Contaminated water is one of the worst nightmares of homeowners. Dirty water transmits serious diseases that can cause a rapid deterioration in the health of your household members. As such, it’s important for all homeowners to be familiar with backflow and how it can be prevented.
What is Backflow?
Backflow happens anytime the water inside your pipes starts to flow the wrong way. Any type of pressure change in your piping system, like a fire hydrant being opened nearby, can temporarily halt the flow of water into your water line. This causes the water already in your pipes to start flowing back towards the main water line, potentially exposing you to contaminated water.
Backflow is dangerous because your home’s water pipes contain a lot more than just water. They also contain raw sewage and other chemicals, like pesticide runoff. As long as everything in these pipes moves the right way, the entire system functions spectacularly.
However, when contaminated water starts flowing the wrong way along with your drinking water, disaster happens.
From the inception of municipal water systems, backflow has been a tremendous danger to the quality of the drinking water. This is the reason why most cities require all buildings with a cross-connection to the public water supply to have a backflow preventer installed.
Backflow prevention ensures that the building’s water system is kept separate from the city’s water system. This is essential to maintain a clean and safe drinking water system.
How a Backflow Preventer Works
A backflow preventer works by ensuring water can only flow one way through your pipes. Once it detects any change in the direction your water flows in the lines, the backflow stopper will completely close the tube off. Think of it as a one-way door that only opens a certain way, preventing the counterflow of water.
Generally, a licensed plumber can install backflow stoppers where the main municipal or well water line enters the home.
Backflow preventers are not just for the house’s main water inlet, though. They are also helpful in protecting your supply of drinking water from any backflow within the house’s pipes. For instance, it prevents sewage or drainage from bathtubs or washing machines from flushing back into the drinking water supply.
Why Are Backflow Preventers Important?
Backflow preventers are extremely important in safeguarding public health. Homes without backflow valves could contaminate the main municipal water source. This could introduce dangerous bacteria into the water supply of large populations of people.
Backflow within the home is also dangerous, as your own drinking water supply could be contaminated by raw sewage, chlorinated pool water, pesticide-ridden drainage from outdoors, and even drainage from your dishwasher and washing machine.
All of these materials regularly drain from the pipes out to the sewer line or septic system of a home. Without a backflow preventer, such waste flows backward. It can then cause flooding damage to the home or contamination of the home’s drinking water supply.
Secure Your Family’s Health, Have a Backflow Preventer Installed Today
Our experienced professionals at Wade Roberts Plumbing are available and ready to inspect your home’s water systems to determine whether you’re getting adequate backflow protection and cross-contamination control. We will pull the appropriate permits and complete the inspection and installation work promptly.
We take pride in being transparent with our prices, as well as having an entire fleet of vehicles that guarantees that you get the plumbing services you need within hours, not days. You can also rest assured that we always have a full stock of plumbing supplies, including high-quality parts and materials with excellent warranties.
Give us a call at (250)-883-7545 for more information about our services or fill out our convenient contact form and wait for one of our experts to get in touch with you shortly.
