The Importance of Backflow Preventers

The backflow preventer is an important device required by all municipalities and the BC plumbing code to prevent the backflow of potentially contaminated water from the irrigation system back into the potable water. Yuck, right?

University Sprinklers was recently called in to repair an irrigation system that didn’t have a backflow preventer installed at all, and on top of that, the tee that was used was also incorrectly installed and was leaking. The past installer tried to use a thread sealing compound to seal in a location that was not engineered to seal at the threads (this is a compression-style tee, and the sealing between pipe and fitting actually takes place at a compression ring and a seat within the body of the tee, not the threads).

Now the site is patched up, and backflow preventer has been installed, and the leaking has stopped.

Phew! Another day done at University Sprinklers.