[Keefelane66]

Originally Posted by Salty Dog

I recently had one installed and it was $300. Testing was an additional $25. My water is a single source for both potable and irrigation.

Portion of a letter from my water company. "Florida Dept of Environmental Protection (FDEP) administrative code, subsection 62-555-630. Backflow assemblies shall be installed and certified by code. The assembly shall be installed by a licensed contractor certified in the State of Florida to install and test backflow assemblies."

I think repairs have to be done by a licensed contractor as well.

Yes repairs and installation is to be performed by licensed plumbing contractor.
Secondly “ How often is backflow testing required in Florida?
The state requires that homeowners have their backflow preventers tested every two years by a certified backflow tester, and that water utilities submit annual reports on the compliance status of their customers.”
I haven’t noticed this on the annual utilities water report.

[DrHitch]

Backflow preventers....comments:

1) be thankful you don't live in many northern states. Every residence with irrigation system requires a backflow preventers and it MUST be put in and removed every season by a licensed contractor... Really dumb

2) backflow preventers in general are a waste since the up-river supply is always at a higher pressure. You'd have to force water at 100psi to contaminate the water supply

3) yes, the Villages is one of the few developments I know of that has a separate irrigation supply system....good planning

[Bill14564]

Originally Posted by DrHitch

Backflow preventers....comments:

1) be thankful you don't live in many northern states. Every residence with irrigation system requires a backflow preventers and it MUST be put in and removed every season by a licensed contractor... Really dumb

2) backflow preventers in general are a waste since the up-river supply is always at a higher pressure. You'd have to force water at 100psi to contaminate the water supply

3) yes, the Villages is one of the few developments I know of that has a separate irrigation supply system....good planning

Backflow preventers aren’t intended to help much when everything is working correctly and the supply side is 60psi higher than the rest of the system. They come into play when the supply side pressure drops or even goes negative. Does this happen often? Not at all but when it does you want the backflow preventer in place to protect the system.