American Fire Sprinkler Association
12750 Merit Dr., Suite 350 Dallas TX 75251
Ph: (214) 349-5965 Fax: (214) 276-0908
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TECHNICAL UPDATE
MARCH 6, 2009
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“We have been asked to quote on an inspection at a townhouse property.
We were advised that the contractor that has performed the inspection
in the past years did not visually inspect each unit due to the
difficulty in scheduling. Does NFPA 25 allow this or does it require a
visual inspection of each unit.” We have reviewed NFPA 25, 2008
Edition as the applicable standard. Our informal interpretation is
that water-based fire protection equipment would require inspection,
maintenance, and testing.
Sprinklers are the likely equipment to be inspected within a dwelling
unit and will require access. An annual inspection of sprinklers is
required by Section 5.2.1.1 and the owner is responsible for the
proper maintenance. The inspection, testing, and maintenance is
permitted to be contracted with a maintenance service as indicated by
Annex A.4.1.2. If the owner is not providing access to the equipment
required by NFPA 25, the maintenance of the equipment still falls
under the owner of the property. The scope of work and the
accessibility issue should be made very clear on any written
agreements for maintenance services. Thus the contract between you and
the client should specify the frequency that the services will be
performed. The system's current status can only be reported and
documented on the appropriate forms. The owner or owner's
representative should complete the remainder of the inspection,
maintenance, and tests required by NFPA 25. This question may be more
appropriate for a legal counsel review where the contract and state
laws can be evaluated.
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Technical Update is prepared by the Technical Services Dept. of the
AFSA: Vice President of Engineering and Technical Services Roland
Huggins, a PE registered in fire protection engineering; Phill Brown,
a NICET IV certified automatic sprinkler technician and NFPA Certified
Fire Protection Specialist (CFPS) and Tom Wellen, a degreed fire
protection engineering technologist. This is provided with the
understanding that the AFSA assumes no liability for this opinion or
actions taken on it and they are not to be considered the official
position of the NFPA or its technical committees.
Copyright © 2009, American Fire Sprinkler Association. All Rights
Reserved.
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