PlumbingBossPro Blog — Water Heaters & Maintenance Plans

Backflow Testing Schedules: Keeping Yearly Tests From Slipping Through the Cracks

Backflow testing is recurring work by nature. Many properties with a backflow preventer need it tested on a regular schedule, often once a year, and the customer usually does not track the date. If your company does the testing, you are the one who has to remember. Miss a year and the customer hears about it from someone other than you.

Same Engine, Different Equipment

Softener plans, as covered in Water Softener Service Plans for Plumbing Companies, run on the same setup as water heater flushes. Backflow testing does too. The equipment is different, the visit is different, and the customer is often a business, but the scheduling problem is identical: a visit that has to happen again after a set number of days.

This guide covers the scheduling side. What your testers are required to do, who they report results to and what paperwork goes where depends on your local rules, so follow those and your own training.

Put the Backflow Preventer on the Property

In PlumbingBossPro, a backflow preventer is one of the equipment types a property can have. Record it like any other equipment:

• Brand, model number and serial number. Testers need these, and they are a pain to look up on site every year.
• Size.
• Year installed.
• Location and access notes: “Front of building, in the green box by the sidewalk. Key on the office ring.”

Properties with more than one device get more than one item. A restaurant with a device on the domestic line and another on the irrigation line has two records, and both show on the job card.

Setting the Schedule

Recurring work in PlumbingBossPro is set by minimum days between visits. A yearly test is 365 days. Because the count starts from the last completed visit, a test done a few days late does not crowd next year's.

Some customers need their test within a certain window. If yours do, keep an eye on the due date rather than relying only on the grace period, and schedule backflow work early in its due week. The Waiting List shows each test as not due yet, due now, or overdue past a 7-day grace, so you can see which ones need attention first.

Routing Backflow Work

Backflow tests are quick visits compared to most plumbing jobs, so they route well in clusters. A day of tests across a commercial strip or a neighborhood is efficient. On the dispatch board, assign a cluster of due tests to whichever van has a certified tester, auto-route them from the shop, and the tester's phone shows them in order.

They also combine well with other plan work. A commercial client with a backflow test and grease-line jetting every 30 days might have the test done on one of the jetting visits.

Recording the Test

The tester completes the visit on the tech app with notes and photos. If your testers use a separate official form or report for test results, keep doing that; the visit in PlumbingBossPro is the record that the test happened, when and by whom, and it triggers the invoice.

When a device fails, that is a repair estimate. Build it from your service list, send it for online approval, and the approved estimate becomes the scheduled job. Once repaired, the retest can be its own visit.

Commercial Clients With Many Locations

Restaurants, property managers and small chains often have backflow devices at several addresses. In PlumbingBossPro, one client can have many addresses, each with its own equipment and its own schedule. Set the client to Monthly billing and they get one statement each month covering every address, with each line labeled with the address. The accounts payable person sees which property each test was for without calling you.

Landlords with many homes work the same way, as covered in Maintenance Plans for Landlords With Many Homes: One Client, Many Water Heaters, One Statement.

Reminders That Get You In the Door

Commercial tests often need someone on site to open a locked box or a mechanical room. Automated reminders by text and email let the contact know the visit is coming, and two-way texting from the office handles the “can you come Thursday instead” replies. Put the contact's name and access details in the property's access notes so the tester knows who to ask for.

Never Miss a Year

The value of a backflow testing program is that tests happen without anyone chasing them. With the device on the property and the schedule set by days, every test comes due on its own and shows up on the map. To see how backflow schedules fit with water heater plans and billing, head back to the water heater service software overview.