Z6 · RPZ
RPZ backflow testing and certification in Eastern Iowa
Six Fleming employees are certified by the state for RPZ backflow testing. We test the device, complete the paperwork and submit it to your municipality.
Chapter 01
What an RPZ protects, and why someone has to test it
An RPZ, short for reduced pressure zone, is the backflow device that sits between the public water supply and your sprinkler system. Sprinkler lines hold standing water that has been in contact with soil, fertilizer and whatever else is on the lawn. If pressure on the supply side ever drops, that water could be pulled backward. The RPZ is what stops it.
It is a mechanical device, and mechanical parts wear. A check can foul with grit or a spring can weaken, and nothing about that is visible from the outside. A test with a gauge is the only way to know the assembly still does its job.
Planted bed along a white vinyl fence with a sprinkler head at the lawn edge
Six state-certified testers, and the paperwork stays with us
Testing takes a certified tester, and Fleming has six of them on staff, all certified by the state for RPZ backflow testing. The tester connects a gauge to the test cocks, works through the checks and the relief valve, and records what the assembly does.
Then the part most people dread. The results are written up on the paperwork and submitted to your municipality, by us. Whether you are in Cedar Rapids, Marion, Hiawatha, Iowa City or Mount Vernon, you do not chase a form or find the right office. Call (319) 393-9229 to book a test.
Chapter 03
Out in the fall, back in at start-up
An RPZ does not do well sitting outside through an Iowa winter, because water trapped inside it freezes. When the winterization notice goes out each fall, typically in October, the RPZ is removed and kept in heated storage while the lines are blown out.
In spring it goes back on the line during the start-up visit, and that is the natural moment to test it, if a test is required. One trip covers the system and the device that protects the water supply.
Six Fleming employees are certified by the state for RPZ backflow testing, and Fleming submits the paperwork to your municipality.
Sheet Z6 · RPZ assembly, cutaway
Two checks, one relief valve, and a way to prove they work
Inlet shutoff valve
Closes the supply to the assembly so it can be tested or serviced.
First check valve
Holds the supply pressure back from the middle chamber.
Relief valve
Opens and drains water out of the middle chamber if a check leaks or supply pressure drops, so nothing travels backward toward the drinking supply.
Second check valve
Closes against pressure pushing back from the sprinkler system side.
Outlet shutoff valve
Closes the system side of the assembly.
Test cocks
Small ports where a certified tester connects a gauge to read pressures across the checks and the relief valve.
From test to your municipality
Test
A state-certified Fleming tester runs the test on your RPZ.
Paperwork
The results are written up on the test report.
Submitted to your municipality
We send the report in, so it is not one more errand on your list.
“Scott J. Was the tech that preformed the test on my backflow system. He was very friendly and helpful.”