# 2" dcva



## luv2plum (May 16, 2012)

Pick it apart


----------



## Ptturner91 (Oct 13, 2012)

luv2plum said:


> Pick it apart


 Looks good! Did you run a drain for the strainer?

Also is that a combraco? DC4A ?


----------



## wyrickmech (Mar 16, 2013)

What is the dcva serving?


----------



## Ptturner91 (Oct 13, 2012)

wyrickmech said:


> What is the dcva serving?


Looks like it's premise isolation


----------



## wyrickmech (Mar 16, 2013)

luv2plum said:


> Pick it apart


the only thing I can say is you should order left inlet back flow that way your handles are on the front instead of the back where nobody likes them. If it is for sprinklers the strainer is normally removed because of stagnant water wich will plug the screen in the off season.


----------



## luv2plum (May 16, 2012)

Yes, ran a drain for the strainer with an air gap at the end.
It's a Watts 719-QT.
Premise isolation for domestic water serving an apartment building. 
I didn't know you can order them RH or LH, I will definitely do that next time, thanks for the tip!


----------



## Ptturner91 (Oct 13, 2012)

luv2plum said:


> Yes, ran a drain for the strainer with an air gap at the end. It's a Watts 719-QT. Premise isolation for domestic water serving an apartment building. I didn't know you can order them RH or LH, I will definitely do that next time, thanks for the tip!


Have to admit I have never seen someone run a drain for a strainer to that extent so good for you


----------



## love2surf927 (Dec 22, 2011)

Excuse my ignorance here, but what is the drain for the strainer for?


----------



## wyrickmech (Mar 16, 2013)

love2surf927 said:


> Excuse my ignorance here, but what is the drain for the strainer for?


its just to clear the strainer ,any dirt or junk that comes from the source of the water will get caught by the screen in the strainer instead of it cutting a seat in the double check.


----------



## love2surf927 (Dec 22, 2011)

How does that y strainer work? Don't you have to unthread it to remove it and clean the screen? I don't understand the purpose of the drain.


----------



## Ptturner91 (Oct 13, 2012)

love2surf927 said:


> How does that y strainer work? Don't you have to unthread it to remove it and clean the screen? I don't understand the purpose of the drain.


It's basically a wye with a screen there's a plug you can pull to clean it, instead of a plug he replaced it with a ball valve and a drain thus making cleaning it easy without turning off the water, in most places up here strainers are required before a a BFP


----------



## wyrickmech (Mar 16, 2013)

love2surf927 said:


> How does that y strainer work? Don't you have to unthread it to remove it and clean the screen? I don't understand the purpose of the drain.


 the drain is located inside the screen any particles fall to the bottom so when you open the ball valve you discharge the trash. The screen can plug and yes if that happens you unthread the end and the screen comes out.


----------



## luv2plum (May 16, 2012)

Ptturner91 said:


> It's basically a wye with a screen there's a plug you can pull to clean it, instead of a plug he replaced it with a ball valve and a drain thus making cleaning it easy without turning off the water, in most places up here strainers are required before a a BFP


Exactly. Plus it was on the drawings: "pipe strainer to drain". In this area it's a deep parking garage, and it's an old part of town with old mains, so fairly good chance of junk getting into that strainer if it makes it past the meter. The drain valve makes it easier to flush the junk out and piping it to a drain means not having to bring a bucket and make a big mess.


----------



## red_devil (Mar 23, 2011)

Nah, you are all wrong. The "drain" on the strainer is for me to tie in my garden hose I just tossed into an oil pit.

I just finished a ton of backflows and I argued with the engineer constantly over the issue of having blow offs on the strainers. Something about having a free tie in area with maintenance guys didn't work for me. 

But of course I lost and he got what he wanted. Pinky ring power!


----------



## Ptturner91 (Oct 13, 2012)

red_devil said:


> Nah, you are all wrong. The "drain" on the strainer is for me to tie in my garden hose I just tossed into an oil pit. I just finished a ton of backflows and I argued with the engineer constantly over the issue of having blow offs on the strainers. Something about having a free tie in area with maintenance guys didn't work for me. But of course I lost and he got what he wanted. Pinky ring power!


If it's open ended how is a place for a tie in? 
No plumber would ever connect to that


----------



## Best Darn Sewer (Dec 23, 2012)

luv2plum said:


> Yes, ran a drain for the strainer with an air gap at the end.
> It's a Watts 719-QT.
> Premise isolation for domestic water serving an apartment building.
> I didn't know you can order them RH or LH, I will definitely do that next time, thanks for the tip!


Great idea on a drain. That makes it very easy to keep clean. There should be no excuse for not cleaning it now. Great looking work. 

Aside from getting a LH inlet, which I also wasn't familiar with, another suggestion would be to rotate the ball valves 180° so the handles are on the outside next time. That way you don't have to special order a back flow device being most supply houses are going to only stock one version, typically.


----------



## red_devil (Mar 23, 2011)

Never said a plumber I said a maintenance man. It's preference I never like having any tie in points available. I like leaving strainers plugged. IMO it's to easy to throw on a shark bite fip and hose bib or even cut and unthread and thread in a hosebib. It sounds far fetched but I had gone back to one I piped and saw a male x hose threaded into the inlet test port on a 6 inch rpz. Now I plug those off hoping for a bit of due diligence on my part.


----------

