# Backflow Preventers



## FixItAll (Apr 21, 2014)

Our city is becoming a tourist mecca, with the tv show Nashville getting so popular. Actually, the show may have run its course. My point, and I do have one, is that we have a zillion restaurants and a colleague of mine is doing quite a bit of backflow preventer installs. Is this something you guys have found to be worth your time, profitable and all?


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## Shoot'N'Plumber (Apr 27, 2013)

A backflow program is only as good/strong as the local "authority having jurisdiction" chooses to make it, and by that I mean enforcement. In my area there over 40 water districts, all have their own ordinance or are governed under the county/state/federal. Some do not give a rats azz about internal protection, only service (at meter) these districts don't offer much revenue as its only one device, and among those many districts just do not have a written ordinance therefore no one gets letters stating their annual test, it is in these districts the only time a business owner calls for a backflow problem are when the dang RPZ's are discharging all over the place. Now the best district I do work in has over 52,000 devices that are religiously monitored and tested every year, however, that's because this same district produces/re-uses 32 Milliion gallons per day of treated wastewater, so maintaing safe and potable water is of utmost importance. 
Your first step should be to contact all your local water districts or health dept. and find out what their ordinance is, then based on that you should find out if special requirements are needed in addition to just being a certified tester/installer, then you may find out if there is a list of approved testers/installers (you want to be on this list, I do not pay for advertising for backflow, as when people need one serviced, they will acquire this list from the district/county). 
It wasn't until I started doing backflows that I realized all the different ordinances,. Here in California and Nevada I discovered many small water districts were operating without an actual backflow and cross-connection program, and only recently have been required to have a program implemented. This is where I have began to find niche work offering contract program compliance where I perform a sanitary survey so the ENTIRE district (every business, every residence, inside every business) I then mark the potential cross connections and/or concerns and write the ordinance And imement a program. This works out great for the small water companies who cannot afford to pay for a specialist in house (after pay and benefits a specialist can cost a district well over 100k per year, so contracting it out eliminates the insurance and benefit offerings) sorry this was so long just wanted to give a clear understanding to yur question.


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## CPR2010 (Nov 25, 2014)

I use my back-flow certification as a "Thank you for doing business with us" perk. So basically I'll toss in a free back-flow test if a customer try's to chisel my price down on another service. I also just do it as a courtesy to my "very good" customers. On average guys in my are are charging between $25 and $65 for a DC test. That's not even worth the drive for me. And who doesnt like getting something for free? In SC the still allow DC's on irrigation systems and the state prefers you to test them with just the sight tube. So its like five min max to do a test. Yet the customer thinks I just hooked them up with an unbelievable deal. I also provide free back-flow test to any city employee. I do that mostly to cover all the guys that work in the Police Department. None of my trucks have gotten any tickets since I started that program


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## dhal22 (Jul 30, 2010)

Of course there is money in installing bfp's. We upgrade or add them to existing buildings regularly. The 6 and 8" fire main jobs are where the good money is. We have 2 of those scheduled for next year.


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