As a homeowner, you likely want to take steps to avoid backflow. Backflow is when water that is not clean anymore, due to it having been used already, flows back through the pipes and into the water supply that is used for cooking, bathing, and washing clothing. You don't want to accidentally contaminate your water supply. Here are some tips for making sure that you don't have to entirely drain your water system in order to get rid of the effects of backflow.

1. Avoid Submerging Your Hose When Filling a Pool or Bucket With Water

One step that you can take to keep backflow from affecting your home is to make sure that you are always holding the head of the garden hose when you are filling a pool or a bucket and you don't let it be entirely submerged in water. The reason why you want to avoid this is because hoses are sometimes prone to letting in backflow. If you leave space between the water level and the head of the hose itself, you will have left enough of a gap to keep the water from flowing back into your home's water supply.

2. Put Protection in Place if You Use Your Hose for Fertilizer

If you spray fertilizer or other types of chemicals through a hose that you also connect to your home's water supply, make sure that you put precautions in place to ensure that you don't have any backflow. These precautions are usually in the form of reduced pressure principle backflow preventers, or small chambers in your hose that have valves on each side that detect pressure and open and close appropriately. You need to have this extensive protection in order to make absolutely sure that you don't accidentally mix fertilizer chemicals in with your water supply.

If you know that you have a reduced pressure principle backflow preventer on your house and yet you suspect that there is backflow, check to make sure that the device has not cracked or rusted out. If it has, you are going to need to replace it. You might have a hard time prying it off of the hose enough to replace it. If you do have this issue, consider purchasing a flange spreader that will be able to move the pieces apart and allow you to do the maintenance that you need.

For more information, talk to the company, like SMP Specialty Maintenance Products, from which you purchased the backflow device.