A stormwater check valve is an important part of a home or business’s plumbing system, designed to prevent raw sewage from backflowing into drainpipes. Sewage backups in homes and businesses are a common problem that can result in unsanitary conditions, costly cleanup costs and health hazards for residents.
The City of New York’s combined sewer system overflows on average once a week, allowing raw sewage to back up into homes and businesses. Installing a backwater valve to protect your property from sewer overflow is an easy way to help keep your home and family safe.
Before a check valve is installed in a water or wastewater treatment system, several factors must be considered, including the minimum pressure required to open the valve, the cost of the valve and where it will be located. These factors are crucial for a safe and efficient operation of the backflow valve.
For sanitary applications, check valves are often made of PVC or cast iron. They may also contain brass or stainless steel components for corrosion resistance. These materials can be selected depending on the type of application and whether the valve will be exposed to marine environments.
Typically, a sanitary check valve is an inline device that will be positioned out of the flow path and will allow for positive gravity flow to drain the pipe. This prevents a potential slam, which can lead to damage of internal components or shorten the lifespan of the valve.
Duckbill Style Valves
A rubber duckbill check valve is an ideal solution for a wide range of wastewater treatment and tidal flooding applications, providing guaranteed backflow prevention through non-mechanical operation. This unique design has a sleeve-shaped lip that parts at the cracking pressure and recloses below this threshold, preventing any reverse differential pressure from closing the valve.
These valves are resistant to organic contamination, such as algae and barnacles. They are also able to handle flows with suspended entrained solids, including abrasive slurries.
Inline and Slip-On versions are available to fit most pipe sizes. They are slipped onto or into existing pipe and secured with ANSI flanges, connected with thimble plates or any number of custom configurations to meet your specific installation needs.
Tide Flex Check Valve
In a coastal area, high tide flooding is a serious problem that affects residential and commercial properties as well as roadways. In many cases, these tidal flooding events cause sediment accumulation and disruption of traffic flow.
As a result, many cities have installed backflow prevention devices that prevent seawater from backing up into their drainage infrastructure. These devices, called tide check valves, allow stormwater to drain out during low tide, but when the tide rises, the valves close to prevent ocean water from backflowing into the pipes.
These tide check valves have helped the City of Charleston mitigate tidal flooding and are expected to provide years of dependable backflow prevention. In fact, since their installation, tidal flooding in the city has been virtually eliminated.