ASSE 5000 series · cross-connection control
Backflow tester certification,
start to finish
To become a certified backflow tester, complete an ASSE 5110 course (40 hours minimum), then pass a 100-question written exam at 70 percent and a hands-on practical on RP (RPZ), double check and vacuum breaker assemblies. You need five years of documented trade experience, and the certification runs three years before recertification.
Backflow testers verify the assemblies that keep contamination out of drinking water, on a schedule water authorities enforce. Updated 2026.
Searching for RPZ certification or a backflow prevention assembly tester certification? They are the same credential: the ASSE 5110 tester card covers RP (RPZ), double check and vacuum breaker assemblies, and some states run their own tester programs that your water purveyor recognizes alongside it.
Tested · Tagged · Due again in 3 years
- Training
- 40 hrs min
- Written exam
- 100 q
- Passing
- 70%
- Practical
- Hands-on
- Cert period
- 3 years
ASSE 5110 tester requirements, per ASSE International's published certification criteria. Entry also requires five years of documented experience in plumbing, mechanical, fire protection, lawn irrigation or a related field.
Start here
How to become a backflow tester
The course, the exam, the practical and the five-year experience rule, in order.
What a certified backflow tester does
The work behind the card: tests, tags, reports and repairs.
Backflow tester recertification
The three-year clock, the early window, and what a lapse costs.
What backflow testing pays
The published figures, their limits, and the route math that moves pay.
ASSE 5130 repairer
The second card most testers add, and why repairs are the margin.
Backsiphonage vs backpressure
The two ways water flows backward, and which assembly stops each.
Containment vs isolation
Where protection goes and who requires it.
Backflow test kits
Three-valve and five-valve differential gauges, and the repair kits that go in the truck.
Your state
Which tester programs each state and its purveyors recognize.
Also on the site: the backflow protection by property type pages for owners, the backflow glossary, the career explored honestly, and the free three-year clock sheet.
Why this trade compounds
Most credentials get you a job. This one gets you a book of business. Assemblies must be tested on a recurring schedule wherever a water authority requires them, which means the customer you test this year is, in the normal run of things, your customer again. More than 19,000 ASSE-certified backflow professionals across all 50 states and parts of Canada, per ASSE.
And the certification itself renews on the same rhythm: every three years, through an accredited school, with a class, a written exam and a practical. Recertification can be completed up to six months early without losing any certification time, which is the detail organized testers use so a busy season never turns into a lapsed card.
Confirm locally first
Certification requirements and which programs a jurisdiction accepts vary. Before enrolling anywhere, confirm with your water authority or state program which credential it recognizes, then confirm the school is accredited for it.
The ladder
Five credentials, one program
The tester card is the entry point. The 5000 series runs from testing to repair to running a purveyor's whole program.
Backflow Prevention Assembly Tester
The core credential. Testers verify that installed backflow prevention assemblies actually work, on a cycle their water authority enforces.
5120Cross-Connection Control Surveyor
Surveys facilities for cross-connections between potable and non-potable systems and determines the protection each hazard requires.
5130Backflow Prevention Assembly Repairer
Repairs and rebuilds the assemblies that fail testing. Pairs naturally with 5110: the tester who can also repair keeps the whole job.
The instrument this trade runs on
Mid-West 845-5 5-Valve Test Kit
Arbiter Mako MK5 Digital 5-Valve Kit
Acugauge TK Plus 3-Valve Kit
BAC-FLO-5 Test KitConfirm what your jurisdiction's test procedures require before choosing a kit.The kit guide.
The companion books
ASSE 5110, training classes, the practical exam, test kits, recertification, and the cross-connection control trade.
Route economics, pricing, your first hundred accounts, test kits and calibration, compliance records, and scaling to a crew.
The three-year clock sheet, free
Both clocks of the testing trade, your credential and your customers, counted backward on one printable page. Enter your email and we will send you straight to it.
No spam. One useful sheet and occasional notes.