How backflow testing works, start to finish

Step 1: You send the basics

Whether you call it a backflow test or a backflow inspection, it starts the same way. Address, roughly how many devices, and whether a notice with a due date has arrived. If you know the device type or have the last tag or report, include it. If you know none of that, the address is enough. We reply with a per-device price, what is included, and slots.

Step 2: We book and coordinate access

The most common cause of a slow test is a locked door. When we book, we sort out:

• Who provides access: super, tenant, facility contact, lockbox, or you.
• When the water can be off: business hours for offices and warehouses; early morning, evening or weekend for restaurants, clinics, and plants that cannot lose water mid-shift.
• Where the device is: mechanical room, meter room, pit, outside on the irrigation line. If nobody knows, say so, and we allow time to find it.

Portfolios: send the list once and we return one schedule grouped by area and access window.

Step 3: On site, the tester finds and identifies the device

The tester locates the assembly and confirms it against the Region’s record on the notice or in BSI Online: type, make, model, serial number, size, location. Mismatches happen (a device was replaced and never re-registered, a serial was transcribed wrong). They get corrected on the report so the record is right going forward.

The tester also looks at the installation: is an RPZ over a drain and out of a pit, is a PVB above the highest sprinkler head, are the shut-off valves and test cocks operable. Installation issues are noted; they are plumbing corrections, not test failures, and we tell you plainly.

Step 4: The test

With the shut-off valves closed to isolate the assembly, a calibrated differential pressure gauge is connected to the test cocks and each component is checked against the CSA B64.10.1 minimums:

Assembly	What is measured
DCVA	Check 1 differential; check 2 differential; shut-offs hold
RPZ	Relief valve opening point; check 1 differential; check 2 differential; shut-offs hold
PVB	Air inlet opening point; check differential; shut-offs hold

Water to that line is off for the readings, roughly 30 to 60 minutes per device. Then the shut-offs are reopened and normal supply resumes. The gauge itself is calibrated at least annually, and the calibration record is part of the tester’s registration with the Region (by-law section 8.6).

Step 5: The tag and the report

The tester attaches or updates the test tag on or beside the device. Section 6.10 of the by-law says what it must show: property address, device location, type, manufacturer, serial number and size, test date, the tester’s initials, the tester’s name or employer, and the tester’s licence number. Then the test report is completed: device details, every reading, pass or fail, and any notes.

You get a copy of the report. The by-law requires the owner to keep test reports on site for at least five years and produce them on request (section 6.6). A folder in the mechanical room, or a PDF wherever your building records live, is fine.

Step 6: Filing with BSI Online, and the reminder

The report is submitted through BSI Online with the $25 filing fee. Under section 6.5 the authorized tester must get it to the Region and area municipality within 28 days of the test; we file promptly. The Region reviews the report and the compliance record for that device updates. We confirm to you when it is on record.

Twelve months later, about 30 days before the next due date, you get our reminder. Book, test, file, repeat.

If the device fails

The tester notifies the Region within 24 hours (section 6.4), a licensed plumber repairs or replaces the device, and it is retested and re-filed. We coordinate the plumber and the retest and quote both before work. Full detail on the failed test page.

What to have ready: the checklist

• Location of the device. If unknown, check near the water meter, in the mechanical room, or on the irrigation line by the controller. Our finding guide walks through it.
• Access. Keys or a person, at the booked time.
• A clear path. Move stock, bins, or equipment away from the device so the tester can reach the test cocks and shut-offs.
• A water-off window. Tell tenants or staff on that line if the interruption will affect them.
• The notice, if you have one. Serial number and due date are on it.
• The last tag or report, if you have it. Not required, helpful.
• A contact number for the day, in case the plan changes.

Things that slow a visit down (and how to avoid them)

Problem	Fix
Locked mechanical room, nobody with a key	Confirm the access plan the day before
Device buried behind stock or equipment	Clear a metre around it
Shut-off valves seized	Tell us if they have not been operated in years; a plumber may need to free them first
Nobody sure where the device is	Say so when booking, we allow time or help locate it from the Region’s record
RPZ in a pit or flooded	Pump it out first; the tester cannot test a submerged relief valve
Irrigation system not pressurised	Test at spring start-up when the line is live