Which Backflow Preventer Is Right for Me?
Choosing a Backflow Preventer
The last thing you want during a flood is to see sewage flowing back into your home. Backflow prevention is the key to stopping sewage from damaging your property, but you need the right kind of equipment. Here are the common types of backflow preventers, and which ones you might choose.
What Creates Sewer Backflow?
Every time you turn on a faucet or flush a toilet, the waste water is sent down your plumbing and connects with the municipal sewer line. Ideally, the sewer line is lower than your plumbing, so that it can use the benefit of gravity to get the waste water to a water treatment plant. Sometimes, there is a blockage or an overflow of a sewer line that causes the waste water to flow back toward your home. Without some kind of system in place to block the backflow, it could easily flow directly into your kitchen, bathrooms and basement, through your plumbing.
What Is Backflow Prevention?
The concept of backflow prevention is derived from the assumption that eventually, a sewer line is going to get backed up or overloaded and send waste water backwards. Essentially every home has a basic backflow preventer, because otherwise you would be at the whim of every big storm, flood or damage to the sewer line. Backflow preventers can be installed by the city on the municipal sewer line itself or in your plumbing on your property. The choice you make depends on your budget and how much risk you face from backflow.
How Do Backflow Preventers Work?
The whole point is to stop the backflow by any reasonable means available. The simplest backflow preventers are called “sewer check valves.” With this type of backflow preventer, the flapper is switched by the presence of backflow. It does not allow the backflow to drain away, nor does it push the backflow in the right direction. It simply stops it from flowing back into your home. However, these types of backflow preventers may fail. If you want better protection, you should ask your plumbers in Sacramento about building some redundancy into your backflow prevention system.
Which Backflow Preventer Do I Need?
The type of backflow preventer you would buy depends on the concerns presented by your plumbing system and the sewer line connected to it. In places with fairly mild winters, a pressure vacuum breaker could be an ideal choice. In some cases, backflow is pulled toward the home due to vacuum pressure in the line. A pressure vacuum breaker puts air into the line to break the suction. Other systems simply add extra barricades to the backflow from within the plumbing line. A double-check assembly preventer and a reduced pressure zone preventer each have two valves that close due to backflow, to act as a hedge against complete failure.
Stopping sewage from entering into your home after a storm is something you would like to be able to guarantee. With backflow prevention systems and services from Ace Plumbing, you could enjoy the peace of mind that your plumbing and home will be better protected.