Control Valves and Drains

Although primarily used to control or isolate portions of a building‘s sprinkler system, control valves and drains play another important role. They allow the building owner or a designated individual to perform testing and maintenance on the system.

In a recent National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) study, in almost two-thirds of cases where a sprinkler failed to operate, someone had shut off the system before the fire. A system shutoff typically occurs when the building owner or designated individual doesn‘t return a valve to its open position once repairs and/or maintenance are complete. Testing the system and verifying the status of control valves help to identify and correct conditions that lead to failure of the sprinkler system.

» Next: Types of Control Valves

A system riser contains a control valve

Yellow tags on sprinkler valves usually indicate something substantially wrong with the sprinkler system