Question
I bought my first home last year and had the sprinklers properly winterized. Now that we are safely into spring, I attempted to turn on the sprinkler system again. I turned the 2 valves on my backflow valve unit to face the same direction as the pipe they are on and then went down into the basement to turn on this valve. The water started running and I went out front and water was shooting out of a spot on the backflow valve. Nothing was broken just shooting out of the valve--sort of like a petcock valve but outside where on the backflow valve unit (there are 2 of these on the unit but only 1 nut plugging up one of the holes. Water shoots out of the one not plugged. What am I doing wrong? Thanks

Answer
Hey Bcurme, I hope this helps. Normally when the system is winterized, the pitcocks on the backflow preventer, are left open in case any water enters the system, it will leak out. There should be a slotted valve on the pitcock that needs to be closed. A screwdriver should fit in the slot to turn it about a 1/2 turn closed. Some pitcocks could have a small handle on them,instead of the slot, much like your ball valves have. This again needs to be closed. It could be the reason the one pitcock has a plug (nut) on it, is because this pitcock is not shutting off fully, and instead of replacing the pitcock, they plugged it off. You might find the same problem on the pitcock that is not turned off. Again you might have to plug it or replace it. To replace it, the old one should unscrew from the unit itself(counter-clockwise). Just so you know, these pitcocks have no importance in how well the vacuum breaker performs. They are mainly used to winterize the system so nothing freezes and cracks. Let me know if I can help you anymore, thanks and have a great day.