SPRINKLER TALK FORUM - You Got Questions, We've Got Answers

Auto drains are special outlets that close under water pressure and open when pressure has been released to drain the water from the pipes.

If you use them, you should install them at the lowest point of the pipe. They should drain into a large pile of drainage rock (i.e. the water has to have some place to go).

To the best of my knowledge, the only reason to use them is to insure the pipes are drained so that a sudden freeze doesn't burts your pipe in colder climates. In warmer climates, some people install these and that's all they ever need to do to winterize their system.

To the best of my knowledge, these auto drains are never needed and I believe some people do NOT recomend them claiming the water having to push out all that air each time the system turns on puts more stress on the system compared to just leaving the water in the pipes.

Coming from my experiences here in Michigan, I would say that you CAN install them, just as extra insurance, but you still need to winterize the system with compressed air in the fall. They are not required, and you do not HAVE to have them. Like HooKu said, if you install them, make sure you have the proper drainage (rock) below them.

don't use them , just every winter blow out entire system from main and you will be ok. use a air compressor .

Autodrains are one of those good ideas that don't really work out well in the real world. First, you need to get them on the lowest point on each line (which can be very difficult to determine), and then you need to get some drainage rock under them. What typically happesn is that they get plugged up from roots and dirt. Also; these waste a lot of water as your line drains out each time the system is used. This can actually cause overwatering at the drain areas, and underwatering in general as the time to fill the line back up comes off of the zone run time.

I can't envision a situation where I would install these for any of my customers, in fact, if a customer demanded them in an install, I'd suggest that they should find a different contractor.