Spring Cleaning/Summer Season Task List and Schedule

Task	When	Details
Turn on exterior faucets	When below-freezing weather ends (April, May)	See the Winterizing exterior faucets for locations of shutoff valves – simply turn them on again.
Prime irrigation system and turn on sprinkler controller	When regular rainfall ends (May/June)	Priming the irrigation system
Power washing patio and dock, applying Penofin to dock	After rainy season is largely over and dock is above water (~May)	See here for vendor referral.
Re-attach boat lift power/pump box	After power washing and Penofin application
Bring oil lamps outdoors	Whenever you want to use them
Move pool cleaner robot to pool	Before using pool regularly
Take pool water sample to AquaQuip for analysis	When it starts to be consistently warm (April/May)	They will give you a long list of chemicals to buy and apply plus detailed instructions on how to do it and in what order.
Move cushions and umbrellas from mechanical room and locker room	Whenever you want to use them
Bring dock solar lamps outdoors	After power washing and Penofin application
Increase chlorine cycle on pool timer	May
Spring cleanup and reschedule monthly landscaping service	April

Generator Start and Hookup

Generator Start

Move generator. Move generator from upper garage outside to the concrete area between upper garage and main house, above the stairs going down to the butler’s pantry.

Check oil. Oil should be level, almost to the point of spilling.

Check fuel. Let spilled fuel evaporate before starting.

Start Generator.

• Move red fuel shut-off valve to “ON”
• Slide choke lever to “FULL”
• Flip switch to “ON”
• Pull starter (be sure to take up slack before pulling to avoid kickback)
• Slowly move chock lever to “RUN” as engine warms up

Electrical Hookup

• Run cable from generator to exterior generator hookup plug, located outside the butler pantry door, near the gutter downspout:

• Connect mechanical room cable.  In the mechanical room, behind the pool filter, is a large cable normally connected to the “Main Panel” junction box.  Move it to the box labeled “Gen Power.”
• Turn on circuit breaker.  Locate breaker panel “C” on wall opposite the pool filter and flip top breaker marked “Power from Utility” to the “ON” position

Priming the Irrigation System

When it finally stops raining and the sun is out on a regular basis, it’s time to fire up the irrigation system for the summer.  The system pumps water from the lake through a foot valve attached to a pipe underneath the dock, so it’s basically free.  However, in order to pump water from the lake, the system must be primed with city water after being drained for the winter.

Here’s what to do:

1. On the dock, connect a hose from the fresh water faucet to the irrigation system drain.  There is a short purple hose in the mechanical room for this purpose, but any hose will do (the shorter the better).  Both faucets should be open (turned fully counterclockwise) from the winter, but if they aren’t, open them.
   
2. Open the shutoff valve on the irrigation pump in the mechanical room by (turn it fully counterclockwise):
   
3. There is a faucet behind the house, about halfway up the hill next to a red clay planter shaped like a fish.  It should still be open (turned fully counterclockwise) from the winter, but if it isn’t, open it.  Here’s what it looks like:
   
4. Turn on the dock faucet.  The dock faucet shutoff valve is the blue one located above the toilet in the locker room, behind the access panel:
   
5. The water should start flowing from the deck faucet, through the irrigation system drain, and up to the faucet next to the fish in the back of the house.  Go to that faucet and wait until water is running smoothly and with no “air in the pipes” sound; when it is, close it (turn it fully clockwise).
6. Close both faucets on the dock (turn it fully clockwise).  Don’t disconnect the hose yet; you may need it connected if the next few steps aren’t successful.
7. Close the shutoff valve on the irrigation pump (turn it fully clockwise).
8. The system is now mostly primed, but you now must ensure that water can be pumped from the lake.  Locate the irrigation controller to the left of the central vacuum system in the mechanical room:
   
   Note the list below it which tells you which zones control which areas.  You’ll need to know this for later.
9. Here’s a close-up view of the controller:
   
   It should be on the “SYSTEM OFF” setting from the winter.  Turn the selector knob to “MANUAL – SINGLE STATION”.  The number 1 should show on the display.  Turn the selector knob back to “RUN”.
10. The controller will try to start watering zone 1 by automatically activating the irrigation pump.   Slowly (~1/2 turn per second) open the shutoff valve on the pump (turn counterclockwise) to allow water to start flowing from the lake.  If you open it too fast, it might lose prime and you’ll have to start over, but don’t do it too slowly or you could damage the pump; about 1/2 turn per second should work.  You will see the water pressure valve fluctuate wildly as the system is fully primed, but it should eventually stabilize at about 60 psi.
    
11. Go outside and verify that the sprinklers are indeed watering zone 1.
12. Once the pressure stabilizes in zone 1, repeat the process for the other zones and verify that water is flowing in each zone.  After zone 1 it should go quite quickly because the only remaining air in the system will be in the sprinkler lines themselves.
13. Turn the controller selector knob to “RUN”.
14. You can adjust the start time, frequency, and duration of the irrigation cycle for each zone by following the instruction on the inside lid of the controller box.
15. Close the sprinkler controller box.
16. Disconnect the hose from the faucets on the dock.  Make sure both faucets are closed before disconnecting the hose or the system will lose prime.
17. You’re done!

Draining the Irrigation System

It’s much easier to drain the irrigation system for the winter than it is to prime it in the spring or early summer.  Here are the steps:

There is a faucet behind the house, about halfway up the hill next to a red clay planter shaped like a fish.  Turn the blue handle counterclockwise until it stops.
On the irrigation system drain on the dock, turn the red handle counterclockwise until it stops.
The irrigation system pump is located in the mechanical room.  Turn the blue handle clockwise until it stops.

Winterizing Task List and Schedule

Task	When	Details
Drain and turn off exterior faucets	Before first frost	Winterizing exterior faucets
Drain irrigation system and turn off sprinkler controller	Before first frost	Draining the irrigation system
Move cushions and umbrellas into mechanical room and locker room	October or early November
Move pool cleaner robot inside	October or early November	Clean the filter sac and let it dry before storage (i.e. don’t put it away dirty or it will be crusty and moldy in the springtime).
Detach boat lift power/pump box	Before dock goes under water (November to January)	Cover hose ends with a plastic bag and zip-tie them to post.  Let a little bit of pressure off (lower it just a bit off the very highest position) or it will be hard to reconnect the hoses in the spring.
Bring oil lamps indoors	October or early November
Bring dock solar lamps indoors	Before dock goes under water
Reduce chlorine cycle on pool timer	October or early November
Cancel monthly landscaping service	October

Vendor Contacts

Type	Contact Information	Comments
Pool Systems Maintenance	Terri Rann Master Pools of Washington (425) 641-4635	This is the company that did the original installation and some of the maintenance in the meantime.  They aren’t the ones who did the maintenance work in the summer of 2009 however; that was Ken’s Pool and Patio.  (Master Pools is usually pretty responsive but at that time they weren’t.)
Pest Control	Eden Advanced Pest Technologies (800) 401-9935	This is the company that does the pest control maintenance.  They offer a monthly maintenance service. Records/receipts of what they did can be found here: 1. Mar, May 2009 2. Apr 2009 3. Jul 2009 (inspection items)
Power Washing Window Washing	Tom Fricke Master Butler (425) 761-0290	Tom also offers many other services – see website for details.
Range Fan Maintenance	Mountain Appliance Service PO Box 284 Issaquah, WA 98027 (425) 454-1140	When you’re not using it, the Dacor range fan is normally flush with the kitchen table surface and pops up when you press the button on top. It knows it’s open or closed via what’s called a limit switch; if the limit switch is faulty, the fan will go up and down constantly. Believe it or not, it’s happened twice. Mountain Appliance fixed it both times (the second time under warranty).
Alarm & Security	Lander Electric Lander Monitoring 1-800-2-LANDER	This is the company that did all the low voltage work (phone/ethernet/alarms).  They also provide a reasonably-priced monitoring service ($150 every six months), most of which should be offset by a discount on your homeowners insurance. They can change the alarm code and the “Bliss House” text on the alarm panel. The Bliss account number was 7507-0404.
Landscaping	Sou’s Lawn Care Services business: (206) 890-1317 home: (206) 653-7692	There are a lot of people who do yard maintenance.  Some are cheap, some are good; few are both.  This guy is one of them.

Winterizing Exterior Faucets (aka Hose Bibs)

This task is very important: the pipes connected to exterior faucets will freeze in the winter if their water supply is not shut off and the water in the pipes is not drained.  If they freeze, there will be flooding in the garage and/or the breezeway suite storage area. 

There are five hose bibs with six shutoff valves, but it’s easiest to think of it as four distinct plumbing lines/circuits.  Each plumbing line/circuit is described below.

Winterizing a plumbing line involves two or sometimes three steps:

1. Turn off the shutoff valve
2. Open the faucet to allow water to drain
3. If applicable, drain any remaining water in the line.  (This is only necessary in one of the plumbing lines.)

Apartment/ADU Deck and Upper Garage

There are two faucets on this line.  One is on the apartment/accessory dwelling unit deck; the other is below it outside the upper garage:

Apartment / ADU Deck	Outside Upper Garage

This plumbing line has two shutoff knobs and two drain valves.  The first shutoff valve is underneath the utility sink in the lower garage:

The first drain valve is located at the bottom of the faucet outside the upper garage.  Here’s a close-up photo:

After opening both faucets (this one and the one on the apartment/ADU deck), simply press the white stem and let the water drain out until it stops or slows to a trickle.  (Remember to open the faucet on the apartment/ADU deck; if you don’t, it won’t drain.)

The second shutoff valve and drain valve is in the lower garage above the workbench, on the right side of the garage.  It’s covered by a white spring-loaded plate:

When you remove the plate (it’s easy to remove, but don’t just pull on it; stand on the workbench and pull the plate out about 3/4” to see how it’s attached; the mechanism is fairly obvious) you’ll see the second shutoff and drain valves:

Shutoff Valve and Drain Valve – Off Position	Shutoff Valve – On Position

This shutoff and drain valve is arguably redundant; most of the freezing risk is eliminated by the first shutoff and drain valves.  These valves were installed after the pipes froze one winter, but I am pretty sure I had neglected to drain the water after shutting off the valve (the one in the outside faucet).  Note that if you open this drain valve you’ll need a bucket or some other container to collect the drain water.

Main (Lower) Garage

This line has one shutoff valve and one faucet.

The faucet is located between the garage door and the house entrance:

The shutoff valve is located to the right of the house entrance in the ceiling:

Deck Shower/Faucet

This line has one faucet and two shutoff valves (one for hot water, one for cold water).  The faucet is located directly underneath the outdoor shower – it’s not the one closest to the door:

The shutoff valve is located in the locker room, in the room with the toilet.  There are two access panels in that room, one on the east wall (closest to the lake) and one above the toilet.  The shutoff valve for the faucet is the blue one located on the east wall:

It may not be strictly necessary to shut off this faucet because it’s on an inside wall.  The faucet closest to the door is left on year-round.  However, it can’t hurt.

Dock

The fresh-water faucet on the dock is located about a third of the distance down the dock on the south side (on the right as you face the lake).  There are actually two faucets:

The one on the right is used to drain the water from the irrigation system.  (The above photo was taken in mid May 2009; these faucets are not underwater in the summer.)

The shutoff valve is located above the toilet in the locker room, behind the access panel.  The blue valve controls the dock faucet; the orange one is the main water shutoff for the house (not counting the apartment/ADU, which has its own, and which actually controls this one):

Utilities

Electrical/Natural Gas

• Puget Sound Energy, www.pse.com
• Start Service
• 1.888.225.5773
• Meter is on the outside southwest wall of the apartment (closest to the street) – see picture below

Internet/Cable/Phone

• Comcast, www.comcast.com
• Contact information
• 1-800-COMCAST (1.800.266.2278)

In this picture, you can see the location of the electrical meter and the cable hookups.  The electrical meter is at the top; the cable hookup is at the bottom.  The telephone is not hooked up at the street; it’s in the mechanical room (as is cable internet) – everything comes via Comcast.  It would be possible to reconnect the telephone to Verizon residential service, but it’s more expensive.

Water and Sewer

• City of Redmond Utility Billing, home page
• New service / service change
• 425.556.2152, 425.556.2198 (fax)
• Meter is in the ground, covered by an iron plate, in front of the house:

Garbage Collection

• Waste Management, www.wm.com
• Contact information – Redmond
• Garbage, recycling, and yard waste collected weekly on Fridays

Security Monitoring

• Lander Electric
• 1.800.2-LANDER
• You are required to register a monitored alarm annually with the Redmond Police Department.  The fee is $10.  More information here.