The most-used cross-connection on most properties is the outdoor tap, and it is the one nobody thinks about.
A hose lying in a flower bed, a garden sprayer with chemical in it, a hose end sitting in a bucket or a stock tank — every one of those is a direct path from something unpleasant into the house supply, and all it takes is a pressure drop somewhere on the street while the hose is connected. It is the simplest backflow scenario there is and by a wide margin the most common.
What goes on it
Most hose connections are handled by a hose bibb vacuum breaker — the short brass fitting that threads on between the tap and the hose. It costs very little, it goes on in about a minute, and it covers the ordinary case.
It has real limits. It stops suction but does nothing about a pump on the other end, and it is not a testable assembly, so it will not satisfy a provider that requires certified annual testing on the connection. Where either of those applies, the tap steps up to a pressure vacuum breaker or a reduced pressure assembly.
Wall hydrants
A wall hydrant is the same connection in colder packaging. The frost-free ones run the valve seat back inside the heated wall, and many are sold with an integral vacuum breaker in the head. Many are also twenty years old with that breaker long since seized, which is worth a look rather than an assumption.
The issue on any of this is almost never cost. It is that people do not know the connection counts.
Scope on this one depends on where the tap is. An exterior sillcock or wall hydrant we handle end to end — test, repair, replace, install. A hose connection inside the building is test and repair only, because replacement inside the foundation is licensed plumbing work. The device types, and where our work stops.
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