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Backflow testing in Reston, from Lake Anne to North Point: the test booked in your County month, and a repair priced first if the device fails.
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Our plumbing team in front of three of our vans.
Licensed and insuredVirginia Class A contractor #2705192276
24/7 emergency serviceOften same-day, and we will tell you honestly when we can get there.
Our own plumbers, our own trucksNobody here is a subcontractor with a magnet on the door
The price is settled before the workYou see the number in writing before anything is taken apart
What it costs
How many devices you have and what kind they are decide the number, so there isn’t one figure that fits every house. You get one flat price per device when you book, before anyone comes out.
Yearly backflow test
One flat price per device, given when you book
Repair or rebuild after a failed test
Priced in writing before any work
New backflow preventer, installed
Priced in writing before any work
A device that fails is priced in writing before any work. Most can be rebuilt with new springs, seats or rubber parts; a body cracked by a freeze gets replaced. Either way it’s tested again afterward, which Virginia requires.
The national numbers, and what moves a price up or down, are in our backflow testing cost guide.
What’s different in Reston
Fairfax County hands out backflow test months by tax map grid, and Reston spans several grid squares, so the town sorts itself by season. Most of 20191, around Hunters Woods and South Lakes, is due in March or April. Most of 20194 around North Point comes due in October, and Great Falls Crossing in November. 20190 is mixed: Lake Anne and Reston Town Center fall in July, its east side in October.
The season changes the visit. In 20191 a lawn sprinkler’s device is usually still drained from winter, so the supply gets opened just long enough for the gauge readings, and a device you took indoors has to be back in place first. Around North Point the month lands in blowout season: book the test before the irrigation company comes, because the gauge needs the device full and under pressure.
Most Reston homes don’t own a backflow device at all. About two homes in ten here are single-family houses, and in 20190 closer to one in fourteen; the rest are townhouses, condos and apartments. Reston Association says cluster associations own and keep up the cluster’s common area, so the sprinklers on that grass, device included, are usually the cluster’s to test, and a condo building’s fire line usually belongs to its association.
So a notice in your own name in a cluster most likely means a yard system a past owner added, or fire sprinklers in the house itself. For house fire sprinklers, Fairfax County’s 2024 bulletin goes by design: a multipurpose system fed through the house’s own water pipes needs no backflow device, a stand-alone system tied into the water supply needs a testable device, and one holding antifreeze needs a reduced pressure assembly.
Neighborhood by neighborhood
Census figures for the owner-occupied homes in each place, and what usually brings the test notice to houses like these.
| Place | Median home built | Most homes are | Heated with | What usually needs the test |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reston | 1981 | condo and apartment buildings, about 4 in 10 | gas, about 5 in 10 | Sprinklers added by an owner, pools and hot tubs. |
| Great Falls Crossing | 1993 | single-family houses, about 9 in 10 | gas, about 8 in 10 | Sprinklers added by an owner, pools and hot tubs. |
By the numbers
From the Census Bureau’s 2020 to 2024 survey, owner-occupied homes unless it says otherwise.
When it’s time
The County emails its notice about 60 days ahead to whatever contact it has on file. With about four Reston homes in ten rented, and about half in 20190, that contact can be a past owner or an old manager. Keeping it current falls to the owner, agent or tenant, through the form on the County’s Cross Connections page.
A letter from the water utility with a date on it means there’s a testable device on your line, usually on the lawn sprinklers, and its test is due.
On an RPZ, a little water when the pressure jumps can be normal. A steady stream from the opening underneath means a check valve isn’t sealing, and it won’t pass.
Before the first hard freeze
A device that sits full of water all winter is the most common reason it fails the spring test. Around here, get this done by the end of October.
On most houses it’s outside by the foundation: a brass valve on two pipes standing out of the ground, with a cap on top. That’s a PVB. An RPZ or double check may sit in a basement or a box in the ground instead.
Turn off the valve that feeds the sprinklers, usually in the basement or utility room just past the main shutoff. Leave the rest of the house on.
Most systems here get blown out with compressed air so nothing sits in the lines or the device. If yours hasn’t been, that’s the step that matters.
Set the device’s two shutoff handles and its little test cocks about halfway, near 45 degrees, so no pocket of water stays trapped inside to freeze.
An insulated cover helps a PVB through the winter. On an RPZ, never block the relief valve opening underneath: it has to be able to dump water.
Some owners bring the device inside for the winter. Check the rules first: Loudoun Water wants a device that came off tested again when it goes back on, and Fairfax County wants it back on before your testing month.
Not sure it was drained, or saw water coming from the cap when the sprinklers ran? Call us. We’ll look at it, and if it cracked, you get the reason and a price before anything gets replaced.
Who sends the notice
Fairfax County’s Cross Connection Program wants testable backflow devices on lawn sprinklers, fire sprinklers, pools and hot tubs tested every year by a tester on the County’s Authorized Vendor List. The tester files the report and the County emails you when it’s in; nothing after 14 days, and the County asks you to check with them. Source.
Each property gets its own testing month from the County’s tax map grid, and the report is due before that month ends. A device that fails has to be repaired or replaced and retested within 10 business days of the failed test, and one taken off for the winter goes back on before the testing month. Source.
Our Virginia Class A contractor license, 2705192276, is on the side of the van.
Choosing a tester
Questions to ask anybody who offers to test it, us included.
In a cluster or condo, that comes first. A PVB in your own back yard is yours; one on the common grass or the building’s fire line usually belongs to the association, test and all.
Since January 1, 2023, Virginia only accepts tests from a DPOR-certified Backflow Prevention Device Worker, and some places keep a list of their own on top. Ask to see the certificate before the gauge goes on.
Some utilities take it from the tester and some want it from you. Ask which, and keep a copy either way, so you can show the date if a second notice turns up.
Ask for the reason and a written price before anything gets taken apart, and whether the retest is part of it. A failed device runs on a deadline, so a tester who can also fix it saves you a second trip.
Two of our crew going over a work order before the day's calls.
From our Google reviews
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Zabi helped us with a complex plumbing problem. He explained clearly the problem and gave us various repair options. He is courteous, professional and highly experienced. We recommend him!
Where we work
Next door to Reston: Sterling, Fairfax, Chantilly, Ashburn and Centreville.
Questions
In the month Fairfax County assigns your property’s tax map grid. Most of 20191 is due in March or April, most of 20194 in October, and 20190 is split, with Lake Anne and Reston Town Center in July. Your notice has the exact date, and the grid is the first digits of your parcel number on the County’s tax record.
Usually not. The common area is the cluster association’s to own and keep up, and the irrigation on it usually goes with it. Pass a notice for it to your cluster’s board or manager; managers with a list of devices can see commercial backflow testing.
One flat price per device, given when you book, before anyone comes out. How many devices you have, and whether one needs a repair, is what moves it. Our cost guide has the national numbers.
About 30 minutes a device. The water is off for a few of those minutes while the gauge readings are taken.
Ready when you are
Call, or send the form at the top. Have the notice handy: how many devices it lists and the date on it are what we need.
SwiftPro Heating, Cooling & Plumbing
4230 Lafayette Center Dr N, Chantilly, VA 20151
44679 Endicott Dr, Suite 211, Ashburn, VA 20147
Virginia Class A contractor license #2705192276
SwiftPro Heating, Cooling & Plumbing is a licensed, BBB Accredited (A rating), independently owned heating, cooling and plumbing company in Chantilly, serving Reston and the rest of Northern Virginia. Virginia contractor license #2705192276. 5.0 stars across 1,131 reviews on Google, Angi, Yelp, the BBB and Facebook. SwiftPro maintains a dedicated HVAC team and a dedicated plumbing team.
From SwiftPro Heating, Cooling & Plumbing in Chantilly. Housing figures are the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, 2020 to 2024, for each place named; permit, water and sewer facts link to each office’s own page and were checked in September and October 2026.