To avoid contaminating the city’s clean water supply, you need to install and maintain a backflow prevention device, one that should be inspected and tested each year and replaced as needed. A backflow device prevents water from travelling back into your drinking water. For that, turn to Tidal Plumbing and Heating. Serving home and business owners throughout all five boroughs of New York City, we provide comprehensive backflow testing services, certified in NYS to test and install backflow devices.
Backflow can occur when a cross-connection between your plumbing system and the city’s water line exists. If you don’t have a backflow prevention device installed, wastewater from your plumbing system will start to flow in the reverse direction and contaminate the city’s water supply.
Backflow can occur from one of two reasons:
- Backpressure: Caused by an imbalance in water pressure between your plumbing system and the city’s water line. When water pressure from your private line is higher than that of the municipal system, contaminated water will get into the municipal water line.
- Backsiphonage: This issue can develop when there’s been a break in the water main or if a fire hydrant has illegally been opened.
Backflow Testing Requirements
New York State law requires that certain properties and businesses install, maintain and test backflow prevention devices. These devices are designed to stop contaminated water from flowing backwards into the main water supply. If you don’t keep up with this requirement, you could face fines or possibly the disconnection of your water service.
The following business types must have their backflow prevention device tested annually, unless you have received a specific exemption from DEP:
- Properties with in-ground irrigation sprinklers and/or swimming pools
- Properties with multiple water service lines
- Metal plating, cleaning, processing or fabricating facilities
- Photo-processing facilities
- Laundromats and dry cleaners
- Car washes
- Greenhouses
- Hospitals, Clinics and Laboratories
- Medical/Dental Offices
- Funeral Parlors
- Food processing plants
- Dye Plants
- Paper processors
- Auto Repair Shops
- Breweries
- Tanneries
- Exterminators
- Large residential dwellings with treated water boilers
- Sewage treatment plants
- Properties with roof tanks and elevated storage lines
- Canneries
- Slaughterhouse Facilities
- Ice Manufacturing Facilities
- Printing Facilities
- Grocery stores
- Warehouses
- Properties with Commercial Kitchens, water cooled equipment or chillers, or Groundwater Wells
- Barber Shops and Beauty Salons
- Properties that Reuse or Recycle Water
- Shipyards and Marinas
- Schools and Colleges
- Food Preparation Facilities
- Nursing Homes
If you don’t see your business listed above, call Today Plumbing. We can tell you exactly which businesses need such devices tested and which ones don’t.
Remember, your drinking water comes from the city’s water main into your property’s plumbing via pressure; it should only be flowing in one direction. However, sometimes pressure changes in pipes occur, which causes the water to flow backwards into the city water lines. This creates the potential to contaminate the public water supply with chemicals or human waste.
We do all we can to ensure this doesn’t happen, as we are fully licensed and insured in NYC to handle all of your backflow testing needs.
FYI, it takes approximately one hour to test your backflow prevention device.
Contact Tidal Plumbing and Heating
To book a backflow testing appointment or to get an estimate, please contact us at 718-505-9300, email us at [email protected], or complete our online form.
