# Starting to think about compressor for blowout



## Mok (May 29, 2019)

Hello,

It's almost time to start thinking about closing my sprinkler system as it's getting colder here in Canada (Quebec). I recently cancelled my services with my sprinkler company and wanted to manage my irrigation myself. I'm a little nervous about choosing a compressor for the blowout and getting all the water out of my irrigation pipes. I really wouldn't use the compressor for anything other than the irrigation system blowout and I'm not in any rush I got time to flush the water out zone by zone. I also have about a 2000 sq ft lawn (front and back combined).

What would be your recommendations for a compressor? I was maybe going to buy it from home depot or something to give you an idea of the type of compressor I'd buy. Does it really have to be 7-10 SCFM or greater or can I use like 2.6 SCFM? Also how big should my tank be since I've read I need to push out a lot of volume.

I've done some research already but kind of wanted to be sure I got the right one so I decided to post and see what you all thought.

PS
I saw some article online and they suggested this what do you think? https://www.homedepot.ca/product/dewalt-2-5-gal-portable-electric-heavy-duty-200-psi-quiet-trim-air-compressor/1000851848

Thanks in advance!


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## chrismar (May 25, 2017)

For blowing out irrigation systems it's all about volume and CFMs. The big diesel commercial units don't offer a lot of PSI, but they do offer a lot of CFMs.

That said, for a DIY approach, the larger the volume of the tank means the more CFMs. That's why you see smaller tanks have smaller CFMs and the larger tanks have larger CFMs.

For my setup I have a 30 gallon compressor that does about 7 CFMs. This has been working perfectly for me for 3 seasons (so far). I do be sure to blow out each zone 2-3 times, just as a bit of insurance since I don't have the big commercial unit that can do 80-100 CFM.


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## ShilpaMann (May 12, 2018)

It's my understanding that you don't really need excessive pressure (PSI), you just need a large volume of air (CFM). You can get both from theoretically cheap used Kijiji/Craigslist/FB Marketplace/etc compressors, but you really want a large-ish tank for capacity.

Think of it this way, if you have an enormous 100Gal tank that your compressor spent however long filling, you can open that thing up and get that pressure for a pretty sustained time, but if you just turn on the compressor and open it up, you'll get very little flow. Kindof like a flywheel.


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