The pressure vacuum breaker inspection form

A pressure vacuum breaker is an air inlet valve and a single check valve, between shutoffs, designed to break siphon by admitting air when upstream pressure falls. It is a backsiphonage-only assembly, most often found on irrigation systems. The form has to make three things checkable a year later: what the assembly is, where it is installed, and what it measured.

• Facility and service — customer, service address, contact, purveyor, meter or account number, assembly location, test date and test type. On irrigation, note zone or controller location in the assembly location notes; next year's tester will thank you.
• Assembly identification — PVB or SVB, manufacturer, model, serial, size, service type and hazard classification. Chemical injection of any kind changes the hazard conversation.
• Installation observations — height above the highest downstream outlet, freeze protection, drainage of the air inlet discharge, and whether the assembly is accessible for testing.
• Readings, tester and gauge — air inlet opening point, check valve holding, both shutoffs, then certification number and expiration, gauge make/model/serial and calibration date, and signatures.

These are the thresholds BackflowPass applies to the vacuum breaker family, read out of its rule engine. PVB and SVB share them.

There is no relief valve on a vacuum breaker, so there is no buffer calculation as on an RP. Both graded readings must meet the minimum; a missing reading reports as incomplete rather than as a failure. Try your own numbers on the pass/fail calculator.

Use the procedure your certification and purveyor require. The sequence below is the ordinary shape of a vacuum breaker test, given so you know which blank gets filled when.

1. 1

   Identify and inspect

   Type, make, model, serial, size off the tag. Note the height relative to the highest outlet, the discharge path of the air inlet, and any freeze or physical damage.

2. 2

   Record line pressure and flush test cocks

   Note supply pressure, flush the cocks, and confirm the downstream zone is isolated so you are not fighting an open valve.

3. 3

   Test the air inlet opening point

   Bleed the downstream side and measure the differential at which the air inlet opens. Baseline pass is 1.0 PSID or greater; watch for an inlet that opens sluggishly or only partially and note it.

4. 4

   Test the check valve holding

   Measure the differential the single check holds. Baseline pass is 1.0 PSID or greater, steady rather than falling.

5. 5

   Verify both shutoff valves

   Record each as tight or leaked. On seasonal irrigation this is where quietly weeping shutoffs turn up.

6. 6

   Restore, then sign on site

   Close test cocks, restore the service, confirm the air inlet seats and does not weep under normal pressure, then sign with certification and gauge details.

A vacuum breaker can pass both readings and still not protect anything. These observations are the difference between a test and an inspection, and they are worth writing into the notes even when the form has no dedicated box.

• Height above the highest downstream outlet, including any hose bib, drip head or riser added since the last visit. A new zone on higher ground can invalidate an installation that was fine last year.
• Backpressure sources downstream — a booster pump, an elevated tank or a chemical injector means a vacuum breaker is the wrong assembly, not a failing one.
• Air inlet discharge path: it will spill when it opens. Indoors, or above anything that must stay dry, an SVB or a different assembly is usually required.
• Freeze exposure and drainage, and whether the assembly was drained or has split. Cracked bonnets after winter are a common irrigation finding.
• Accessibility and clearance for the next test — buried, boxed in or landscaped over is a reportable condition.

Why the report still has to say which one it is

The graded readings are identical, but the assembly type on the sheet is what tells a reviewer whether the installation was permitted in that location. Recording an SVB as a PVB (or the reverse) turns a clean file into a question, and it breaks the serial-number trail that lets you start next year's annual from this record.

• Air inlet below minimum — debris or mineral scale on the poppet, a tired spring, or a bonnet cracked by freezing. Clean and re-measure before condemning it.
• Air inlet does not open — often seized after a season shut down wet. Service the inlet; note the behaviour, not just the number.
• Check holding below minimum — grit or damaged rubber on the single check. There is no second check as backup here, which is why this one matters.
• Shutoff leaks — repair or replace, then take both readings again rather than reusing the earlier set.

The failed initial readings stay on the record. Repairs are recorded from a checklist — cleaned, replaced rubber or disc, replaced spring, serviced the air inlet, other with notes — and the final retest is a complete second reading set. A passing retest reports as passed after repair; an incomplete retest never reports as a pass.

Work down the fields above, or open the generator and choose PVB or SVB — only the two vacuum breaker readings and the shutoff toggles appear, each graded as you type. Signatures are captured on the screen and the report exports as one 8.5×11 page, offline, with no account required.

• Irrigation work is high volume: saved customers and assemblies turn a repeat property into a two-tap setup.
• Set the next-test-due date on the record and Pro plans will surface the due and overdue lists next season.
• Location notes accept the detail that makes an assembly findable again — box number, controller, zone, side of the building.
• The PDF keeps failed readings and repairs visible; nothing is dropped to make the page fit.