An annual test
is the covenant.

What we test

We test every assembly on your premises, not just the one at the service entrance. A typical Milwaukee restaurant has one containment RP at the meter and two to five isolation assemblies inside — under the bar at the carbonator, behind the three-comp sink, on the dishwasher boiler-feed, on the rooftop walk-in cooler condensate line. Each is on its own annual cycle with the AHJ and each gets its own ASSE 5110 form. We bring four pre-printed serial-tracked forms to a typical scheduled visit and a stack of blanks for what we discover.

If we find an assembly on your property that isn't on the MWW master list, we add it to the list during the visit. There is no fine. The longer we wait the more likely there is. The right time to add a previously-uncatalogued assembly is the visit you discover it.

When we test

Wisconsin's annual cycle starts on the day the assembly was last successfully tested. MWW publishes the annual notification in February for all premises that have a March-through-December last-test month, and we schedule visits Monday through Friday between 06:30 and 16:30 Central Time, with the exception of January and December when we work shorter days to keep the testers in heated mechanical rooms instead of unheated ones. Restaurants and bars get scheduled before 11:30 to avoid the lunch service; dental and medical offices get scheduled before 09:00 or between 12:00 and 13:30. K-12 schools get scheduled during in-service days or summer break.

We do not test in the rain on outdoor assemblies. We do not test below 28 °F outdoor — the gauge fluid behaves oddly. We do not test in standing water; if your mechanical room has been wet for more than 24 hours we'll bring a small submersible pump as part of the visit.

How we test

The tester arrives with a Pelican-cased Mid-West 845-5 differential gauge bearing a NIST-traceable calibration certificate dated within the last 12 months. The tester verifies the assembly's serial number against the master list (or adds it if missing), photographs the install date plate, and performs the prescribed valve sequence for the assembly type — five-valve for RP, three-valve for DC, two-valve for PVB/SVB, and the appropriate sequence plus bypass-meter check for RPDA/DCDA. Each reading is logged directly into the iPad form, which timestamps it. The tester signs the form, the customer signs the customer-acknowledgement section, and the PDF is queued for filing.

The visit is roughly 20–45 minutes for a single 3/4″ or 1″ RP/DC; 30–60 minutes for a 1.5″–2″; 60–90 minutes for a 2.5″–4″ RPDA or DCDA. A premises with five assemblies and average accessibility is a half-day visit. A premises with a 6″ fire service, three RPs, and a 1.5″ PVB on the lawn is a full day.

What we charge

Assembly	Size	Test + report (annual)
RP	1/2″ – 1″	$340
RP	1.5″ – 2″	$420
RP	2.5″ – 4″	$620
RP	6″ – 10″	$880 – $1,240
DC	1/2″ – 1″	$240
DC	1.5″ – 2″	$320
DC	2.5″ – 4″	$480
DC	6″ – 10″	$680 – $940
PVB / SVB	any	$185
RPDA	2.5″ – 10″	$520 – $1,180
DCDA	2.5″ – 10″	$420 – $940

Multi-assembly visits are discounted 15% on the second and subsequent assemblies at the same address on the same visit. A premises with four 1″ RPs is $340 + (3 × $289) = $1,207, not $1,360. We do not have annual contracts and we don't ask for one; we earn the renewal each year.

What a fail means

A failed test is not a crisis. We are allowed up to 10 business days under MWW §295-1(C)(7) to bring the assembly back into compliance — repair or replace — and re-test. In practice we usually rebuild on the same visit or the next day, because we keep the rebuild kits in the truck. If a replacement is required (body crack, obsolete model, hazard upgrade) we schedule the install within five business days and re-test on the day of install. The re-test is included in the original test fee; you pay for the parts and the install labor only.

What a fail does not mean: it does not mean the water on your premises is contaminated. The relief vent on an RP is the third line of defense, and even a failed annual test almost always means the first two lines are healthy. The failed test is an alarm that one of the lines has fatigued; the test exists so we catch it before it becomes a real backflow event.

What a pass leaves on the wall

• Aluminum tag.

  Engraved with assembly serial number, last-tested date, hazard class, and our license number. Replaced annually so the tag is always current.

• PDF, three copies.

  One to MWW; one to the customer's primary email; one to the customer's facility-manager email if different. All within four hours of the test.

• Customer ledger.

  Your account on our books shows the test, the next due date, and the assigned tester. We email this annually in September.

References