When to remove CV spouts

[mspina14]

I have about 80 clear plastic 5/16 CV spouts connected to 5/16 tubing on vacuum.

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It's my first year using tubing and vacuum.

I'm finished for the season and cleaning up.

I plan on buying new CV spouts next season.

I leave my tubing up year round. I wanted to cut off the CV spouts and flush the tubing and drop lines with a hydrogen peroxide solution. I'd reverse my vacuum pump and pump the solution from my holding tank, up the lines, and out the drop lines. But if I leave the spouts on, the check valve will prevent the solution from exiting the drop lines.

Should I cut off the spouts now so the solution will flush out the entire drop line? if so, can I stick the end of the drop line into the spout holder on the "T" until next season and just install the new spouts at the beginning of next season?

Thanks for any advise.

Mark

[GeneralStark]

I personally pull spouts on vacuum and flush the tubing with a 50/50 water/vinegar solution. I prefer to keep things moving in one direction instead of reversing the flow and flushing slime into the drops. After cutting off the spout and sucking a little solution through the drop, I plug the drop on the pin T. This has worked well for me for quite a few years. This method will not sanitize the tubing.

If you are going to use hydrogen peroxide in an attempt to sanitize the tubing, it will need some significant contact time so just backflushing the system likely won't have much effect. If you are just wanting to flush the lines, you could do as I describe and suck some solution through each drop when you pull the tap.

There are lots of different ideas related to washing/rinsing/sanitizing/drying tubing systems but the only major trend in the industry is toward doing nothing, and just pulling the taps. In the end you should do whatever makes you feel good.

[Russell Lampron]

I've tried back flushing the lines with water and a mixture of water and compressed air. I have also tried sucking water through the taps with the vacuum on. All of those methods worked with limited success. What I do now is pull the taps with the vacuum on and let the vacuum suck the lines dry. I replace my taps every season and let the first few dumps of the releaser go on the ground.

When I only cleaned with water I would get green algae growth in the laterals that was hard to get rid of where water pooled up. I get a different kind of growth now but as the sap in the laterals ferments it kills the growth and it sucks right out with the first run. It's a real labor saver to be able to just pull the tap, plug it into the cup on the tee and move on.