Backflow & Med-Gas
The assembly nobody notices until the city asks for the tag
Backflow prevention and med-gas certification, tested, tagged and filed the way the city and the hospital both need it.
Chapter 01
What a backflow preventer is protecting, and who is asking for the test
A backflow preventer stops water that's already been used, in an irrigation system, a boiler, a commercial kitchen, from siphoning back into the clean water supply. It sounds like a small brass fitting on a wall, but it's the only thing standing between a building's plumbing and the city's drinking water when pressure drops.
Most of the time it's the city or a water utility that requires the annual test, not the building owner's own choice. We've got a certified backflow prevention installer and equipment tester on staff, so the assembly gets installed correctly the first time and tested on the schedule the city actually enforces.
Brass backflow preventer assembly, tagged and installed by Pride Plumbing
Annual testing, tagging and the paperwork the city wants
Testing a backflow assembly isn't optional once it's installed. Most jurisdictions want it checked every year, tagged with the date, and the results filed with the water utility. Miss that filing and a property manager can end up with a notice, or worse, water service getting flagged.
We handle the whole loop, test the assembly, tag it on site, and submit the paperwork so the property owner isn't the one chasing a form. It's not glamorous work, but it's the kind of thing that keeps a building out of trouble with the city.
Chapter 03
Med-gas: why it's a separate certification and what that means on a hospital job
Medical gas lines, oxygen, vacuum, nitrous, aren't plumbed or tested the way a water line is. Med-gas work requires its own certification on top of a plumbing license, because a mistake in a hospital's gas system isn't a leak under a sink, it's a patient care issue.
We're Med-Gas certified, which is part of why hospitals like Kindred and the Nexus Health System's facilities keep calling us back. It's a narrower field than general commercial plumbing, and being cleared to work in it is one more reason a building manager doesn't have to shop around for a specialist.
Backflow on the buildings that never stop needing it
Restaurants, office buildings and irrigation systems all carry their own backflow requirements, and they don't go away once the initial install passes inspection. We keep a testing schedule for the commercial accounts we already service, so the annual tag gets renewed before it becomes a compliance problem for the owner.
If you're a property manager with a backflow assembly you inherited and no paperwork on when it was last tested, that's a normal call for us. We'll find the assembly, test it, and get you current instead of guessing what the last person did.
Pride Plumbing, Inc. Licensed by the Texas State Board of Plumbing Examiners, MPL 15928. Licensed and insured. Call 281-361-7217.