Commercial Plumbing in Longmont, CO

What does Longmont's backflow program expect from a business?

Longmont's Backflow Prevention and Cross-Connection Control Program, written into Municipal Code chapter 14.06, surveys all connections other than single-family homes. Irrigation has to be protected by an assembly rated for high hazard, and any new or replacement assembly must be a reduced pressure zone (RPZ) type unless the city signs off on something else. Installing one takes a miscellaneous permit from Building Inspection. After that, a certified tester has to check each assembly every year, plus after any installation, repair or relocation, and the results go into SwiftComply. For a restaurant, a brewery, a car wash or a building with sprinklers, that adds up to a recurring deadline worth putting on the calendar.

Whose problem is a backed-up building sewer?

Usually the owner's. Longmont maintains the sewer mains and will investigate a problem in the main, but the sewer service line belongs to the property owner. If several drains back up at once, a plumber can clear the line and run a camera to show whether the blockage sits in the private lateral or closer to the city's pipe. After business hours, the city routes utility calls through Longmont Public Safety Dispatch. The pages on file don't state where the city's part of the water service line ends, so ask Water Utilities at 303-651-8416 if a leak shows up near the meter.

Is Longmont water hard on equipment?

Not very. The city's water quality report describes it as soft, typically 1 to 2 grains per gallon, and it's disinfected with chlorine. The supply comes from North and South St. Vrain Creeks stored in Ralph Price Reservoir, plus Colorado-Big Thompson water by way of Lake Granby and Carter Lake, treated at the Wade Gaddis and Nelson Flanders plants. Soft water means less scale in heaters and dish machines than in harder-water suburbs, though tanks still need flushing. The city's service line inventory classifies every line as non-lead.

Housing data gives a rough sense of building age: the median home in Longmont dates from 1991 and about 37% were built before 1980 (city-wide ACS figures), with older stock near downtown.

Permits in brief

Building Services, at the Development Services Center on Kimbark Street, requires a permit for any change to electrical, gas, mechanical or plumbing systems, and lists water heaters among the work that needs one. Plan permit and inspection time into remodels and tenant finishes.