4 NFPA 25 (2026) Changes to Valve and Connection Schedules

Most edition changes in NFPA 25 get read once and filed. The ones that change how often something gets inspected or tested are different. They change the recurring job schedule, the route, and how many site visits a contract covers.

The 2026 edition makes four of those changes in Chapter 13, which covers valves, valve components and connections. Each one below is sourced to NFPA’s Second Draft documents, the last stage before the standard is issued. Before you change a schedule, confirm your jurisdiction has adopted the 2026 edition.

1. Preaction and deluge valve interiors: annual

The 2026 edition’s summary table (Table 13.1.1.2, revised in SR-55) lists interior inspection as “Annually” for preaction valves (13.4.3.1.2), deluge valves (13.4.4.1.2) and dry pipe valves (13.4.5.1.3).

According to the International Fire Suppression Alliance, the 2023 edition let valves that could be reset without removing the faceplate have their interiors inspected every five years instead. It says “the five-year alternative is gone for all valve types” in 2026. The NFSA summarized the proposal as “annual internal inspections for all dry, preaction, and deluge valves.”

One detail to read carefully. In the same 2026 table, the maintenance rows for preaction and deluge valves still show “Annually/5 years.” The change described here is to interior inspection. Don’t drop a five-year maintenance item from the schedule because of it.

Schedule impact: if your preaction and deluge interiors were on a five-year cycle, they now go into the annual trip test visit.

2. Solenoid supervisory devices: tested quarterly

The 2026 edition adds a quarterly test for supervisory devices that monitor solenoid coil position on preaction valves. New section 13.4.3.2.12 reads: “A solenoid supervisory signal device monitoring the position of a coil shall be tested quarterly” (SR-37).

The committee explained: “This aligns the solenoid testing for a solenoid on a preaction valve with that of a solenoid valve on a deluge valve.” The deluge valve section (13.4.4.2.14) was edited to match (SR-26).

Schedule impact: preaction systems with a supervised solenoid need a quarterly line item. For many contracts that already has a quarterly visit for other devices, this adds a test rather than a trip.

3. FDC piping: the hydrostatic test exemption grows to 10 feet

Fire department connection (FDC) piping normally gets a hydrostatic test every five years. NFPA 25 exempts short runs that can be inspected directly. In the 2023 edition the cutoff was 48 inches. The 2026 edition raises it to 10 feet. Section 13.8.5.2 now applies where the piping “is 10 ft (3.048 m) or less and can be visually inspected internally and externally,” in which case “the 5-year hydrostatic test shall not be required” (SR-30).

The committee: “An internal and external inspection of a 10 foot piece of piping for a fire department connection is reasonable to replace a hydrostatic test.” The annex adds that the allowance should not replace the required external inspections.

Schedule impact: some five-year hydrostatic tests come off the schedule. The exemption only holds if the inspection is actually done and documented, inside and out. If it isn’t on the report, an AHJ has no way to see that the exemption applied.

4. Hose valves: quarterly, governed by Chapter 13

Hose valves used to appear in both the standpipe chapter (Chapter 6) and the valves chapter (Chapter 13). The 2026 cycle cleaned that up. The Chapter 6 requirement was deleted as redundant (First Draft, FR-35), and Table 6.1.1.2 now points hose valves and hose connections to Chapter 13.

The frequency nearly went the other way. The First Draft lowered hose valve inspections to annual. The Second Draft reversed that, and section 13.6.1.1 reads “Hose valves shall be inspected quarterly” (SR-29). The committee’s reason: “Hose valves are prone to damage or tampering and the quarterly frequency should not have been changed to annually in the first draft.”

Any summary of the 2026 changes written between the two drafts could have told you hose valves went annual. They didn’t.

Schedule impact: hose valves stay quarterly. If a standpipe form references Chapter 6 for hose valve criteria, repoint it to Chapter 13.

The four changes at a glance

Each row is a recurring task that belongs on a schedule and a line item on an inspection form. Joyfill lets fire protection contractors build NFPA-based inspection forms that technicians complete on mobile, so a frequency change becomes a template update that applies to every property using it.