DIY vs. Professional Sprinkler Blowouts

It’s getting to be that time of year again for those of us with sprinkler systems to blow them out before it freezes.  We have just made our first Weed Pro video!  Its on how to prepare your system to have it blown out professionally by us so check it out if you like.

I’ve been blowing out sprinklers professionally since 2005 and have heard a lot of people say they don’t need to get their sprinklers blown out by us cause they do their own.  They have never had a problem doing it on their own so why pay $50.00 to get it done professionally?

Here is my two cents on the matter.

The basic difference between DIY and Professionals is in how the water is blown out. The compressors Weed Pro uses are High Volume compressors and home owner compressors are not. The unit of measurement used to describe the volume of compressed air an air compressor can generate is “cubic feet per minute”.

Somewhere on an air compressor you will find a specification describing how many CFMs the compressor is.  Most compressors home owners buy are anywhere from 3 CFMs (which can cost as little as $150 new) to 18 CFMs (which cost around $1,600+ new).  This year I purchased a “small” compressor to fit into the back of my truck for residential sprinkler blowouts, it is 40 CFM and cost me $17,000 new.  My other one is 185 CFMs and cost $13,000. The difference between low volume and high volume compressed air is scene in the diagram.