Answered at every hour · testing, repair, annual retesting
Backflow testing for South Florida, dispatched from Boca Raton
A certified tester working under a licensed plumber runs the test, and the result goes straight to the utility holding your record instead of sitting in a drawer somewhere.
How often does a backflow assembly actually need testing?
On installation, then every year without exception: the assembly is a mechanical device standing between drinking water and whatever sits downstream of it, and testing is the only way to confirm it still closes. The governing rule sits in Florida Administrative Code 62-555.360, under the Department of Environmental Protection, and it applies whether the property is a single home or a large commercial site.
Enforcement then depends on the county. Broward mails a notice 60 days out and again at 30 before your compliance date. Miami-Dade Water and Sewer requires annual testing on every registered assembly and takes the result through its own online portal rather than the mail.
Who may run the test is spelled out too: a current backflow testing certification for domestic and irrigation assemblies, held by someone working under a licensed plumber, and a separate fire-service qualification for fire assemblies.
How this reaches you
What actually puts an assembly on your property
For most owners, the first contact with backflow is a letter, not a leak.
A notice with a due date showed up
Broward sends these sixty days out, then again at thirty. The date on it is real, and only someone certified to test can close it out.
Irrigation runs off the same supply
A line buried in soil, sharing a connection with drinking water, is the textbook cross-connection, exactly what the assembly exists to break apart.
Almost any commercial property
Annual testing applies to most commercial assemblies, and the compliance record is tied to the utility rather than to whoever currently owns the building.
The last test came back failed
A failed assembly calls for repair or replacement, never a simple re-test. Many are rebuildable inside, which is worth checking before paying for a whole new device.
A new service or a change in how a property is used
Testing happens right at installation, so it belongs to getting a new connection approved rather than a requirement that starts a year afterward.
Before you schedule
What owners usually want to know first
Does it have to be a certified tester specifically?
Yes. Domestic and irrigation assemblies need someone holding a current backflow testing certification and working under a licensed plumber. Fire assemblies need a separate fire-service qualification on top of that.
Where does the test result actually go?
It goes to whichever utility keeps your compliance record. In Miami-Dade County, that means submitting through the utility’s own online portal for every registered assembly. Broward runs the process through its water and wastewater division instead, which is the reason those notices land ahead of schedule rather than trailing behind it.
What if the assembly doesn’t pass?
It gets repaired or replaced, then tested again. That isn’t paperwork. A failed assembly has stopped doing the one job it has, which is keeping your drinking water separate from whatever sits on the other side of it.
Does an ordinary house need one of these?
Often, yes, if there is irrigation on the property, since what triggers the requirement is the cross-connection itself, not how large the building happens to be. A notice in your hand means a registered assembly already exists and a date is coming.
Nearby on the job
What often comes up in the same visit
Frequently the same property, sometimes the same afternoon.
Live dispatch · 24 / 7 / 365
Got a letter with a compliance date on it?
Someone answers at any hour, from Boca Raton. The test is run by someone actually certified to run it, and the result lands where your utility expects to find it.
No obligation. Work performed under Florida plumbing contractor license CFC1433655.