TL;DR
A smoke detector sensitivity test is the verification that a detector responds within its listed obscuration range, performed with calibrated aerosol, a measuring instrument, or the panel's analytics rather than just a button press. NFPA 72 requires it within a year of installation and every alternate year after for system-connected detectors, with units drifting out of range cleaned or replaced.
What it means
A smoke detector sensitivity test is the verification that a detector responds within its listed obscuration range, performed with calibrated aerosol, a measuring instrument, or the panel's analytics rather than just a button press. NFPA 72 requires it within a year of installation and every alternate year after for system-connected detectors, with units drifting out of range cleaned or replaced. The button only proves the horn and circuit work; this test proves the sensing chamber itself still reads smoke correctly.
Where it sits in the glossary
Smoke detector sensitivity test is part of the Trade jargon 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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