Backflow Base / Tester certification / Test procedures
Backflow test procedures, step by step.
How we recommend performing each step of the field test for the certification exam, based on the requirements in the USC Tenth Edition test procedures.
Last updated .
Before you test: N.I.I.O.
Notify, Identify, Inspect and Observe, in that order, before a hose goes on. Each assembly's page adds what is specific to it.
Notify
- Tell the owner or whoever is on site that water past the assembly is about to go off, and for how long.
- Ask what is on the line before you close a valve: anything that cannot lose water or pressure, such as dialysis, boilers, medical or process equipment, livestock waterers or fire protection.
- Notify the water system too, if its program asks for notice before a test.
Identify
- Copy make, model, size and serial number off the assembly itself, not off last year's report. A swapped assembly is a new record.
- Record where it is on the premises.
- Confirm the assembly type matches the hazard the water system assigned to this connection.
- Confirm it is on the USC Foundation list of approved assemblies for the way it is installed.
Inspect
- Inspect before you touch a valve. An assembly that is the wrong type, or installed wrong, fails no matter how it gauges.
- Both shut-off valves operate and hold.
- No visible leaks, cracks or freeze damage.
- Your test kit is in calibration. Most water systems want it calibrated within the last 12 months.
Observe
- Watch the assembly at rest before you start: discharge, drips and noise all tell you something.
- Watch for thermal expansion on a closed system: a water heater downstream of a closed shut-off can spike the pressure.
TC is a test cock. SOV is a shut-off valve. psid is pounds per square inch, differential.
Assemblies
What passes
- RPZ
- Relief valve opens at 2.0 psid or more. #1 check holds 5.0 psid or more, above the relief opening. #2 check is tight against backpressure.
- Double check
- Each check holds 1.0 psid or more.
- PVB
- Air inlet opens at 1.0 psid or more. Check holds 1.0 psid or more.
- SVB
- Check holds 1.0 psid or more. Air inlet opens at 1.0 psid or more.
The software
- Bookings from a booking page, your own website, and an AI receptionist on your phone.
- Schedule board and route for each tester.
- Field app that scores every test, even with no signal.
- Test reports sent to the water system that serves each address.
- Card payments to your own Stripe account, and yearly renewals that charge after the test.
- Client portal for HOAs, property managers and contractors.
- $50/month flat: no per-test fee, no cut of payments.
- Every feature →What the app does, part by part.
- Compare →Next to other backflow and field-service software.
- Start free →No card. $50/month or $500/year once you go live, 45 days free.
- Free exam prep →Study questions, practice exams, device tests, a VR wet lab.