North Texas freezes enough that uncovered backflows are a seasonal ritual. Houston freezes rarely enough that people skip covers, then lose brass in a single Uri-style week. The prep is not the same paragraph with the city swapped.
Dallas–Fort Worth
Dallas and Fort Worth should treat November through March as cover season, not “if it looks icy tonight.”
Blow-outs are more justified here than on the Gulf, especially on exposed copper and unused guest-house zones.
Houston and the Gulf
Houston still needs a cover on the backflow and a known shutoff. Full-system blow-outs are less common because the off-season is short.
The risk is complacency. One night at 19°F cracks the same RPZ a Dallas home already wrapped.
Hill Country sits in between
Boerne and Lakeway get hill freezes that Houston does not. Exposed pipe on slopes deserves more respect than a Katy MUD lot.
After the freeze
Inspect before the first automatic start. That sentence belongs on a sticky note on the controller.
If it is already spraying, emergency shutoff first.
Keep reading (internal links)
Related: Sprinkler Head Not Popping Up, Leak Detection & Repair in Houston, TX, Drought and Watering Restrictions in Texas. Services: all services. Areas: service areas. Cities in this piece: Dallas, Houston, Fort Worth.
Parent service page: Winterization & Spring Start-up.
How we actually run this job
On the truck this is still isolation before dirt, a written option before extra parts, and a legal watering window after the hardware works. Texas clay, caliche, and city mains punish skipped steps. If a national checklist contradicts your utility, the utility wins.
If you are comparing cities, use the local page rather than this article alone — soil and freeze risk change at the county line. The service menu is here and the area list is here.
Need it fixed, not diagnosed over email? Call 888-427-5022 or use the contact page.
Texas context we will not skip
Gulf clay, Blackland prairie, and Edwards rock do not share a repair script. A wet spot in Houston is not a freeze crack in Dallas, and a SAWS stage day is not a MUD watering window in Katy. We write those constraints because they change the parts on the truck and the program we leave on the clock.
If this article is about a part, still run isolation before you buy a case of that part. If it is about a city, still open the valve box before you trench the first damp patch. If it is about a clock, still measure the solenoid. That order is the whole business.
Call 888-427-5022. Use the contact page if you need a gate code on the ticket. Hub pages: services, service areas, blog.