Back flow preventer for house

TurboDoe

My friend asked me how much it would cost to have one installed for a house. I heard there is a church on oak street and Milani plumbing was hired to do the work. Total for that job was around $10000 to replace some old pipes, put in a back flow preventer, a sump pump, and repave any concrete walkway.

Quest

how old is the house?

Assuming what you mean by backflow preventer  is on the sewer drainage part? or is it the fresh water supply part?

(there are 2 different kinds of backflow preventers used on residential applications)


source-fresh water supply backflow preventer:



This is seldom installed in Canada, but nevertheless: I have to mention this just to be sure that we are on the correct/exact subject.

sewer water drainage backflow preventer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMBznnNV-ss

If your house (or the house you are looking to get the service done) has a basement and the drainage in your area is poor to begin with, then sewer backflow preventer is your next best bet to keep both grey water and storm drain sewer line from backing into the house (or at least minimise the impact of sewer/drainage flooding your basement.

this vid below will outline the work needed for the installation of backflow preventer in your basement:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nV8Wydu9nZQ

Lastly, once you have the backflow preventer valve installed, always form a habit of checking and cleaning it once every 1/2yr or so, to ensure that the flap doesn't get jammed or the sealing surface is dirty:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SICxY5KZUYQ

Q.


My last advice: get several quotes from licensed plumbers in town and get the one that is priced right. Milani tends to be on the expensive side of the quote so...

Quest

Oh and BTW: you mentioned about sump pump? If you are handy in doing house-related maintenance work, always stock up on an extra spare (sump pump of the same model/kind) just in case.

Sump pump failure is very, very common in basement-equipped home, and that's the #1 source of flooding.

Q.

TurboDoe

Thx Quest for the videos! They are very helpful. Some households have their sewer back flow preventer installed some where under the lawn and in front of their homes. sometimes I notice there would be round greyish concrete covers on the lawn. So plumbers installed the preventer in that right?

Quest

It's hard to say (if what's inside that concrete cover) in the lawn is indeed where your sewer drainage piping leads to.

Only your city's engineer and/or plumbers familiar to your neighbourhood sewer drain layout would be able to tell you so.

Some would go the extra mile by first locating your cleanout plug from the sewer line, stick a scope (scope head has a transmitter) to see if it leads to the outside, pass that concrete cover in your lawn.

Good luck.

Q.

TurboDoe

Thx Quest for all the useful info.