How to winterize and prime an irrigation pump

Skip Orth, owner of Father and Son Pest and Lawn Solutions show you the DIY way to winterize and prime your irrigation pump.

[BenJaminItRawSir]

I live right down to road from yall in Navarre and I just want to express my deepest gratitude for this video, every year I forget how to winterize my sprinkler system and every year this video saves the day. Ill be back in march to see how to reprime it lol

[tontwilly]

Just primed my sprinkler system with the help of this video. Thank

[jdbeckers]

It's funny, I only watched the first part of your video before the winter to winterize my pump. Now that I wanted to use the pump again, no water was coming out. So after some googling I ended up back at your video which started automatically at the priming part from where I left off last time! We're also right down the road in Gulf Breeze! Thanks for your video!

Oh and indeed, you should just prime / fill it before turning the pump on.

[vanessapetrea]

Great demonstration! Thank you so much! We live in NW Florida panhandle.

[EarthyChick]

This really helped me today. Thanks for creating and posting!!

[pammccuen]

I followed your instructions & it worked great! Never primed a lawn pump before so this was an EXCELLANT tutorial.

[ZachTheMaker]

Thank you. Just bought a house with a well pump and this was exactly the information we needed.

[johnvagueiro]

This video was EPIC and helped me turn on my well watered sprinkler system by myself. THANK YOU!

[likruesco]

Great video, this is exactly what I needed to know about sprinkler pumps from wells.

[kenoharley]

You are always very informative..Thank you

[jeremypearson]

As several other have commented, I thought running a pump without it being primed was a no no. I actually had to replace my last pump because I didn’t use it for a while and it seized up.

[bobby-ovqn]

It's New Years Day 2025, and a big freeze is going to take over the Southeastern US, and it's going to be cold, cold cold. This video is going to do the trick for me. Thank U.

[CryptoFish]

That worked sort of...My spicket pointed down so I actually removed my pressure gauge and put the water in that way...thanks.

[DongsMcLong]

Backflow certified here, you DON'T want to screw a garden hose to the pump. Its fine to hold it over it and help fill the suction line, but eventually that pump pressure may be stronger than your garden hose pressure, and can push lake water into your pipes. This is called a cross connection. I use garden hoses to prime pumps all the time just do not directly connect them.

[BeingWolfy]

Great video! I had no water coming out but the pump motor was running. I went to prime the pump just like you showed and quickly learned that my pump had a big crack in it. Water was flowing out of the crack. I knew immediately because i had just watched your video and you showed the welded crack in your pump. Now I know I need to winterize this pump, even down here in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. We did have a colder than usual winter. Hard lesson learned. Hopefully I can get my pump welded too. Do you know if the pump portion of the unit can be replaced, without replacing the entire pump/motor?

[Mec]

Thank you for the video. I have a submersible pump for my well and cannot figure out how to turn on the pump other than turning the sprinklers on at the control box. I tried putting water in the spiket and had some water spurt back out, but depresurized after 5 seconds. Any ideas?

[Rican_Gal]

I’d like to buy/make a cover for the pump that can be kept on year round in case I’m not here when we get a freeze. Any recommendations?

Hi from Florosa.

[jasonbock]

Great video. I assume it's the same concept drawing from the lake?

[makarr]

Love the video! I was wondering if you could help with a different question. I have one of these Irri-Gator pumps, looks just like yours. Mine doesn't come on at all. I traced the 110V signal into the pump from the timer, and through each component and through the capacitor. So the signal is getting into the pump but it does not energize. Any suggestions?

[bwagenberg]

This guy is INSANE, running a pump while its dry, before priming.