Open 24/7 for emergencies
SwiftPro tests and repairs backflow preventers in McLean, and the yearly test is $250 a home (normally $300). Call SwiftPro, rated 5.0 stars across 1,130 reviews, at (703) 997-9757, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
SwiftPro’s plumbers in McLean are rated 5.0 stars across 1,130 reviews and work under Virginia Class A contractor license 2705192276. Backflow testing in McLean, from Chesterbrook ranches to Spring Hill lots and the Tysons towers: we test it, fix a failed device and see the report gets filed. Book it at (703) 997-9757 or online. We’re rated 5.0 stars across 1,130 reviews, and we set the visit around the date on your notice.
5.0 stars across 1,130 reviews
Our plumbing team in front of three of our vans.
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Licensed and insuredVirginia Class A contractor #2705192276
24/7 emergency serviceWe answer day or night, 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
The yearly test is $250 a home, normally $300, and you can pay for it online. HOA and condo communities that book their units together pay $175 to $225 a unit. A new preventer, installed and tested, runs $800 to $1,200. Those are for a home’s device up to 1 inch; where an HOA unit or a new preventer lands in its range is set at the house and quoted before we start.
Yearly backflow test, one home
$250 (normally $300)
HOA or condo units booked together, per unit
$175 to $225
New backflow preventer, installed and tested
$800 to $1,200
Repair or rebuild after a failed test
Priced in writing before any work
Prices checked .
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.
Booking for an HOA, townhouse or condo community? Here’s what each unit pays when the community books one visit. And what a backflow test costs covers what moves the price up or down.
What’s different in McLean
In 22101, the McLean of Chesterbrook and Kent Gardens, the County’s tax records show about 9,300 detached houses on a median lot of about a third of an acre. Close to four in ten of those homes went up in the 1950s and 60s, long before anyone put sprinklers in a starter lawn, so if there’s a device on one of them, an owner added it later. Fifteen percent of 22101 has been built since 2010, mostly teardowns. A rebuild’s sprinkler device was permitted, tested before the final inspection and reported to the County from day one, so its notice comes on schedule.
22102 splits in two. Toward Spring Hill and Lewinsville the detached lots get big, a median of about 0.8 acre with a third at an acre or more, and those properties tend to carry more than one testable device: the lawn system, a pool fill line, sometimes a directly connected spa. Fairfax Water wants each connection protected on its own, so one test per device, each on the report.
The other half of 22102 is Tysons, where most owners live in condo towers. About 2,265 condo units in the ZIP sit in buildings of nine floors or more. A building over three stories carries an RP on its main water service line and usually a separate fire line device, and both belong to the association. If you own a unit in one of those towers, you don’t book a test for the building.
Every McLean address is on Fairfax Water, none on the Town of Vienna’s system, so the notice and the steps are the County’s. The Fairfax County backflow testing page walks through them, and buildings use the commercial backflow page.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| McLean | 1977 | single-family houses, about 8 in 10 | gas, about 7 in 10 | A sprinkler system or pool added later, where there is one. |
| Tysons | 1985 | condo and apartment buildings, about 7 in 10 | electricity, about 5 in 10 | The building’s fire line, tested by the association. |
By the numbers
From the Census Bureau’s 2020 to 2024 survey, owner-occupied homes unless it says otherwise.
ZIPs 22101 and 22102 as a whole: every McLean address, Tysons included.
When it’s time
In older Chesterbrook and Kent Gardens houses, the device is wherever whoever added the sprinklers put it: a basement wall, where the line leaves the house, or out by the meter. Find it before the tester arrives.
In a condo building the fire sprinkler line and its device are usually the association’s to test, not yours. Hand the notice to the manager before you book anyone.
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.
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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.
On a Spring Hill or Lewinsville property with sprinklers, a pool and a spa, ask whether one visit tests everything and whether each device gets its own line on the report. A missing device means a second notice.
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
5.0 stars across 1,130 reviews. Read them on our reviews page.
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 McLean: Dunn Loring, Vienna, Great Falls, Oakton and Annandale.
Questions
Usually not. The RP on the building’s service line and the fire line device are the association’s to test. A unit owner only needs a test if something inside the unit is directly connected and on the County’s records, so ask your management office first.
It should be. New sprinkler and backflow installs in Fairfax County need a permit, a test before the final inspection, and a report to the County, so a rebuild’s device is on record from the start. The yearly test still applies after that.
SwiftPro does, all over McLean. We test the backflow preventer on your sprinkler system, fire line or pool in about 30 minutes, repair it on the same visit if it fails, and get the report where your water utility wants it. Call (703) 997-9757 or book online.
The yearly test is $250 a home, normally $300, and you can pay for it online. HOA and condo units booked together on one visit run $175 to $225 a unit. A new preventer, installed and tested, is $800 to $1,200. Where an HOA unit or a new preventer lands in its range is set at the house and quoted before we start, and a device that fails is quoted in writing before any repair. More in what a backflow test costs.
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. Or pay $250 online and we’ll call to pick the day.
SwiftPro Heating, Cooling & Plumbing
4230 Lafayette Center Dr N, Chantilly, VA 20151
44679 Endicott Dr, Suite 211, Ashburn, VA 20147
SwiftPro Plumber & Water Heaters
4200 Lafayette Center Dr, Suite N, Chantilly, VA 20151
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 McLean and the rest of Northern Virginia. Virginia contractor license #2705192276. 5.0 stars across 1,130 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.