Commercial Plumbing Preventative Maintenance in Chatham-Kent

Postma provides commercial plumbing maintenance across Chatham-Kent, Sarnia-Lambton and Windsor-Essex. Annual certified backflow testing with reports filed for you, washroom fixture and flush valve service, water heating, drains and interceptors, on one schedule and one renewal date. Call 519-354-9491.

Commercial Plumbing Preventative Maintenance

Commercial plumbing fails differently from HVAC. When a rooftop unit goes down the building gets uncomfortable. When plumbing goes down you get water damage, a health inspection problem, a compliance notice, or a washroom taken out of service in a building full of tenants.

A plumbing maintenance agreement covers the two things that actually drive commercial plumbing spend: the annual compliance obligations you are legally required to meet, and the wear items that fail quietly until they flood something.

What a Plumbing Maintenance Visit Covers

Select a system to see the task list.

Backflow Prevention Annual certified testing of every device on site Test report completed and filed with the municipality Relief valve, check valve and shutoff operation Rebuild or replacement of failed devices, then retest Device register kept current as the building changes Scheduling tracked so the renewal date is not yours to remember	Washroom Fixtures Flush valves and diaphragms on urinals and water closets Sensor and battery replacement on automatic flush valves and faucets Waterless urinal cartridge service and trap cleaning Aerators, supply stops and angle valves Toilet and urinal carriers, seals and wall mounting Leak checks on every fixture, including running toilets Drain flow and vent check on each fixture group	Water Heating Temperature and pressure relief valve testing Anode rod inspection on tank heaters Sediment flush and tank condition check Combustion analysis and venting on gas units Descaling on tankless units Mixing valve and scald protection verification Recirculation pump and return loop operation Expansion tank pressure check
Drains & Interceptors Scheduled cleaning of kitchen and high-use lines Grease interceptor inspection and service scheduling Floor drain and trap primer check, including dry traps Camera inspection on lines with a blockage history Backwater valve inspection and cleaning Roof drain and storm line clearing	Pumps & Pits Sump, sewage and effluent pump operation and amp draw Float switch and control testing Pit cleaning and debris removal Alarm testing on critical pits Duplex alternation verification on paired pumps Booster pump pressure and operation	Piping & Shutoffs Visual inspection of exposed domestic water and drainage piping Main and zone shutoff valve exercising so they work when needed Hose bibb and exterior line winterization Insulation condition on lines in unheated space Water pressure reading against expected Gas piping visual inspection and leak check

Backflow Testing and Cross-Connection Compliance

Backflow is the single most common compliance failure in commercial buildings, and it is entirely avoidable.

Most Ontario municipalities operate a cross-connection control program requiring commercial, industrial and institutional properties to have backflow prevention devices tested annually by a certified tester, with the report submitted to the municipality. Miss it and you can receive a notice, a re-inspection, and in some cases a water service disconnection.

The device itself also fails silently. A failed backflow preventer keeps passing water in the normal direction while no longer protecting the municipal supply from your building. Nothing tells you it has failed. That is the entire reason the annual test exists.

What We Do	Detail
We track the date	Buildings under agreement get scheduled automatically. The most common reason a test gets missed is that nobody in the building owns the calendar entry, particularly after a property manager or maintenance lead changes.
Certified testing and filing	Testing of reduced pressure principle and double check valve assemblies by certified testers, with the report completed and submitted rather than handed to you to deal with.
Repair on the same visit	We carry common rebuild kits, so a device that fails its test can often be rebuilt and retested without a second trip charge and a second invoice.
Device survey and register	If you do not know how many devices your building has or where they are, we will survey it, tag them and build the register. This is routine on buildings that have changed hands or added equipment over the years.

The Wear Items That Cause Commercial Plumbing Failures

Item	What Happens Without Service
Flush valve diaphragms	A worn diaphragm on a urinal or water closet either fails to shut off, running continuously, or fails to deliver a full flush. A single continuously running flush valve wastes a substantial volume of water every day and nobody notices until the bill arrives.
Urinal traps and lines	Urinal drain lines scale up over time, particularly on waterless and low-flow fixtures. The line narrows gradually until it blocks, usually at the worst possible moment in a public building.
Water heater relief valves	A temperature and pressure relief valve that has never been tested may not open when it needs to. This is a safety device, not a comfort item, and testing it is a two minute job.
Trap primers and dry traps	A floor drain that rarely sees water loses its trap seal and lets sewer gas into the building. Most odour complaints in commercial buildings trace back to this rather than to anything actually broken.
Sump and sewage pumps	A pump that has not run in months may not start when the pit fills. These are found failed during a storm, in a flooded room, at emergency rates.
Shutoff valves	Valves seize when they are never operated. The time you discover your main shutoff does not close is the time you most need it to. Exercising valves on a schedule takes minutes and prevents a small leak becoming a building-wide shutdown.
Grease interceptors	A neglected interceptor stops separating and passes grease into your lateral and the municipal system. That is a compliance problem and the fastest way to block your own drain line.

One agreement, three trades. Backflow testing, water heater service and drain maintenance can sit on the same agreement as your HVAC and electrical, on one schedule, one renewal date and one invoice. See commercial HVAC preventative maintenance.

How Plumbing Agreements Are Priced

Factor	Why It Moves the Price
Fixture count	The base driver on most buildings. A four-washroom office and a twenty-fixture arena are different jobs even though the task list is the same.
Number of backflow devices	Each device is a separate certified test and a separate filed report. Buildings with boilers, irrigation, fire lines and process equipment can have several.
Visit frequency	Annual works for a low-traffic office. Restaurants, food processing, schools, arenas and high-traffic public buildings normally need quarterly or semi-annual attention on drains and fixtures.
Kitchen and grease load	A commercial kitchen changes the drain service interval more than any other factor. Scheduled line cleaning is priced against how fast that kitchen loads the line.
Number of sites	Portfolios price better than single buildings, because travel and scheduling are consolidated across the group and the compliance calendar is managed once.

Commercial Plumbing Maintenance FAQ

How often does a backflow preventer need to be tested?

Annually in most Ontario municipalities, by a certified tester, with the report filed under the local cross-connection control program. Requirements vary by municipality and by hazard level. If you are unsure what applies to your building we will confirm it and put you on a schedule.

What happens if we miss a backflow test?

It depends on the municipality, but typically a notice followed by escalating enforcement, which can include re-inspection fees and in some cases water service disconnection. It is one of the few plumbing items where the consequence is administrative rather than mechanical, which is exactly why it gets forgotten.

Why do our urinals keep blocking?

Usually scale buildup narrowing the drain line rather than anything at the fixture. Low-flow and waterless urinals are more prone to it because there is less water moving through the line. Scheduled line cleaning solves it. If it keeps recurring after cleaning, a camera inspection tells you whether the line itself needs work.

Do you service equipment installed by another contractor?

Yes, and most of our maintenance customers came to us that way. We inspect and document what is on the building, tag the assets and backflow devices, note existing deficiencies, and build the record from there.

Are repairs included in the agreement?

The agreement covers scheduled inspection and maintenance. Repairs found during a visit are quoted for approval before the work is done, with the exception of small items we can resolve on the spot. Agreement customers receive priority dispatch and reduced after-hours rates.

What do we receive after each visit?

A report per site covering what was inspected, work performed, and any deficiency found with a recommendation attached. Backflow test reports are filed with the municipality and a copy stays on your file, so the compliance record is available when you need to produce it.

Can plumbing sit on the same agreement as HVAC and electrical?

Yes, on one schedule and one renewal date. For multi-site portfolios this is usually the reason customers consolidate with us: one contractor holding the entire compliance calendar rather than three sets of renewal dates to track.

How do we get started?

Call 519-354-9491 or email contact@postma.ca. We will walk the site, inventory the fixtures, water heating and backflow devices, and come back with a scoped proposal and an annual price. If it is a small building with standard fixtures we can often estimate over the phone.

See all commercial plumbing services, or our commercial plumbing repair and emergency service for something that has already failed.

Want a plumbing maintenance proposal? Call 519-354-9491 or send us an address and building type. We will inventory your fixtures, water heating and backflow devices and come back with a scoped annual price. Plumbing can sit on the same agreement as your HVAC and electrical, with one renewal date and one compliance calendar.