ABPA Discussion

[Gary Edwards]

This area is for pictures demonstrating connections that could possibly cause a backflow condition to occur. Provided on request

[Gerald Flis]

Easy to identify problems/violations....

Initial inspection 5 years ago at a condo complex showed most hose bibbs did not have protection, we required installation of simple screw on type frost proof vacuum breakers, which they did...


Routine reinspection scheduled recently showed about 6 out of 100+/- were again missing, but also one that was made potentially hazardous in a not-unique way... Unit's owner said they thought the "gadget" was unattractive, decided to "upgrade" it's appearance by carefully wrapping black electrical tape over the whole arrangement, blocking the vacuum breaker's air vents (also installed a "Y" connector with shut off valves), rendering it almost useless in a backflow situation.... I've seen this sort of violation a couple dozen times over the years......


Gerald Flis
www.BackflowPreventionTechZone.com

[Gerald Flis]

Cross-connection survey of a dental office was routine until looking at the landscape sprinkler system....



Prior to this facility's initial inspection, the PVB became fouled and began leaking profusely (Dr. said) from the air vent... Being an innovative handyman, the dental practitioner treated the offending device by doing a sort of root canal, removing the guts of the PVB, and "filling" the leaking air vent opening with a bolted in rubber plug... Leak fixed!!!




Bottom line, "installed" backflow prevention devices may give you a false sense of security, unless routinely re-inspected, maintained, and tested...

Gerald Flis
www.BackflowPreventionTechZone.com

[Gerald Flis]

Recently found 2 more "do-it-yourself" lawn sprinkler systems' installations/modifications...

On the first one, the owner replaced the originally installed & permitted PVB with a single check valve... It was discovered when they didn't submit a routine certification test of the PVB, but instead replied that they replaced the PVB with a "backflow preventer" that doesn't need testing, what's the problem?



The other one was never permitted and had no "backflow preventer" at all...



This second one installed a PVB, the first chose to abandon & disconnect the waterline (cut & capped), but, others have gone that route only to reconnect the systems when they thought no one would look again....

Bottom line, periodic reinspection of facilities is critical, even if everything is up to code in previous inspections

Gerald Flis
www.backflowpreventiontechzone.com

[Gerald Flis]

Initial inspection (by CCC program, all plumbing previously approved by plumbing inspector & health department) of a popular restaurant found no installation violations, all appeared in order, the only requirement would be to have the lawn sprinkler PVB tested & certified.....


However, when leaving the facility, something caught my eye at the far back corner of their large parking lot....



Closer examination showed that the lawn sprinkler service company had installed a pump (umpermitted of course) on the far branch (about 200' from bldg.) of the system to boost pressure... Restaurant owner (credibly) said he had no idea what the lawn sprinkler company did, trusted them to fully maintain the system....



They were of course cited to replace the PVB with a RPBP...

Bottom line, once again, is that even relatively new, fully approved facilities may end up with potentially dangerous, improperly protected cross-connection hazards.....

Gerald Flis
www.backflowpreventiontechzone.com

[Gary Edwards]

Thanks for the great pictures Gerald, and the advice about periodic re-inspections.

[Gerald Flis]

Here's a picture of a potentially disastrous cross-connection I found at an older industrial plant.... High pressure treated steam piped throughout plant was being mixed with city water at numerous spots via a (at least 30 years old) steam/water mixing valve (vertical device on the right) which may have had a single check valve built in, but no rpbp as would be required under current codes...

This particular one was especially shocking as an emergency eye wash was plumbed in after the T (bottom right) supplying water to the steam mixing valve... Can you imagine going to wash acid out of your eyes only to be blasted with high pressure steam?? Made them disconnect it on the spot, plant manager started taking internal backflow prevention very seriously.... Just another example of why a containment at the meter only backflow prevention program falls short of fully protecting public health & safety... Someone needs to inspect for hazards and require isolation backflow preventers throughout your facilities...

Gerald Flis
www.BackflowPreventionTechZone.com

[Gerald Flis]

In between periodic testing, large condo development's maintenance crew found the RPBP installed there to be leaking profusely from it's relief port. Being handy, rather than calling the plumber, they thought they could "fix" it by removing (easily) the offending part (relief port) and plugging the resulting opening. We found this one before it's next periodic test by having the meter reader crew trained in basic backflow prevention techniques and able to identify the various devices they may see when at premises. The meter crew here knew something wasn't right with the way the device looked (white plastic cap over opening), and referred it to the backflow prevention unit....


It really pays for ALL water department field personell to have a basic education in backflow prevention hazards and the devices used to control them, so they can at least refer unusual situations to the backflow prevention inspectors...

[Gerald Flis]

A recycled cooling system's tank water level was found well below the city waterline's outlet from the float valve, as the building engineer said it would be...
But obviously this outlet has been periodically submerged long enough to develop the waterline marks seen here.....


We required "zone backflow protection", i.e., a RPBP on the main waterline into the system's mechanical room, upstream of all connections to equipment and hose bibbs...

[Gerald Flis]

Here's another illustration of how diabolically innovative some are when solving a "problem" with a backflow preventer they don't understand.....



RP relief port leaking? Well, let's just extend the leaky port and add a shut off valve... Leak fixed! Apparently they realized there was some purpose to allowing the port to discharge water (they even painted their modification a different shade of blue to give it emphasis)., they just didn't understand the why and when of a RP dumping water.... They wanted it to discharge only on their command..... Just another reason periodic reinspections and testing of installed devices is critical for any serious backflow prevention program....

[Gerald Flis]

I'm sure many of you have seen this level of skill when discovering cross-connection hazards in your town's facilities.....

Just for fun, a hilarious 18 min. video...

A Plumbing We Will Go
http://www.veoh.com/videos/v223558tbaNk4Jk

The Three Stooges classic representation of how "cross connections" can be unknowingly created by "plumbers"... According to Moe (and many amateur handymen), "Who says you need brains to be a plumber"

[Gerald Flis]

Here's another hazard I found recently in the lower level of a large municipal convention center.



Ten's of thousands of visitors pass through here regularly ... Even though containment devices protect the city's water mains, this internal cross-connection could still contaminate the drinking water inside this facility...

Someone noticed a leaking in-line mop sink AVB & took the time to "fix" the leak, i.e. just removing the offending part and plugging it's opening!!!



You never know what you'll find when doing a comprehensive inspection of all water uses inside your facilities.....

[Gerald Flis]

Here in Michigan, some of the types of facilities that would require meter containment with a RPBP would be mortuaries, hospitals, and chemical or biological laboratories.... Of course, isolation of the actual hazards would be needed to protect the potability of the water for domestic uses in those places.... Here are a couple of pictures of equipment found in mortuary embalming rooms (or pathology labs)....

This first one is a body fluid aspirator installed without an approved backflow preventer.. Strangely enough, it's made by a company called "SLAUGHTER" and is it's Hydro Aspirator 1001.... For a much clearer picture, see: http://www.hydrolchemical.com/product.html?mgiToken=IKZBTTR4M2FG&ID=1001

It has their version of a vacuum breaker (a single small air vent, easily clogged in the process)... They claim it's approved by "most health authorities" but there aren't any such approvals here.... It's the chrome device in the center below the elbow, with a clear plastic aspirator tube


Section 608.3.1 of our Michigan Plumbing Code (and the IPC) says "...Vacuum breakers for hose connections in health care or laboratory areas shall not be less than 6 feet above the floor." The reason for this in mortuary embalming rooms (and pathology labs) is that the deceased are often strapped to the table and stood up to aid in the fluid removal and embalming process....

The following picture shows such an installation... Remember, simply installing a RPBP at the meter DOES NOT protect the drinking/potable water uses INSIDE such a premise, isolation devices at the actual hazards are critically important....


Any questions? I do have more pictures and examples of isolation backflow prevention devices in health care facilities....

[Gerald Flis]

Lab fume hoods are common in hospital labs (and any other chemical, bacteriological, or metalurgical laboratories), and almost always have a water supply available.....



Well, I've found the following backflow hazards more than a few times over the last 36 years of looking.....


In addition to the most obvious problem of the AVB not being installed at least 6" above the lab glass retorts using cooling water, Section 608.1 of the IPC (and our Michigan Plumbing Code) says "....water supply system shall be designed, installed and maintained ...so as to prevent contamination from nonpotable liquids, solids, or gases....". So, with the Avb INSIDE the fume hood, guess what will get sucked into it's air vent in a backsiphonage situation??

[Gary Edwards]

Good find Gerald, and thanks for the updates and continuing "picture" education of all of us in the field. Great work!

[Gerald Flis]

This was an investigation carried out when I worked for the Wayne County (Michigan) Environmental Health Department's Backflow Prevention Program.....

Here's a never before published photo snapped at the time, of the actual Avb that was the culprit in this incident...



The system should have had a PVB or RPBP because of the downstream valving installed. Plus the Avb's dustcap was missing, spider(s) had taken up residence, and of course the Avb's poppet was frozen in the closed position from having been under constant pressure for several years.... The grey wiring you see exiting the premises along the irrigation system's piping path, is always a sure sign there are buried downstream valves...



There was no ground level zone valve box cover as seen above, but if there were one, it's another sure clue revealing the need for a PVB or RPBP on the irrigation system....

Avbs are adequate backflow protection on sprinkler systems only if there are no zones with downstream valves, or any sprinkler heads elevated above the Avb, i.e., a simple single zone system with it's on/off control valve located before the Avb...

Here's how the incident was originally reported....

Backflow at a Premises Where Potable Water Supplies an Irrigation System

[Gerald Flis]

You never know what you'll find when conducting isolation cross-connection inspections (i.e. meter to last outlet) inside your communities' facilities, looking for backflow hazards. This violation/hazard was found (actually right next to the water meter in this case) in 3 of the 99 buildings at a large apartment complex (about 1/3 sq. mile, really a small city within a city), with a large maintenance staff....


Apparently someone ("plumber" in-training?) was sent to the three buildings to investigate/repair leaks from the hot water tanks... Well obviously they weren't aware of the purpose of the T & P valves, to relieve excessive temperature or pressure build up inside the tanks, if it approaches the limits of the tanks' safe design range.

So being clever, they used tubing to "control the leaks", extending the drainlines and routing them right down into the floor drains, creating potentially deadly sewer-potable water cross-connections, while also ignoring the possibility of the hot water tanks failing or even exploding!!!

Here's a recent story I found about such an explosion... (The Daily Item, Oct. 22, 2007)
Dwelling damaged in explosion
http://www.dailyitem.com/0100_news/local_story_295000131.html

[Gerald Flis]

Here's a couple of pics of how a lawn care company argued that they "had backflow protection" on their fertilizer/weed killer tank truck fill line...



I explained and re-explained why the PVB wouldn't work properly with the downstream line elevated above the PVB, but they were convinced that's what a pressure vacuum breaker was designed for, claimed the "Plumbing Code" was wrong....



It took 3 letters and a shut off notice before they replaced the PVB with a RPBP...

[Gerald Flis]

"Old fashioned" wet film photography and developing are not obsolete, yet...
I found this setup at a school, where the art/photography class students were still learning how to develop film and prints....



Here's another of a dentist's x-ray developing tank(s)...


The copper water line's discharge point was very well air-gapped, originally...
The Dr. added the jammed on rubber hose to control splashing of the chemicals (very toxic and corrosive)...

In-line type Avbs on the spigots/outlets would be the way to go here for isolation backflow prevention....

Once again proves you can't rely on an air gap to stay ok... Periodic reinspections of your facilities' internal plumbing are critical to potable water safety inside the buildings!!!

[Gerald Flis]

Another lawn irrigation system thought to be "protected" with a "backflow preventer", but not... Just a false sense of security.... This AVB's never going to work right, probably froze up days after being installed with those 3 solenoid valves downstream!!