TL;DR
An inspector's test valve is the small valve piped from a remote point of a wet sprinkler system through an orifice sized to mimic one flowing sprinkler head, opened during testing to verify that water flow trips the alarm switch and signals within 90 seconds as NFPA 72 expects. Locating the connection at the hydraulically remote end also proves water reaches the far reaches of the piping.
What it means
An inspector's test valve is the small valve piped from a remote point of a wet sprinkler system through an orifice sized to mimic one flowing sprinkler head, opened during testing to verify that water flow trips the alarm switch and signals within 90 seconds as NFPA 72 expects. Locating the connection at the hydraulically remote end also proves water reaches the far reaches of the piping. Service companies operate it during annual inspections, which is the brief water-discharge and bell-ringing event building occupants sometimes notice.
Where it sits in the glossary
Inspector's test valve is part of the Permits 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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