diff --git a/src/coreComponents/physicsSolvers/fluidFlow/CompositionalMultiphaseFVM.cpp b/src/coreComponents/physicsSolvers/fluidFlow/CompositionalMultiphaseFVM.cpp
index aeb88ef68e3..67ee8bf2f9a 100644
--- a/src/coreComponents/physicsSolvers/fluidFlow/CompositionalMultiphaseFVM.cpp
+++ b/src/coreComponents/physicsSolvers/fluidFlow/CompositionalMultiphaseFVM.cpp
@@ -165,14 +165,7 @@ void CompositionalMultiphaseFVM::initializePreSubGroups()
                                                 ? LinearSolverParameters::MGR::StrategyType::thermalCompositionalMultiphaseFVM
                                                 : LinearSolverParameters::MGR::StrategyType::compositionalMultiphaseFVM;
 
-  DomainPartition & domain = this->getGroupByPath< DomainPartition >( "/Problem/domain" );
-  NumericalMethodsManager const & numericalMethodManager = domain.getNumericalMethodManager();
-  FiniteVolumeManager const & fvManager = numericalMethodManager.getFiniteVolumeManager();
-  if( !fvManager.hasGroup< FluxApproximationBase >( m_discretizationName ) )
-  {
-    GEOS_ERROR( "A discretization deriving from FluxApproximationBase must be selected with CompositionalMultiphaseFlow" );
-  }
-
+  checkDiscretizationName();
 }
 
 void CompositionalMultiphaseFVM::setupDofs( DomainPartition const & domain,
diff --git a/src/coreComponents/physicsSolvers/fluidFlow/FlowSolverBase.cpp b/src/coreComponents/physicsSolvers/fluidFlow/FlowSolverBase.cpp
index 35c1a9a6b40..fe3bad87c88 100644
--- a/src/coreComponents/physicsSolvers/fluidFlow/FlowSolverBase.cpp
+++ b/src/coreComponents/physicsSolvers/fluidFlow/FlowSolverBase.cpp
@@ -368,6 +368,18 @@ void FlowSolverBase::initializePreSubGroups()
   }
 }
 
+void FlowSolverBase::checkDiscretizationName() const
+{
+  DomainPartition const & domain = this->getGroupByPath< DomainPartition >( "/Problem/domain" );
+  NumericalMethodsManager const & numericalMethodManager = domain.getNumericalMethodManager();
+  FiniteVolumeManager const & fvManager = numericalMethodManager.getFiniteVolumeManager();
+  if( !fvManager.hasGroup< FluxApproximationBase >( m_discretizationName ) )
+  {
+    GEOS_ERROR( GEOS_FMT( "{}: can not find discretization named '{}' (a discretization deriving from FluxApproximationBase must be selected for {} solver '{}' )",
+                          getDataContext(), m_discretizationName, getCatalogName(), getName()));
+  }
+}
+
 void FlowSolverBase::validatePoreVolumes( DomainPartition const & domain ) const
 {
   real64 minPoreVolume = LvArray::NumericLimits< real64 >::max;
diff --git a/src/coreComponents/physicsSolvers/fluidFlow/FlowSolverBase.hpp b/src/coreComponents/physicsSolvers/fluidFlow/FlowSolverBase.hpp
index b97716d0b00..19e79d90ab2 100644
--- a/src/coreComponents/physicsSolvers/fluidFlow/FlowSolverBase.hpp
+++ b/src/coreComponents/physicsSolvers/fluidFlow/FlowSolverBase.hpp
@@ -230,6 +230,8 @@ class FlowSolverBase : public PhysicsSolverBase
 
   virtual void initializePreSubGroups() override;
 
+  void checkDiscretizationName() const;
+
   virtual void initializePostInitialConditionsPreSubGroups() override;
 
   void initializeState( DomainPartition & domain );
diff --git a/src/coreComponents/physicsSolvers/fluidFlow/ReactiveCompositionalMultiphaseOBL.cpp b/src/coreComponents/physicsSolvers/fluidFlow/ReactiveCompositionalMultiphaseOBL.cpp
index 07c38cd2726..4670d6425a4 100644
--- a/src/coreComponents/physicsSolvers/fluidFlow/ReactiveCompositionalMultiphaseOBL.cpp
+++ b/src/coreComponents/physicsSolvers/fluidFlow/ReactiveCompositionalMultiphaseOBL.cpp
@@ -125,14 +125,7 @@ void ReactiveCompositionalMultiphaseOBL::initializePreSubGroups()
 {
   FlowSolverBase::initializePreSubGroups();
 
-  DomainPartition & domain = this->getGroupByPath< DomainPartition >( "/Problem/domain" );
-  NumericalMethodsManager const & numericalMethodManager = domain.getNumericalMethodManager();
-  FiniteVolumeManager const & fvManager = numericalMethodManager.getFiniteVolumeManager();
-  if( !fvManager.hasGroup< FluxApproximationBase >( m_discretizationName ) )
-  {
-    GEOS_ERROR( "A discretization deriving from FluxApproximationBase must be selected with ReactiveCompositionalMultiphaseOBL" );
-  }
-
+  checkDiscretizationName();
 }
 
 void ReactiveCompositionalMultiphaseOBL::setupDofs( DomainPartition const & domain,
diff --git a/src/coreComponents/physicsSolvers/fluidFlow/SinglePhaseFVM.cpp b/src/coreComponents/physicsSolvers/fluidFlow/SinglePhaseFVM.cpp
index cc9cdc6aaf6..5da5846273c 100644
--- a/src/coreComponents/physicsSolvers/fluidFlow/SinglePhaseFVM.cpp
+++ b/src/coreComponents/physicsSolvers/fluidFlow/SinglePhaseFVM.cpp
@@ -68,14 +68,7 @@ void SinglePhaseFVM< BASE >::initializePreSubGroups()
 {
   BASE::initializePreSubGroups();
 
-  DomainPartition & domain = this->template getGroupByPath< DomainPartition >( "/Problem/domain" );
-  NumericalMethodsManager const & numericalMethodManager = domain.getNumericalMethodManager();
-  FiniteVolumeManager const & fvManager = numericalMethodManager.getFiniteVolumeManager();
-
-  if( !fvManager.hasGroup< FluxApproximationBase >( m_discretizationName ) )
-  {
-    GEOS_ERROR( "A discretization deriving from FluxApproximationBase must be selected with SinglePhaseFVM" );
-  }
+  this->checkDiscretizationName();
 
   if( m_isThermal )
   {