Free Backflow Test Report Template

Build and download a free backflow prevention assembly test report — enter the gauge readings and the report scores itself against the field test criteria, with the acceptance values printed alongside every verdict. PDF, Excel, or Word export.

Build your test report

Enter the gauge readings and the report scores itself against the field test criteria — including the reduced pressure rule that a check valve has to beat the relief valve, not just clear 5 psid.

Backflow Prevention Assembly Test Report

Plumbing

Assemblies

1

Result

Incomplete

Scored against the USC field test criteria
1Report detailsWho the report is filed with, and the site the assemblies serve.
Title
Test date
Report #optional
Reason for test
Water purveyoroptional
Account #optional
Site / service addressNothing set
Company detailsNothing set
2Tester & gaugeYour certification and the gauge the readings were taken with.
Certified tester
Certification #optional
Certification expiresoptional
Gauge makeoptional
Gauge serial #optional
Gauge calibratedoptional
Acceptance criteriaUSC field test values

Readings are scored against the USC field test values by default: a reduced pressure first check at 5.0 psid, a relief valve opening at 2.0 psid, double check valves at 1.0 psid each, and vacuum breaker air inlets at 1.0 psi. Some purveyors publish their own — Los Angeles County, for one, does not enforce the 5.0 psid floor. Set yours here and every export prints the criteria it actually applied.

Reduced pressure check #1 minimum (psid)optional
3Assemblies testedAuto-scoredOne block per assembly. Pick the type and the right test fields appear.
Assembly 1Incomplete
Assembly type
Locationoptional
Protectsoptional
Makeoptional
Modeloptional
Serial #optional
Sizeoptional
Hazardoptional
Line pressure (psi)optional
Test readingsUSC order: relief valve, then check #2, then check #1. Testing the checks first can affect the relief valve reading.
Relief valve opening point (psid)
Check valve #2
Check valve #1 (psid)
Shutoff valvesoptional
Remarksoptional

Add to your report:

Download your report:

Free · no signup · fully editable

What's included

  • Readings scored automatically against the USC field test acceptance values, with the reason printed whenever something fails
  • The right fields for the assembly — an RP, a double check and a vacuum breaker do not take the same readings, so picking the type changes the form
  • The acceptance criteria printed on every export next to the verdict, so a reviewer can see what the report was actually judged against
  • An overridable reduced pressure threshold for purveyors that publish their own, rather than a hardcoded national figure
  • A gauge calibration check that flags readings taken outside the calibration interval before the purveyor rejects them
  • Repair and retest recorded as their own columns, so a repaired assembly reads as passed without losing the failing reading that prompted the work
  • An atmospheric vacuum breaker identified and explained rather than given a test it has no cocks for
  • A report-level verdict that fails the whole submission if any single assembly failed
  • Tester certification number, expiry, gauge make, serial and calibration date carried on the form
  • Export to PDF, Excel (.xlsx), or Word (.docx)

How to use this template

  1. 1

    Identify the assembly

    Pick the type and record the make, model, serial and size. The type is what determines which readings the form asks for, so set it before you start entering numbers.

  2. 2

    Enter the gauge readings

    Type what the gauge showed. Each reading is scored as you go and the criterion it is being judged against sits next to the field, so nothing is graded against a number you cannot see.

  3. 3

    Record the gauge and your certification

    Your certification number and the gauge serial and calibration date belong on the report. If the calibration date is more than twelve months before the test, the builder says so — most purveyors will not accept those readings.

  4. 4

    Add repairs and a retest if it failed

    Where an assembly failed, record what you did and enter the retest readings. The retest decides the assembly, and the failing initial reading stays on the report so the repair is legible.

  5. 5

    Download and file it

    Export to PDF, Excel or Word and send it to the purveyor. The acceptance criteria travel with the verdict on all three formats.

The number most test report forms get wrong

A backflow prevention assembly test report is a short document with a lot riding on it. The water purveyor uses it to decide whether an assembly stays in service, and a report that is incomplete, taken with an out-of-calibration gauge, or scored against the wrong values gets rejected — usually after the tester has left the site. The form itself is simple. What is not simple is knowing which readings a given assembly takes and what each one has to clear.

The most common error in circulation concerns the reduced pressure assembly. A great many published procedures and training notes still tell testers that check valve number one must sit a full 3.0 psid above the relief valve opening point. That buffer was removed from the USC field test procedure in the Tenth Edition, and the Foundation said so plainly in 2015: the review committee concluded the buffer was not an indication of the assembly’s ability to prevent backflow. It survives in Chapter 10 as part of the Standard, which governs approval, not as something a tester applies in the field. Anyone still failing assemblies on a 3.0 psid buffer is working from Ninth Edition practice.

The second thing worth being careful about is that these thresholds are not uniformly national. The USC values are what most purveyors adopt, but adoption is a local decision and some publish their own — Los Angeles County, for one, does not enforce the 5.0 psid floor on a reduced pressure first check. A tool that hardcodes the USC number would stamp FAIL on an assembly the local authority accepts, which is worse than useless to the tester holding it. So the threshold is yours to set, and whatever you set is printed on the report next to the verdict. A reviewer should never have to guess which standard a pass was reached under.

Related templates

More free downloads for your PLUMBING template library.

Backflow Test Report FAQs

What readings does each assembly type take?

They differ, which is why the form changes with the type. A reduced pressure assembly takes a reading on check valve one, a tight-or-leaking result on check valve two, and the relief valve opening point. A double check takes a numeric reading on each of its two check valves. A pressure or spill-resistant vacuum breaker takes the air inlet opening point and a check valve reading. An atmospheric vacuum breaker takes none at all — it has no test cocks and is not a testable assembly.

No. On a reduced pressure assembly the second check is recorded as closed tight or leaking, not as a differential pressure. That is how the USC procedure and AWWA M14 both record it. The builder offers it as a tight-or-leaked result rather than a number box, so there is nothing to type a misleading value into.

No — but something related does still apply, and the two get conflated constantly. The Ninth Edition said the first check "should be 3.0 psid greater than the relief valve opening point". The Tenth Edition replaced that soft margin with a hard two-part criterion: the reading must be above the relief valve opening point AND at least 5.0 psid. So the 3.0 psid margin is gone, while the requirement to beat the relief valve is not. The 3.0 figure survives only in Chapter 10, where it governs how a model gets onto the USC approved list — a tester never applies it with a gauge.

Because of the second half of the criterion. If the relief valve on that assembly opened at 5.4 psid, then a first check holding 5.2 psid is below the opening point, and the Tenth Edition requires it to be above. The builder prints both numbers and names which condition was missed, rather than showing a bare fail against a threshold you appear to have cleared. Worth saying plainly: an assembly failing this may still be preventing backflow. USC is explicit that assemblies which fail the field test can still be protecting the supply — this is a test verdict, not a safety verdict.

Relief valve first, then the second check, then the first check. That is the USC Tenth Edition order and it is not arbitrary — the Foundation warns that testing the check valves first can affect the relief valve opening point reading. Several published procedures, including some state and manufacturer cards, run the checks first. The form asks for the readings in USC order so it does not quietly encourage the wrong sequence.

You can change the reduced pressure first check minimum, and every export prints the criteria that were actually applied so nobody reading the report has to assume. Be aware of what that setting does and does not cover: it changes the threshold, not the shape of the rule. The builder always applies the USC Tenth Edition form of the criterion — at least the minimum AND above the relief valve opening point.

No, and the differences are larger than a single number. New York and Wisconsin set a flat 5.0 psid with no link to the relief valve opening point at all, so a check reading 5.2 against a relief valve opening at 5.4 passes there and fails under USC. Massachusetts adopts the USC Ninth Edition, which still requires the first check to sit 3.0 psid above the relief opening — stricter than the Tenth. Los Angeles County has historically used a tightness-based criterion with no numeric floor, though as of July 2026 that applies only to internal protection assemblies; meter protection there now requires ABPA or ASSE certification, and ABPA mandates the USC Tenth Edition. This builder implements the USC Tenth Edition rule. If your purveyor uses one of the other forms, check the printed criteria against theirs before you submit.

The builder flags it. If the calibration date you entered is more than twelve months before the test date, the report says so on screen and in a note on every export. It does not block you — the readings are still yours to record — but most purveyors will not accept readings from a gauge outside its calibration interval, and finding that out from the rejection letter is worse than finding it out here.

As both tests. Enter the initial readings, describe what you repaired, then enter the retest readings. The retest is what decides the assembly, so a rebuilt check that now holds reads as passed — but the failing initial reading stays on the report, because a repair with no before value is not a repair anybody can audit.

Yes. A submission listing three passes and one fail is not a pass, and rolling it up as one would be the most dangerous rounding this document could make. The summary shows the counts separately so you can see exactly where the failure is.

No, and every export says so. A test report is the certified tester’s record of what the gauge showed. Acceptance of the assembly rests with the water purveyor or the authority having jurisdiction. The form references them rather than impersonating them.

Your report scores itself. Larry answers the phone while it does.