What backflow actually is
Water is supposed to flow one way, from the main into your property. If pressure in the main drops suddenly, a burst nearby or heavy fire service draw, the flow can briefly reverse.
When that happens, whatever is sitting in your pipework can be pulled back into the public drinking supply. Irrigation water, chemicals, water from a cooling system. A backflow prevention device is the mechanical barrier that stops it.
Who needs a device tested
Commercial premises, strata buildings, properties with fire services, irrigation systems, or any trade equipment connected to the water supply typically have one or more registered testable devices.
Registered devices must be tested every twelve months by an accredited person, with results submitted to the water authority. We arrange that tester and handle everything around the test.
The obligation sits with the owner
This catches people out regularly. In a commercial lease the cost is often passed through to the tenant, but the legal responsibility for compliance remains with the property owner.
If testing lapses, it is the owner who is non-compliant, and it is the owner who deals with the consequences at insurance or sale time.
What the test involves
A short attendance. The device is isolated, gauges are connected, and the internal check valves and relief are tested against the required pressure differentials.
Most failures are a worn seal or a tired spring, both of which can usually be repaired without replacing the whole device. We retest after any repair and lodge the passing result.
Keep it off your list
We track due dates for the properties we test and get in touch before the anniversary rather than after it. If you manage several sites, we can schedule them together and put them on one invoice.
Written by the team at Adlington Plumbing. Licensed plumbing and gas fitting across Newcastle, Lake Macquarie and the Central Coast. Licence 384065C.