For many industrial businesses in the greater Boston area, backflow remains an important issue to prevent. This is the phenomenon whereby contaminated water mixes in with potable (drinking) water in a plumbing system and renders it unusable. It’s a problem anytime of year, but can be particularly thorny during the winter. That’s why a quality backflow prevention device may be just what you need to prevent the problem from occurring, and why now is the ideal time to get one installed in your plumbing system.
How is Backflow Created?
Backflow is usually created by changes in pressure within the pipes themselves. Pressure normally helps moves wastewater down the drain lines and into the municipal sewer system or similarly out of your plumbing system. But when the pressure changes, trouble can result. Pressure can shift when the water system undergoes a lot of stress during periods of high demand. It can also change when pipes freeze or burst: a common problem every winter which can be compounded when wastewater starts flowing back into the pipes.
Points in your plumbing system which remain vulnerable to backflow include cross-connections: where potable water lines connect to non-potable sources. For example, boiler feed water lines containing chemicals can cause trouble if backflow ever allows those chemicals to be sucked back in through the pipes.
Backflow can contaminate the potable water lines when it occurs, creating health issues, complicating essential business functions and requiring a great deal of time and effort to sort out. Backflow prevention devices are intended as a stopgap for all of that: halting backflow before it your plumbing system and keeping your potable water safe.
How Does Backflow Prevention Work?
Backflow prevention is actually usually at work in a number of different plumbing systems, which simply provide an air gap in the pipes. That serves as an effective means of preventing water from slipping back up into the pipes, and can be seen in a number of residential and commercial plumbing systems.
For more complex systems, however, greater steps must be taken. Formal backflow preventing devices provide valves and seals, which react to changes in pressure in the system and snap closed before backflow occurs. By positioning them at key points in the plumbing system, they can respond instantly the moment trouble occurs. Whether it’s excessive use or a frozen pipe somewhere in your system, you can count on the backflow prevention devices to respond before your potable water supply becomes contaminated
Every plumbing system is different, and thus your backflow prevention device needs to be selected and installed with care in order to address the unique needs of your plumbing system. A trained expert can take care of that the right way: thoroughly inspecting your system, noting problem points such as cross connections and installing a backflow prevention device that addresses those specific points. That way, the water in your plumbing system stays safe no matter where the trouble occurs and the backflow prevention device provides reliable protection exactly the way it is intended to.
For quality backflow prevention services in Boston, MA – including replacement and repairs of existing systems – trust the friendly plumbers at Cooling Unlimited, Inc.
