Quote:
Originally Posted by Greg in michigan
My vacuum braker for my black tank flush is cracked and leaks. Lucky I found the leak before too much water leaked.
Can this be replaced with just a male to male fitting. I understand ( I think ) its purpose but wonder if it's really needed. New houses have them ( back flow preventers ) on the water outlet you screw you garden hose to but I was told their not really needed just some government regulation that would actually never be needed.
Looking for your input
Thanks
Greg in Michigan
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There's a perfectly good reason for that regulation. Picture your neighbor filling his fish pond, leaving the hose in the water. Water utility has a sudden break in the line, shuts off the supply valves, but water in the lines ABOVE the break continues to flow out. This creates a vacuum which now sucks water in from the pond which contains who knows how many different harmful bacteria.
It's even MORE important with a Black Tank Flush line as there no doubt fecal matter contaminating the line where it enters the tank and could go back as far as where the line rises above the top of the tank. Picture flushing your tank, turning off the valve at the hydrant. You now just disconnect the hose and let it sit on the ground to drain. Without a backflow valve you could possibly have crap contaminated water being sucked back into your hose.
If the hydrant doesn't have a back flow preventer device on it's discharge, and it's a frost proof hydrant, when shut off water drains from the standpipe into a gravel sump a couple feet below ground. Without the backflow preventer on your black tank flush, it's possible to contaminate the campground hydrant and pass on the bacteria to the next user.
There are valid reasons for these valves both on RV's and Homes. Those who say they're unnecessary are ill informed.
As a side note, there was a time in history (even in my lifetime) when diseases were being passed around rapidly due to cross contamination between drinking water and sewage. Regulations like these have played a huge role in making sure few, if any of them, are being passed around today through monitored public water systems. For example, Cholera has been eradicated in the US as well as other's like Dysentery, Hep A, Polio, etc. being limited to those who travel to third world countries.
FWIW, there's just about as much work involved in bypassing this valve as there is in replacing it. Replace it and let it do the job for which it was intended.
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