Water should be coming to your house by a one-way flow only, backflow is a term in plumbing that means water is flowing in the opposite direction that it is supposed to. This happens when the pressure quickly drops and the flow of the water will reverse and suck unhealthy water from cross-connected into your clean water.
First thing you need to do to prevent a backflow is to have a plumbing professional detect any potential contamination sources and check or install devices that will sensor if the water is flowing the correct direction and will shut off the opening if the water is flowing in reverse of the usual flow.
There are 2 kinds of preventers you will have:
- Hose Bib – The hose bib protects a single outlet and has a spring that allows only 1 direction of water flow. If the water pressure drops, the spring closes and a valve opens that discharges backflowing water before it enters the water supply.
- Pressure Type Vacuum Breakers – A pressure type vacuum breaker is installed in the pipe of the water supply for the home sprinkler system and is constantly sensing for the pressure to drop negative or below air pressure, in which it will shut of valve to prevent backflow.
Fun Fact of the Month – The flushing toilet was invented by John Harrington in 1596, which is where we get the nickname “the John”. We also called the toilet “the crapper” because of Thomas Crapper, who widely increased the popularity of it.
