very early.

If you want a Super Bad Ass air compressor hose, you, (and anyone else reading this) need to get a compressor hose made by FlexZilla. I got mine from my Snap On dealer, but google it up AND GET ONE. This compressor hose is insanely flexible in any temperature and extremely durable.

[OtterbatHellcat]

I bought an oil less Kobalt model compressor from Lowes about five years ago....never had a problem with it. You can dial in the p.s.i. that you need, and oil less will run real nice when it's fukkin 5 degrees in your garage. The purchase I made did include some air tools and the air hose, but the hose broke off very early.

If you want a Super Bad Ass air compressor hose, you, (and anyone else reading this) need to get a compressor hose made by FlexZilla. I got mine from my Snap On dealer, but google it up AND GET ONE. This compressor hose is insanely flexible in any temperature and extremely durable.

[OtterbatHellcat]

Board glitch double post....been seeing it lately.

[ray1970]

OBC, if your waiting to blow out your sprinklers until it’s 5 degrees in your garage then I wouldn’t even bother. It’s probably too late at that point. Lol.

[ray1970]

Blew mine out last Friday.

[OtterbatHellcat]

I was giving the OP an (IMO) good compressor recommendation, and a great hose recommendation for anyone that owns a home compressor.

Most folks garages are not heated, and compressors that work in frigid temps are handy when you NEED compressed air.

[mahabali]

Is everyone doing theirs around this time? I did mine last year early Oct and then it got super nice for a month and my yard died. Thought I might wait another week or so.

[Erni]

Is everyone doing theirs around this time? I did mine last year early Oct and then it got super nice for a month and my yard died. Thought I might wait another week or so.
Ditto.
But I think this weekend is it for me and I will blow out the lines. If anything needs water it will get the hose.

[ray1970]

I used to wait until the end of October or early November to do mine. Three straight years fixing broken stuff in the spring broke me of that habit. Now they get turned off and blown out in early October. If anything needs water after that I just do like Erni and grab the hose or set up a temporary sprinkler on the garden hose.

[bcolorado]

Had a sprinkler system with several short runs that a shop vac blew out just fine.
High volume low pressure.

[ChadAmberg]

In case anyone wants to make a business of it, I have one of those giant compressors for sale still... kind of forgot about it due to other things coming up.