How to properly winterize our shallow campground pipes?
Hello all. My wife and I found ourselves to be owners of a great little seasonal rustic campground. (long story) Much of it's infrastructure is... old... and not really done well. For today I'd like to ask for your wisdom regarding our water system. We run on a well, and after the water leaves our pump house there are no valves anywhere in our system. It services 2 bathhouses, and roughly 25 spigots around the campground. Piping is all old low-quality plastic.
I have a maintenance guy who I generally really like... but he does suffer from an odd case of "know it all". I've caught him proclaiming to know answers to things he clearly doesn't have a clue about with spectacular confidence.
We just fired up the well yesterday to burst pipes all over our campground. It was his first season of him winterizing the system without the help of previous management. The breaks that we know of all appear to be in the sections of pipe from the ground to the spigot. So I say to him "Well there was still water in that pipe and that's why it froze and burst" He says no, it was the old pipes and change in air pressure....... hmmm. Right.
So there is a valve that allows you to attach an air compressor in the wellhouse. I'm guessing the proper way to winterize the system is to pressurize the system with air (equivalent to water system pressure) and systematically open/close spigots around the campground until the water is all out? Is there some trick to this?
Also, would it be best to leave all spigots open over the winter?