Lawn Sprinkler System Maintenance

Sprinkler Winterization, Spring Start-Ups and Repairs — North Shore & Lake County

Turf Industries has maintained lawn irrigation systems on the North Shore and in Lake County since 1984. Most of what we do are the two visits that bookend the watering season — the spring start-up and the fall winterization — plus the repairs, adjustments and backflow testing in between. We maintain systems we installed and systems we didn’t.

Fall Winterization (the Sprinkler Blowout)

A northern Illinois winter will find any water left in your system. Winterization — most people call it a blowout — gets that water out before the freeze does the finding.

What our technician does at your house:

  • Shuts the system down and drains the backflow assembly.
  • Blows the lines out with compressed air, zone by zone, until each zone runs dry.
  • Removes and stores your backflow if it’s a Wilkins 375 — that’s the assembly we take off by default. Others come off on request.
  • Shuts the controller down for the season.

What actually freezes — and what doesn’t

Worth being straight about this, because a lot of irrigation advertising isn’t.

We install poly pipe, and poly doesn’t really split. The buried lines are not the thing you’re protecting.

What cracks when water sits in a system through a winter here is the backflow assembly — brass, above ground, and the most expensive single component on a residential system — along with the valves and the sprinkler heads. Those three are the repair bill a winterization avoids.

When to schedule

We run winterization routes town by town through the fall. The date that matters isn’t on the calendar — it’s the first hard freeze, and around here that can arrive earlier than people expect. It’s worth getting on the schedule before there’s a cold snap in the forecast and everyone calls the same week.

Spring Start-Up

In spring we bring the system back the other way: reconnect whatever came off in the fall, bring the system back up to pressure, run every zone, and check that the heads are still watering what they’re meant to water. Winter moves things — frost, plows, landscaping — so the start-up is also when we catch what needs adjusting or repairing before the season gets going.

If you have a Hydrawise controller

We deliberately leave Hydrawise controllers suspended until May 15. That’s about when a lawn in this area should actually start watering — before that, a cool wet spring is usually doing the job for you. So if you open the app in April and see the system isn’t running, that isn’t a fault, it’s the setting working as intended. Your start-up technician will leave it in place.

Mid-Season Tune-Ups and Repairs

A system that was dialed in during May drifts by July. Mowers clip heads out of alignment, a rotor stops turning, a bed gets replanted and the coverage no longer matches the planting. Between the two seasonal visits we handle:

  • Repair and replacement of heads, valves and controllers
  • Relocating sprinkler heads after landscaping changes
  • System modifications and adding zones
  • Mid-season tune-ups and coverage checks

Backflow Testing

Most villages in our area require an annual test of your RPZ backflow assembly by a certified tester, with the results filed with the village. We’re licensed to test and to file, and it can be handled alongside your seasonal service. More about backflow testing and certification

Where We Work

Wilmette, Winnetka, Glencoe, Kenilworth, Northfield, Highland Park, Northbrook, Glenview, Deerfield, Bannockburn, Riverwoods, Lake Forest, Lake Bluff, Lincolnshire, Vernon Hills, Libertyville, Mundelein, Buffalo Grove, Long Grove, Hawthorn Woods, Lake Zurich, Barrington, Inverness, Palatine, Arlington Heights and Wauconda — across the North Shore and Lake County, Illinois.

Common Questions

Do I really need a blowout every year?

Yes. It only takes one hard freeze with water still in the assembly, and the backflow is the part that pays for it.

Do you service systems you didn’t install?

We do. A good share of the systems we maintain were put in by someone else, and taking one over is routine.

My system wasn’t winterized last fall. What now?

Start-up is when you find out — usually it’s the backflow, a valve, or a few heads. Book a start-up rather than turning the water on yourself; bringing a damaged system up to full pressure tends to make the repair bigger.

Get on the schedule — or call 847.516.6473.