TL;DR
A fire pump is the engine- or motor-driven pump that boosts water pressure for a sprinkler or standpipe system when the municipal supply or tank cannot meet the system's demand, typically in high-rises, warehouses, and campuses at the end of long mains. Installed under NFPA 20 with a controller that starts it automatically on pressure drop, it is matched by rated flow and pressure — hundreds to thousands of GPM.
What it means
A fire pump is the engine- or motor-driven pump that boosts water pressure for a sprinkler or standpipe system when the municipal supply or tank cannot meet the system's demand, typically in high-rises, warehouses, and campuses at the end of long mains. Installed under NFPA 20 with a controller that starts it automatically on pressure drop, it is matched by rated flow and pressure — hundreds to thousands of GPM. Weekly or monthly churn tests and annual flow tests are mandatory, making it one of the most maintenance-intensive components a building owner funds.
Where it sits in the glossary
Fire pump is part of the Certifications group inside the ProFix Directory glossary. Browse every term in this category from the glossary index.
Why Ohio homeowners should know it
This is a term Ohio homeowners encounter when reading contractor quotes, hiring paperwork, or inspection reports. Understanding it well enough to ask one good follow-up question is usually all the protection a homeowner needs.
ProFix Directory keeps definitions short on the index page and saves the longer context — Ohio-specific rules, where the term comes from, and which ProFix tools touch it — for these per-term pages so the term is easy to cite and easy to share.
ProFix tools that touch this term
See also
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