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Deep Cleaning your Drip Lines & Disc Filter (Part 3 of 7)

Part 3 of 7: How to scrub both Flex Acre Drip Lines, your Top Caps and every Disc Filter disc at the sink

After cleaning and sanitizing your Tank in Cleaning & Sanitizing your Tank (Part 2 of 7), you can begin the bench block of your six month reset. Your Drip Lines and Top Caps, the covers over your Drip Lines, came off in Draining your Flex Acre (Part 1 of 7), and they are cleaned at a sink with your Disc Filter. Follow the steps in Keeping your Flex Acre Clean before you begin.

Gather Tools:

  • 5-Gallon Buckets
  • Scrub Pad
  • Pipe Brush or Snake
  • Drip Line Brush
  • Cleaning Brush
  • Hypochlorous Acid Spray
  • Sanitizer Spray
  • Clean Towels

Step 1: Carry Both Drip Lines to the Sink

  1. Confirm both Drip Lines and all 16 Top Caps are off your Flex Acre.
  2. Carry both Drip Lines to the sink.

Work one Drip Line through Step 4 before you start the second, as a half-cleaned line looks like a finished one.

Step 2: Scrub the Outside of your Drip Line

  1. Scrub the Drip Line with a scrub pad to remove algae and salt buildup.
  2. Scrub the Drip Line again under hot water.

Step 3: Brush the Inside of your Drip Line

  1. Remove the end cap.
  2. Rinse the end cap in hot water.
  3. Run a pipe brush or snake through the Drip Line.
  4. Run the Drip Line under hot water again while brushing each hole with the Drip Line brush.

A hole still plugged with salt delivers no water to the Root Chamber below it.

Step 4: Sanitize your Drip Line

  1. Spray a brush with hypochlorous acid.
  2. Brush the inside of the Drip Line with the sprayed brush.

  3. Wipe the Drip Line with hypochlorous acid spray and a clean towel.
  4. Reinstall the end cap.
  5. Set the Drip Line aside to air dry.
  6. Repeat Steps 2 through 4 on your second Drip Line.

An open-ended Drip Line sends your water out the far end instead of through the holes you cleared.

NOTE: BOTH DRIP LINES STAY AT THE BENCH TO AIR DRY. THEY GO BACK ONTO YOUR FLEX ACRE IN PART 7 OF 7, AFTER THE TANK IS REFILLED.

The seating technique is in Reinstalling your Drip Lines & Checking for Leaks (Part 7 of 7).

Step 5: Clean your Top Caps

  1. Scrub each Top Cap until the plastic is smooth.
  2. Rinse each Top Cap.
  3. Set the Top Caps out to air dry.
  4. Spray each Top Cap with sanitizer once it is dry.

Any grit you feel under a gloved finger is buildup your scrub pad has not lifted yet.

Step 6: Take Apart your Disc Filter

  1. Hold a bucket under the Disc Filter, which sits between pipe "B" and pipe "C" above the Main Send Valve (the primary valve in your assembly manual).
  2. Unscrew the Disc Filter off the line into the bucket to catch any water.
  3. Carry the Disc Filter to the sink.
  4. Fill a bucket with hot water.
  5. Unscrew the Disc Filter completely.
  6. Remove all discs into the bucket.
  7. Brush the biofilm off the plastic parts of the housing.
  8. Rinse the housing with hot water.
  9. Stand the housing upright to rebuild the stack.

This is the bench version of the weekly rinse in Cleaning your Disc Filter (Part 2 of 5).

Step 7: Scrub Every Disc

  1. Hold one disc in your free hand.
  2. Scrub the disc with a brush in a back and forth motion 2 to 3 times.
  3. Spin the disc.
  4. Scrub the other half.
  5. Flip the disc.
  6. Repeat on the second side.
  7. Dip the scrubbed disc into the bucket of hot water.
  8. Place the disc back on the housing.
  9. Repeat for every disc in the stack.

A finished disc is nice and red, so scrub again if the red is still hidden. Rebuild your Disc Filter with its own discs and housing, as misinstallation or modification of a supplied part voids your warranty. Your rebuilt Disc Filter stays at the bench and goes back onto the line above the Main Send Valve in Refilling your Tank & Rebuilding the Irrigation (Part 6 of 7).

Your Drip Lines and Top Caps are drying at the bench and your Disc Filter is rebuilt—well done! Continue to Taking Apart & Cleaning your Irrigation Pipes (Part 4 of 7) for next steps.