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Backflow testing in Bristow, Victory Lakes to Brentsville. Many devices here came with a 2000s house, and Prince William Water holds you to the report.
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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 Bristow
Bristow grew up fast. In the Linton Hall area, the Census place that covers about two thirds of 20136, 57 percent of homes were built between 2000 and 2009 alone, and the median owner’s house dates to 2004. If the sprinklers were part of the builder’s package, the vacuum breaker beside your foundation is the same age as the house, so plenty here have sat outside through about twenty winters. Rubber and springs that age are a common reason one stops holding on the gauge.
Prince William Water holds the owner responsible for the report reaching it, so give your copy a read. Prince William Water’s version asks what the device feeds, which here is usually irrigation, plus its make, model, size and serial number. There’s one line for the existing serial and another for a device that replaced it, so if the builder’s original was ever swapped, check that the right line is filled in. That serial is what ties the report to your device.
About three Bristow homes in ten are townhouses, and in Victory Lakes they’re 609 of its 1,296 homes. Changing the sprinklers or moving the device there? The community says changes of any kind to the outside of the home or yard may need an Application for Exterior Modification to its Covenants Committee first.
Out toward Brentsville, outside the Census place, a house on a private well works differently. Prince William Water keeps its records on devices tied to the public system, so a well house may never get a notice. The sprinklers still need a device, though, because the county’s rule is about keeping lawn water and fertilizer out of the house’s own drinking water, wherever that comes from.
By the numbers
From the Census Bureau’s 2020 to 2024 survey, owner-occupied homes unless it says otherwise.
When it’s time
Ask whoever closes your sprinklers for the winter what they use. County code allows antifreeze only behind an RPZ, and the device on a builder’s system here is usually a PVB. Blowing the lines out with air is fine on a PVB; antifreeze isn’t.
In a newer subdivision the builder often put in the lawn sprinklers, and the backflow device with them. Nobody tells the next owner it needs a test every year until the first notice shows up.
Anything piped to the water supply that could push water back into it gets a device: lawn sprinklers, a pool fill line, a hot tub. More yard usually means more of them.
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
Prince William Water mails a notice when a device comes due each year. Its test report form is made for the tester to send in, but the owner gets a copy of the approved results and is responsible for getting the forms to the utility’s Cross Connection Coordinator. Source.
County code says every lawn sprinkler system needs a backflow device, and a system winterized with antifreeze can only use an RPZ. 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.
Ask. The utility publishes one for testers, with room for when the test gauge was last calibrated and the tester’s state license number. Since the report is yours to answer for, a complete one on the utility’s own layout is the easiest to check.
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 1,131 reviews. Read them on our reviews page.
My technician James gave an honest assessment of my situation, clearly laid out the scope of work, and provided different pricing options to resolve my concern. I will definitely call SwiftPro in the future for any plumbing needs!
Where we work
Next door to Bristow: Manassas, Gainesville, Centreville, Chantilly and Woodbridge.
Questions
Prince William Water’s report form says no later than 30 days from the due date on your notice. It goes to the utility’s Cross Connection Department by mail or to crossconnections@pwwater.org, and the owner is the one held responsible for it getting there, so book the test with room to spare.
For the backflow device, yes. On a home sprinkler system it takes the county’s Limited Service and Repair Permit, plus an inspection. Prince William Water’s own page says a testable device gets tested when it’s installed, then every year after.
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 Bristow 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.