What is a back flow preventor?
It is exactly what its name implies, a device which prevents back flow. Seems fairly straightforward, doesn’t it, unless you don’t know what backflow is, in which case it sounds like Ancient Greek.
So let’s start with backflow. Backflow occurs when the water in your pipes reverses direction and flows back towards the main water supply. In a perfect world, water is forced from your city’s water supply into your pipes by the use of pressure. All is well and good as long as the system is working in that manner. Unfortunately, this is not a perfect world. Sometimes there is a sudden drop in the water pressure, as is the case when there is a large 3-alarm fire and many fire hydrants are opened to fight the fire. In that case, water pressure drops, and it can drop to such an extent that the water pressure on the home end is greater than the water pressure on the city’s end. When that happens polluted water flows back to the city’s main water supply and that means contaminated water for citizens to drink. This is called the reduced pressure principle.
This can also happen in the case of back-siphonage, or a sudden increase in water pressure at the home end, like when a sudden increase of heat happens at the home. Thermal pressure can affect water pressure.
Thus the need for a back flow preventer. Backflow preventers are usually a backflow preventer valve, or a series of valves, which automatically shut down water flow when the water pressure suddenly decreases. This maintains the integrity of the system and ensure that polluted water will not spoil potable water.
As you might suspect, this is fairly important for the citizens of any city, so important that the federal government requires that only licensed backflow testers run annual backflow testing on all back flow devices. Many states and local municipalities also require that backflow testers be licensed in their jurisdictions, meaning that state, local and federal requirements must be met so that only the most qualified backflow testers may work in this capacity.
City Backflow Testing is one such affordable backflow testing company. With decades of experience in backflow devices, and certified and licensed in many of the cities in the Dallas/Ft. Worth megaplex, City Backflow Testing is your go-to source of backflow testing expertise. With something as important as your health, don’t you think you deserve the very best in backflow testers?
