Contamination is a big fear for anybody, as it can cause real harm to human beings. So every effort is made to ensure that no contamination occurs in our water systems. Should it happen, it is best to hand over to a professionally trained and experienced service at once like Broadgate Plumbers who can fit devices in pipework. An old yet reasonably common way for contamination to happen is through a process called ‘back flow’. So how does back-flow work? Well, normally the cold water flowing into your home is high pressure. It means that the filling of your bath or the watering of your garden is really quite quick but it also makes sure that your water supply is only flowing in one direction, i.e. from the hosepipe on the lawn and into your bath tub.
Nothing will contaminate the mains cold-water system nothing can make it’s way in, however what if this pressure dropped?
If say, there was a breach of the water main pipework down at the bottom of your street, and the supply was cut to your property for a while. If you were watering your garden at the time you may think that the hose was twisted. You lay the hose down and go and check. Whilst you are doing this, the water in your garden suddenly finds itself being sucked back into the now empty hose, and this will flow, back into the cold water mains. The water now is now free to be contaminated with lots of foreign products such as, dirt, pesticides, plant food and lots more undesirables. In order to prevent this, water regulators state that you must fit devices to stop ‘back flow’. Barbican Plumbers fit check valves. For the hosepipe example, you should fit a ‘double check’ valve on an outside tap.
This is a simple device that will only ever allow the water to flow in one direction. If this is fitted and you lose pressure, it will not let water flow back into the main supply thus stopping contamination.