Backflow is the reverse water flow in pipelines causing contamination in the public water supply. This usually happens when the server or the customer’s property lines have disproportional water pressure creating a suction effect that backflows contaminated or non-potable water to the main pipe.
Backflow prevention devices are installed to reduce the risk of contaminating the main water supply. Basically, there are three popular ways to use backflow preventers. These are: 1) to reduce the risk of flooding in the basement, 2) to keep sprinkler systems safe to use, and 3) to prevent backflow in the heating boilers.
Basement flooding is common to houses with basements installed with floor drains. The sewer drains can sometimes be blocked due to clogging or high water levels during heavy rains resulting to these basement flooding. Backflow preventers ensure that water does not rise due to suction pressure. This device closes when reverse flow occurs in the pipeline.
Sprinklers are also culprits for backflow. The sprinkler head can also have a suction effect, drawing chemicals such as fertilizers and insecticides to subside to the water supply. Backflow preventers help in ensuring that these contaminants do not go down to the main supply of drinking water. These devices are installed on the water lines delivering potable water to the community, to make sure there is no backward pressure that will siphon contaminants to the clean water.
Heater boilers, moreover, can contaminate the water supply with boiler discharges and other dangerous substances. For sanitation purposes, a backflow preventer is necessary to maintain the hot and high-pressure waters from back-siphoning to the main waterways; because similarly with sprinklers, these can contaminate the entire potable water source of the community.
These are the most common and significant preventive measures that backflow prevention devices can do. Sin City Plumbers can provide services on the installation of backflow preventers. This extra equipment can help reduce the risks of our normal everyday lifestyle to the entire community. Today, policies enforcing safety protocols are now implemented especially to companies with products running high risks of backflow to ensure their compliance to the safety regulations in the community.
