Backflow preventer test log
Recording toolKeep every assembly's test figures — the readings, the date, the tester and the gauge — against the device they belong to.
Why there is no pass line on this sheet
Almost every backflow template on the internet prints a minimum figure and calls it the requirement. Which readings an assembly has to produce depends on what kind of assembly it is and on the test procedure your water purveyor or your state cross-connection control program specifies — and the certification that lets somebody perform the test is the certification that lets them read the result. This tool has read none of those documents, so it prints none of their numbers.
What it does instead is what a record is for: it keeps the figures, the date, the gauge and the tester against the assembly, in a form you can hand over. If you have your own expected range for a reading, put it in and a value outside it is flaggedas outside your range — yours, said in those words, on the printed sheet.
The assembly is the record, not the sheet
Register each assembly once — type, size, what it protects, the purveyor who asks for the result — and every test from then on is filed against it. That means one device's history is one list, and the same assemblies appear on the equipment service record because they are the same registered equipment rather than a second inventory kept here.
Where the certificate itself goes
The purveyor's own form, once it comes back, is a document with an expiry date on it. That belongs in the license, permit & certificate tracker, which answers “what expires next”. This log answers “what did the gauge say, and who read it” — the two questions are different and so are the two records.
A record of readings somebody took. CompliMaint states no pass criteria, no test procedure and no test frequency, and makes no determination that any assembly passed or that any facility is compliant — your water purveyor and your state cross-connection control program do that. Everything runs on your device.
Questions people ask
- Does this tool decide whether a backflow assembly passed?
- No, and that is deliberate. A pass depends on the assembly type, the procedure your water purveyor or state program specifies, and the criteria in that procedure — none of which this product has read. It records the figures the tester read off the gauge and leaves the verdict where it belongs. If you set your own range on a reading, a value outside it is flagged as outside your range, in those words.
- How often does a backflow preventer have to be tested?
- This tool states no frequency. In most places an annual test is required by the water purveyor and filed with them, but the interval, the form and who may perform the test are set locally and vary — some assemblies are tested more often, and some jurisdictions require the purveyor's own form rather than any record you keep. Ask the purveyor whose name is on your water bill.
- What should a backflow test record contain?
- The assembly it was performed on, identified by something that does not change — an ID stamped on the device or your own tag, not “the one by the boiler room”. Then the date, the readings, the gauge or test kit used, the tester and their certification number, and whether anything was repaired or replaced. This tool keeps all of those against the assembly, so a device's history is one list rather than a folder.
- Can I keep more than one assembly?
- Yes. Each assembly is registered once with its type, size, what it protects and the purveyor who asks for the result, and every test from then on is filed against it. The same assemblies show up on the equipment service record, because they are the same registered equipment rather than a second list this tool keeps for itself.