The most layered schedule in fire protection, and the one property managers most often think is covered when it is not.
NFPA 25 does not have a single interval. It has a matrix — different components inspected, tested and maintained at different frequencies, from weekly gauge readings to five-yearly internal pipe examination.
Which means 'we have the sprinklers done annually' is frequently an incomplete answer. The annual is real, but so are the quarterly and five-year items, and the five-year is where the expensive surprises live.
Weekly or monthly. Gauge readings and control valve position, depending on whether valves are electrically supervised.
Quarterly. Water flow alarm devices, supervisory signals, hydraulic nameplate and fire department connections.
Annually. Sprinkler heads, pipe and fittings, hangers and bracing, main drain test, antifreeze concentration where applicable.
Five-yearly. Internal examination of piping for obstruction and corrosion, gauge replacement or recalibration, and standpipe hydrostatic testing where fitted. This is the one that finds problems.
Sprinkler head sampling. Heads have service lives and certain types require laboratory testing at defined ages — fast-response heads at twenty years, standard heads at fifty, and dry heads more frequently.
Obstructed internal piping. Scale, corrosion product and microbiologically influenced corrosion build up inside the pipe where nobody can see it. The five-year internal examination exists precisely for this and skipping it is how a system that tests fine turns out not to deliver water.
Painted or loaded heads. A sprinkler head that has been painted over during redecoration is disabled. It is astonishingly common and it is an immediate finding.
Storage too close to heads. Clearance requirements are specific and a stacked store room breaches them without anyone thinking about it.
Closed valves. The most serious failure mode in sprinkler protection, and the reason control valve position is checked as often as it is.
We cover the whole state. These are the metros we work in most often — each page covers the local housing stock, code position and insurance context.
There is no single answer — NFPA 25 sets different intervals for different components, from weekly gauge checks to five-yearly internal examination. The annual is the one most people know about; the five-year is the one most often missed.
An examination of the inside of the piping for obstruction and corrosion. It requires opening the system and it is the item that most often turns up a genuine problem in a system that otherwise tests fine.
They have service lives and certain types require laboratory testing at defined ages. Where a sample fails, the affected heads are replaced. It is not a routine annual cost but it is worth knowing it is coming.
Not on its own. An annual test confirms the system responds; it does not tell you whether the pipework will deliver water at the required density, which is what the internal examination is for.
One number for the inspection and for whatever it turns up. Licensed, insured contractors across Florida.