TL;DR
A hose bibb vacuum breaker is a small backflow-prevention device threaded or factory-built onto an outdoor faucet that opens an air vent when supply pressure drops, stopping water in a connected garden hose from siphoning back into the drinking system. The hazard is real: a hose end left in a pool, bucket of pesticide, or fertilizer sprayer can backflow during a main break.
What it means
A hose bibb vacuum breaker is a small backflow-prevention device threaded or factory-built onto an outdoor faucet that opens an air vent when supply pressure drops, stopping water in a connected garden hose from siphoning back into the drinking system. The hazard is real: a hose end left in a pool, bucket of pesticide, or fertilizer sprayer can backflow during a main break. Plumbing codes require this protection on hose connections, and add-on versions cost a few dollars and install by hand, with a set screw that snaps off to deter removal.
Where it sits in the glossary
Hose bibb vacuum breaker is part of the Trade jargon group inside the ProFix Directory glossary. Browse every term in this category from the glossary index.
Why Ohio homeowners should know it
This is a term Ohio homeowners encounter when reading contractor quotes, hiring paperwork, or inspection reports. Understanding it well enough to ask one good follow-up question is usually all the protection a homeowner needs.
ProFix Directory keeps definitions short on the index page and saves the longer context — Ohio-specific rules, where the term comes from, and which ProFix tools touch it — for these per-term pages so the term is easy to cite and easy to share.
ProFix tools that touch this term
See also
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