My home was built in 2015 by DR Horton in Bastrop and had a failed backflow preventer test last week. Is it normal for these valves to fail after only three years? What kind of cost might I expect to repair this valve?

You may have had some freeze damage. We had one for our pool replaced last year, after only 3.5 years.

About 8 years ago mine failed a test after about only 18 months of use. Had the sprinkler guy replace it and it ran about $350. I was pissed and b'tched with him about it failing so earler and all he said was they can go out and the 1 year warranty was up.

I had hiim give me the unit and later on I checked into it and found the unit on-line for about $200. After further review of the unit itself, I discovered some PVC clippings inside that most likely caused the failure. Talk about being pissed...

My neighbors unit also failed the following year as he's must have froze and it cfracked on the bottom of the value. We used my old one to repair his...

Lots of folks had Febco backflow valves for their sprinkler systems freeze and break a few weeks ago. The valve body is generally OK but the bonnet poppet assembly is plastic and that is the part that breaks. You can get a repair kit on Amazon for about $35 (for the Febco 765). It's very easy to replace. You loosen the nut on top to remove it and get access to the internals (bottom pic). If it's broken, the plastic assembly will come out in 2 (or more) pieces.

Is $450 a reasonable cost to replace? Can these not simply be repaired? That was my quote.

CalebMcCreary06 said:

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Is $450 a reasonable cost to replace? Can these not simply be repaired? That was my quote.

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Do you have a pic or model #?

The plastic is easy to replace. I need to replace my whole assembly as it takes a hammer to move the valves. YouTube videos show how easy it is, just kill the water to your house first.

Watts TK99E

CalebMcCreary06 said:

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Watts TK99E

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You sure?
That model number is for a tester.
http://www.backflowpreventer.com/Item/TK-99E

Whoops misread his invoice. Let me look.

Febco 850

Parts seem cheap enough. Probably could repair it yourself.
http://backflowparts.com/febco-model-850-lf850-dc/

I had Leader Plumbing do it

CalebMcCreary06 said:

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Is $450 a reasonable cost to replace? Can these not simply be repaired? That was my quote.

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Considering that a new one runs about $105 plus shipping and tax for a 3/4" and about $135 plus shipping and tax for a 1" BFP, you could replace 3 of them for that replacement cost considering labor costs may be around $100 (WAG estimate).

3/4" BFP

1" BFP

TexAg1987 said:

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Parts seem cheap enough. Probably could repair it yourself.
http://backflowparts.com/febco-model-850-lf850-dc/

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Yessir, that's a good website. Has the parts breakdown and repair procedures. Repair of that particular valve looks to be well within the abilities of the average homeowner with any DIY skills at all.

The Febco valves are designed with plastic internals that are intended to be "sacrificed" in case of icing inside the valve. This is intended to prevent damage to the brass body of the valve which is obviously a lot more expensive to replace.

HumbleAg said:

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Lots of folks had Febco backflow valves for their sprinkler systems freeze and break a few weeks ago. The valve body is generally OK but the bonnet poppet assembly is plastic and that is the part that breaks. You can get a repair kit on Amazon for about $35 (for the Febco 765). It's very easy to replace. You loosen the nut on top to remove it and get access to the internals (bottom pic). If it's broken, the plastic assembly will come out in 2 (or more) pieces.

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Not to derail this thread, but HumbleAg, you appear to be very knowledgeable with BFVs so I thought I'd ask you here; or anyone else knowledgeable, please don't hesitate to chime in. Our last house, which is actually 2 houses up the street (imagine that ) had the Febco 850 type BFV device installed aboce ground on the side corner of the house. It was installed in 2007 when we had the sprinkler system installed.

Our current home has the Febco 765 type, like the one pictured above, installed above ground in the front yard at the street by the water meter. Don't know when it was installed but it had a shurb growing around it so it was sort of inconspicuous and fine when the leaves were green. However, the shrub died last year and now the BFV device stands out in the front yard like a sore thumb.

I'd prefer it being on the side of the house like at the old house but don't want to go through the expense and all the trouble to relocate it. The BFV shut off valve froze this winter so I'll need to repair it, however after doing some research I discovered that BFVs can be installed in the ground in an irrigation housing box instead of above ground.

If that's acceptable, what type of BFV device would you recommend purchasing and installing in a below ground configuration?

TIA

Gary - I am really only familiar with the Febco 765 via personal experience (i.e. learned about need for freeze protection the hard way). I read a little bit about the 850 out of interest in the discussion here. I've seen generally where in-ground installation necessitates using a double-check valve type backflow preventer. The installation instructions for the 850 (double-check type) shows installing it 12" minimum above ground (or highest outlet) but I guess I don't understand why that would be necessary. The 765 is a vacuum breaker so it needs to be elevated to prevent back pressure.

I had the plastic internals break during the last freeze. Looked it up on YouTube and saw how easy it was to replace the internal parts and did it myself. Lowe's carries them but Home Depot is only order online. Lowe's was sold out since it was just after the freeze so I ended up at Ace Hardware with an aftermarket replacement for about $45. It fit just fine and was one of the easiest repairs I have done in a long time. Took longer to travel to get the part than it did to replace it. Took the old one with me to make sure I was getting the right part. Seriously easy for any DIY'er.

Had a ball valve freeze up and break. $30 replacement valve, $7 PVC pipe cutters (Harbor Freight), $6 Christy's Red Hot Blue, Teflon tape, and 2 PVC couplers. Worth noting that a Febco 765-1 1" at Lowe's was $79 of you need the entire unit. Using the following video, it took all of 20 minutes.

HumbleAg said:

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Gary - I am really only familiar with the Febco 765 via personal experience (i.e. learned about need for freeze protection the hard way). I read a little bit about the 850 out of interest in the discussion here. I've seen generally where in-ground installation necessitates using a double-check valve type backflow preventer. The installation instructions for the 850 (double-check type) shows installing it 12" minimum above ground (or highest outlet) but I guess I don't understand why that would be necessary. The 765 is a vacuum breaker so it needs to be elevated to prevent back pressure.

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Thanks HumbleAg, I appreciate you responding. I checked into it last year and came to the conclusion that the 850 was the one that could be installed below grade but it may have been another type so I'll check and see what I can find as I'll need to do something here soon. I'll post what I find here for others to see for future reference!

Again, thanks!

as long as the metal isn't cracked, replacing the plastic piece is super simple. $450 is a joke.

Metal part is quite easy too so long as you have two decent sized crescent/pipe wrenches on hand.