Backflow Assembly Test (Corpus Christi, Lewisville, Frisco: new home, employment, landscaping)

[tb75252]

The city of Lewisville requires all homes to have their backflow assembly tested every year.
As a brand-new homeowner, I do not have a tester that I could contact.
Yes, I could go down the list of testers that Lewisville provides but I was wondering if anybody can recommend one that is quick, honest, and has a reasonable charge for such a test.

[turf3]

What happens if you don't have it tested? Is this just one of those things that's "supposed to be done" but no one actually ever does?

Seems like the water dept. should be responsible for this, frankly.

Personally, unless you're getting official communications, I'd ignore. If this is a local requirement then it would have had to be tested somewhere in the process of buying the house, I would think.

[escanlan]

Originally Posted by turf3

What happens if you don't have it tested?



In this case you would never know if it failed. These backflow prevention valves are intended to prevent potentially contaminated water from flowing backward from the irrigation system and into the potable water (fresh water) system. These valves can fail and yet still allow water flow toward the irrigation system. You just won't know it has failed.


Is this just one of those things that's "supposed to be done" but no one actually ever does?


The State used to have a requirement for annual testing and dropped in to allow local jurisdictions to create requirements and control them. Some do require annual testing and others say nothing. Unfortunately so many people are not aware of the importance of these valves to their family's safety and never have them tested. Some jurisdictions that have requirements do not enforce them either.


Seems like the water dept. should be responsible for this, frankly.


These valves are located after the water meter which makes them the homeowner responsibility.


Personally, unless you're getting official communications, I'd ignore.



To ignore this places the family members in very real danger if the valve fails! I most certainly would not ignore it for the small price of the test.



If this is a local requirement then it would have had to be tested somewhere in the process of buying the house, I would think.


A very nice thought and well worth the homeowner selling to have this test performed and provide the results to potential buyers. However even if this is done the new owner should have these tested annually!

Responses in blue above. These backflow prevention assemblies are misunderstood greatly particularly their purpose to keep the residents, as well as others around them, safe. There is a reason they are installed and they should not be ignored!!

[tb75252]

Originally Posted by tb75252

The city of Lewisville requires all homes to have their backflow assembly tested every year.
As a brand-new homeowner, I do not have a tester that I could contact.
Yes, I could go down the list of testers that Lewisville provides but I was wondering if anybody can recommend one that is quick, honest, and has a reasonable charge for such a test.

Here's what the city of Lewisville says about backflow testing:
https://www.cityoflewisville.com/abo...ckflow-testing

[jackalope48]

So I led the jihad(I mean that accurately I'm a democrat who was a regular in studio right wing radio guest on the subject) against this in Corpus Christi. Short answer is a landscaping/irrigation company or plumber can do the test for you. Irrigation company will be cheaper.

Long answer is this is the irrigation company full employment act. The ordinances are a misread of TCEQ regs that require a backflow preventer between a treated water source and a non treated water source or a hazard. So if you had city water and a ground well you'd have to have one to prevent a backflow from sucking well water into the city system. A good example of a hazard is the table at mortuary where they have water to spray off dead bodies. Yeah of course you don't want a spray hose sucking dead peoples fluids into a water system. Dentist offices have them on the water sprayers they put in your mouth.

The landscaping system requirement assumes that a backflow would suck water from your yard into the city system. This is unlikely. In fact there are not any documented cases of that ever happening and injuring someone. In other words the misread is treating water sprayed from sprinklers as a "water source". EPA has some documented cases of deaths and injuries from water hose backflows getting into a house system and injuring or killing people.(think trash can with a hose creating a water/chemical mixture). In those cases EPA responded by banning the chemical in question(If drinking it heavily diluted kills you it probably shouldn't be around people's houses). One guy managed to drink a glass of water/miracle grow and went to the hospital for it. In no case has anyone ever gotten anything back past the meter(meters have a mechanical backflow preventer in them most of the time).

The first round of our war we found a 25% compliance rate and were able to knock back the inspection frequency to every three years. We'd had a recently divorced councilman get a letter from city threatening jail time and a $1000 a day fine since his ex-wife had no clue that it was something that should be done. That brought a light on what a scam it was. It was basically $100 a year. The guys doing the inspections and city staff were the only people who defended it. We had a cartoon of a guy in a suit sitting in lock up with "What ya in for?" "Backflow prevention inspection".

Second round we got it converted to a small monthly fee(a few dollars) for people with landscaping systems to pay to the city through the utility bill. The city then had the option of either hiring people to do the inspection or outsourcing to a company. IIRC we got the price down through competitive bidding to 20-25 dollars an inspection. Why? individual inspections are really inefficient. A working backflow preventer takes about 45 seconds to check so your $75-$100 inspection is mostly driving time(plumbers don't like doing them because of this since their time is more valuable). By having the city pay for it they could schedule them by neighborhood meaning a guy could do 15 an hour rather than 2. The idea behind that is that once it was the city staff's money they would choose to deploy it differently.

I think where they are now is the water department has like 4 guys on staff who's job it is to check backflow preventers and for french drains and other cross connections like untreated wells to treated water supply(the **** that's actually dangerous). They are paid out of the inspection fee which is fine. It's basically a tax on people rich enough to have a landscaping system. If they find a problem they send you letter saying "hey fix this".

[turf3]

Bingo!!!

[Pinkett]

City of Frisco gave me a list of backflow testers. It was definetly required for us. You can email and ask for a list.