NFPA 25 Sprinkler Testing Intervals: What Changed in 2023 and 2026
Sprinkler sample testing is a long-tail obligation. A building’s sprinklers can go 20, 25 or 50 years before anyone has to send a sample to a lab, so the trigger date for any one property is easy to lose. When a new edition of NFPA 25 moves those triggers, the reminders a contractor set up years ago can quietly drift out of date.
The last two editions moved several of them. This guide puts the 2020, 2023 and 2026 intervals side by side, using NFPA’s own committee documents where they’re available.
Check your jurisdiction first. The edition that applies to a building is the one its AHJ has adopted, and adoption lags publication. The NFSA reported Maryland and North Carolina adopting the 2023 edition in mid-2025, well after it was issued.
The intervals, edition by edition
Sprinkler type | 2020 edition | 2023 edition | 2026 edition |
|---|---|---|---|
Fast-response (except ESFR and CMSA) | 20 years, then every 10 | 25 years, then every 10 | 25 years, then every 10 |
ESFR and CMSA | 20 years, then every 10 | 20 years, then every 10 | 20 years, then every 10 |
Dry sprinklers | 15 years, then every 10 | 20 years, then every 10 | 20 years, then every 10 |
Harsh environments | 5 years | 5 years | 5 years |
Standard-response in dwelling units | 50 years, then every 10 (general standard-response rule) | 50 years, then every 10 (general standard-response rule) | 50 years: replace with fast-response, or samples must show RTI of 65 or less |
Sources: the 2020 intervals are from Table 5.1.1.2 as reproduced in NFPA’s 2023-cycle public input responses. The 2026 text is from NFPA’s Second Draft Report and Second Revision report. The ESFR and CMSA carve-out and the standard-response 50-year interval are confirmed by NFPA Global Solutions and by QRFS.
2023: fast-response and dry sprinklers got five more years
The 2023 edition made two extensions.
Fast-response sprinklers moved from a first test at 20 years to 25 years. The 2026 text, which carries the 2023 change forward, reads: “Where sprinklers manufactured using fast-response elements, except for ESFR and CMSA, have been installed for 25 years, one of the following shall occur.” The options are to replace them, or to test representative samples and retest every 10 years.
ESFR and CMSA sprinklers did not move. These are the large-drop and early-suppression sprinklers common in warehouses. They still hit their first test at 20 years. If your records lump every fast-response sprinkler together, split these out, or a warehouse will come due five years earlier than your system thinks.
Dry sprinklers moved from 15 years to 20. The current text: “Where dry sprinklers have been installed for 20 years, one of the following shall occur.”
What this means in practice: a fast-response system installed in 2004 came due in 2024 under the 2020 edition. Under 2023 or later it comes due in 2029. A dry sprinkler installed in 2010 came due in 2025 under 2020. Under 2023 or later it comes due in 2030. Whether those buildings are overdue or five years early depends on which edition the jurisdiction runs.
2023: tighter rules on what goes in the sample
QRFS reports two sampling changes in the 2023 edition. Both affect how a technician pulls sprinklers:
Guidance that sat in the annex became mandatory: “Each sprinkler type and manufacturer in the sample area shall be represented in the sample.”
A new rule bars a common shortcut: “Sprinklers tested shall not include any sprinklers that were replaced at prior testing intervals.”
The second one matters most in the field. Pulling the sprinklers that went in at the last test is convenient because they’re the easiest to identify. It also defeats the purpose, since those aren’t the aged sprinklers the test is meant to evaluate. A sample record that notes each sprinkler’s location, type and manufacturer makes both rules easy to show compliance with.
QRFS also reports that the 2023 edition added a five-year retest for corrosion-resistant sprinklers in harsh environments after their first 10-year test. NFPA Global Solutions describes the current rule the same way. Listed corrosion-resistant sprinklers may get a 10-year initial interval, and harsh-environment sprinklers are retested every 5 years after that, corrosion-resistant ones included.
2026: a stricter 50-year test for dwelling units
Standard-response sprinklers have long faced a 50-year test-or-replace point. The 2026 edition adds a stricter version for dwelling units. New section 5.3.1.1.1.7 applies “where sprinklers have been installed for 50 years in dwelling units.” The sprinklers must either be replaced with fast-response sprinklers, or representative samples must be tested for thermal sensitivity “such that the RTI does not exceed 65 (meters-seconds)^1/2” (SR-12).
RTI (response time index) measures how quickly a sprinkler’s element responds to heat. An RTI of 65 or less is fast-response territory. So passing the old standard-response test is no longer enough in a dwelling unit. A 50-year-old sprinkler there either shows it responds like a fast-response sprinkler, or gets replaced by one.
The committee’s reasoning: “Furnishings in dwellings have changed over the last 50 years resulting in higher heat release rates and faster moving fires.”
This is the change most likely to catch older multifamily portfolios. Apartment buildings sprinklered in the 1970s and earlier are already past 50 years.
2026: what else changed around sprinklers
Two more 2026 changes land on the same inspection visit.
Escutcheons and coverplates. Missing or deficient listed escutcheons and coverplates must be replaced. A new rule covers ones glued or otherwise attached to the ceiling or wall: “Where escutcheons and coverplates for recessed, flush, and concealed sprinklers are found to be adhered or attached to the ceiling or wall, they shall be replaced” (SR-4). If the listed escutcheon is no longer available, the sprinkler assembly has to be replaced.
The spare sprinkler cabinet. The cabinet must hold “one sprinkler wrench as specified by the sprinkler manufacturer… with the spare sprinklers for each type of sprinkler installed,” and “a list of the sprinklers installed in the property shall be posted in the sprinkler cabinet” (§5.4.1.6.5 and §5.4.1.6.6). The 2026 cycle revised what that list contains, to align it with NFPA 13 and 13R (First Draft, FR-56). It now covers the sprinkler identification number or the manufacturer, model, K-factor, deflector type, thermal sensitivity and pressure and temperature ratings, plus the wrench model, quantities installed and stocked, and a revision date.
What to update
Store install dates by sprinkler type, not just by system. Fast-response, ESFR and CMSA, dry, and harsh-environment sprinklers now run on different clocks.
Recalculate due dates per jurisdiction. The same install date produces different due dates under 2020 than under 2023 or 2026.
Flag dwelling units at 50 years wherever the 2026 edition is adopted.
Record what was sampled. Note location, type and manufacturer for each sprinkler pulled, and exclude ones replaced at earlier tests.
Add escutcheon and cabinet list checks to the annual sprinkler inspection form.
Every one of those is a date to track or a field on a form, and the dates differ by building and by jurisdiction. Joyfill lets fire protection contractors build NFPA-based inspection forms their technicians fill out on mobile, with the data kept per property, so a five-year shift in the standard doesn’t get lost in a filing cabinet.
