Why the test falls due every year
A backflow assembly stands between a building's plumbing and the mains. Water that has sat in a boiler, an irrigation line, a chemical feed or a fire loop is no longer the water that left the main, and a pressure loss upstream can pull it back. Health and Safety Code 17920.3 makes a building substandard where the plumbing is not in good condition and free of cross connections and siphonage between fixtures.
The duty sits on the premise owner, and the interval is fixed. The premise owner or responsible person has the assembly tested at the time of installation, repair or relocation, and not less than on an annual schedule after that, or more often where the authority having jurisdiction requires it. A repair therefore brings its own test with it, ahead of the anniversary.
An assembly that cannot be reached cannot be tested. The plumbing code keeps not less than 12 inches between the lowest part of the assembly and grade, and where it sits more than five feet up it needs a platform. In cold climate areas the assembly is protected from freezing. An assembly buried in a shrub bed or set flush in a pit fails those lines before the test itself is reached, and the work is then the clearance rather than the valve.
In a rental the assembly belongs to someone by name. Civil Code 1941.1 counts a water supply able to produce hot and cold running water among the things a dwelling cannot substantially lack, so the potable service and its protection are the owner's. On a common service it is the association's, and your water supplier sends the test notice to whoever it holds as the responsible person.
What backflow testing and repair includes
Each assembly on the property is found and listed: what it protects, where it sits, its type and size, and the date its last test was recorded. On a portfolio this is what turns a pile of supplier notices into one schedule.
Clearance to grade, the platform where the assembly is high, and anything grown or built around it are dealt with before the gauges go on, because none of the readings can be taken otherwise.
The service is shut for the duration of the test, so tenants and any fire or irrigation loop on the same line are told before the valves are closed.
Gauges are put on the test cocks and the assembly's checks and relief are read in the order its type requires, with the differential pressure and the shut-off readings written down.
Where the assembly fails, the seats, discs or springs are repaired or the unit replaced, and the code's test after a repair follows.
The result goes to you and your water supplier in the form it asks for, and the anniversary is passed to preventive maintenance so the next one is planned.
The interval is not a calendar year across a portfolio. Each assembly runs on its own anniversary, and a test also falls due the moment that assembly is installed, repaired or relocated, whatever the date says.
Where backflow assemblies are tested
Restaurant and food suites
Assemblies on the incoming service and on the connections a kitchen adds behind it, each a separate device with its own date.
Apartment complexes and walk-ups
One assembly on a service that feeds every unit, so the test is scheduled with notice and the shut-off kept as short as the readings allow.
HOA common services
Irrigation and common-area supply protected on the association's side of the meter, where the test notice reaches the board rather than an owner.
Warehouses and light industrial
Fire loops, process lines and yard supply, where the assembly is often outside and the clearance to grade is what fails first.
Offices and medical suites
Boiler and equipment feeds behind a tenant wall, where reaching the assembly is arranged with the tenant before the gauges come out.
Hotels and motels
Laundry, kitchen and pool connections on one property, tested as a set so the shut-offs are taken once rather than six times.
Questions about backflow testing and repair
Not less than on an annual schedule, and also at the time of installation, repair or relocation. The authority having jurisdiction may require it more often. The clock runs from each assembly's own history, so two devices on the same property can fall due months apart, and a repair resets one of them.
The premise owner or the responsible person. In a rental that is the owner; on a common service in an association it is the association. Your water supplier sends the notice to whoever it holds on record, which is why the first job on a new property is checking that the record is right.
It is repaired or replaced, and the code has a test follow the repair, so the property does not wait for the next anniversary. Where the failure is clearance, a missing platform or freeze damage, the fix is the installation around the assembly rather than the valve.
For the length of the test, yes, on the line the assembly protects. Tenants, a kitchen, a laundry and any fire or irrigation loop on that line are told first, and the shut-off is kept to what the readings need.
Not less than 12 inches between the lowest part of the assembly and grade, and a platform where the assembly is more than five feet up. In cold climate areas it is also protected from freezing.
Backflow testing and repair by city
A test is booked through the plumbing, electrical and HVAC page for your city, which names the water supplier that sends the notice.
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