A vacuum breaker is an attachment commonly placed on a bibcock valve or toilet or urinal flush valve, that prevents water from being siphoned backward into the public drinking water system. This prevents contamination should the public drinking water system’s pressure drop.Click to see full answer. Besides, is a vacuum breaker the same as a backflow preventer?This is the same function that the vacuum breakers play. Therefore, in essence, vacuum breakers are types of backflow preventers. They are in the shape of plastic disks, and when there is water pressure, they move forward and cover the vents. One of the common types is the atmospheric vacuum breaker.One may also ask, how do you remove a vacuum breaker from a faucet? When it wears out and begins to leak, you simply remove it and screw on a new one. Turn off the outdoor faucet, or hose bibb, that has the vacuum breaker that you want to replace. Unscrew the hose and remove it. Turn the vacuum breaker counterclockwise to unscrew it from the faucet spout. Simply so, what is the purpose of a vacuum relief valve? Pressure/vacuum relief valves are protection devices which are typically mounted on a nozzle opening on the top of a fixed roof atmospheric storage tank. Their primary purpose is to protect the tank against rupturing or imploding.What causes a vacuum breaker to leak?The culprit is often a leaking pressure vacuum breaker (PVB). Temperature can factor into a leaking PVB. During the winter months, water in a PVB freezes and expands, causing cracking and splitting inside the brass body or poppet assembly. As a result of water freeze, the brass body is more susceptible to fracturing.