Anti-Siphon/External Vacuum Breaker Devices
As plumbers, one thing we are looking for are these mysterious little gadgets called a vacuum breaker or anti-siphon devices on our exterior hose bibb/sillcocks. These external vacuum breakers are required at all hose bibbs/ sillcocks. If they do not already have one built in, you will need to add a screw-on type of vacuum breaker. Typically, these devices are designed with a spring-loaded check valve that, when the water is turned off, vents to the atmosphere, preventing back-siphonage.
Most homeowners do not know if they have one installed or not and what the real purpose is for.
The purpose of all of this is to prevent potential cross contamination or cross connection. This is a connection that has the potential physical connection between the water supply and any non-potable fluids, solids, or gases. The potential with a hose bibb is that if you had the hose connected and something happened that created back-siphonage or backflow, you could potentially suck contaminated fluids, solids, or gases back into the water supply. What could cause this? There are a few things, like a break in the water service piping, a sudden drop in pressure from high water withdrawal (like from firefighting activities), when the municipality performs flushing of mains, or reduced supply pressure on the suction side of a booster pump. Personally, being a plumber, I realize how many times backflow occurs in a city such as ours. This last freeze was a major backflow/back- siphonage event, by the way. You were told to boil your water because we don’t know what could have got sucked in to the water mains. Water main breaks and modifications are normal with all the infrastructure improvements and new construction. When you see little bubbles and cloudy water out of your tap, there is a good chance that water may have been off and you did not know it. Without this simple device, there are so many opportunities to suck poison into our drinking water from a garden hose. Cross connections have killed and made many people sick over the years. Protecting the water supply is a growing concern in many municipalities, as it should be. These little backflow preventers are sometimes perceived as a nuisance, but they protect your friends and family from getting really sick.
2
ClearWater Plumbers | 817-296-0670 | clearwaterplumber.com
Made with FlippingBook - Online magazine maker