EN 12845 Weekly User Routine

The simple checks you carry out every week, just by opening the pump room door, so that the system works when there is a fire — from reading a gauge to restarting the diesel. Eighty per cent of the work on site is applying this list with discipline.

At a logistics warehouse, the fire panel showed a water flow alarm. On arrival the sprinkler room lights were on, the gong was silent and the B gauge read zero. Everything had worked at commissioning three months earlier — but because nobody had done the weekly check in between, a slow leak had gradually emptied the installation. The user's programme of inspection and checking in Clause 20.2 exists to prevent exactly that: a simple, disciplined weekly list that even a non-specialist can carry out.

This article opens Clause 20.2.2 (TS EN 12845+A2:2026, EN p.119-120) item by item: what to measure, what to record, and the errors I most often catch on site.

Clause 20.2.1 — The general principle

The standard requires the installer to provide the user with a documented inspection and checking procedure for the system. The programme includes instructions on the action to be taken in respect of faults and on operation of the system, with particular mention of the procedure for emergency manual starting of pumps, and details of the weekly routine of 20.2.2. In other words, when the system is handed over there must be a dated, signed weekly check form and a logbook on site. I recommend hanging the form on the pump room wall. In Turkish practice it is often either lost or a template downloaded from the internet. Clause 20.1.2 requires the logbook to be held on the premises.

Clause 20.2.2.1 — Frequency

Each part of the weekly routine is carried out at intervals of no more than 7 days. Monday morning or Friday evening — it makes no difference, as long as you are consistent. Do not slip past seven days, holiday weeks included; otherwise a maintenance contract audit will readily record a missed routine.

Clause 20.2.2.2 — Pressure, level and valve position checks

The following are checked and recorded:

• (a) Gauge readings: all water and air pressure gauge readings on installations, trunk mains and pressure tanks. Water only on wet pipe installations; both water and air on dry, alternate and pre-action installations. The pressure in the pipework of dry, alternate and pre-action installations should not fall at a rate of more than 1.0 bar per week; if it does, go and find the leak.
• (b) Water levels: all water levels in elevated private reservoirs, rivers, canals, lakes and water storage tanks (including pump priming water tanks and pressure tanks). Act as soon as any level falls below where it should be.
• (c) Main stop valve positions: are all main stop valves in the correct (open) position? Sealed or strapped? Is the valve monitoring (tamper) switch showing normal?

Field error: "The gauge shows 4 bar, same as last week." When the recorded value is never verified, the logbook turns into a repeated number; two months later the pressure has drifted from 4 to 3.5 bar and nobody noticed. If the record shows the same figure three weeks running, go and take the reading yourself.

Clause 20.2.2.3 — Water motor alarm test

Each water motor alarm is sounded for no less than 30 seconds. In practice: open the test valve beside the alarm valve; the gong should turn and produce an audible sound for 30 s. A weak sound or no rotation can mean sediment or an insect nest on the pelton wheel shaft; strip and clean it. After the test, close the valve fully — left half open, the retard chamber will not drain and a real alarm will be delayed.

Clause 20.2.2.4 — Automatic pump set starting test

Weekly, for each automatic pump set (electric and diesel separately):

• (a) On diesel engines, check the fuel and engine lubricating oil levels.
• (b) Reduce the water pressure on the starting device (for example by draining through the test valve), simulating the condition of automatic starting.
• (c) When the pump set starts, check and record the starting pressure. Compare it with the limit in Clause 10.7.5.2: the first pump set shall start automatically when the pressure in the trunk main falls to a value of no less than 0.8p, where p is the closed valve pressure; where two pump sets are installed, the second shall start before the pressure falls to a value of no less than 0.6p (EN p.63).
• (d) On diesel pumps, also check the oil pressure and the flow of cooling water through open circuit cooling systems.

The most common omission here: the jockey (pressure maintenance) pump starts, everyone concludes the system works, and the main pump is never tested. The jockey pump is outside the EN 12845 starting rules; the test has to show that the main pump's pressure switches start the pump set at the pressure required by 10.7.5.2. Drop the pressure faster than the jockey can make it up, so that the main pump itself starts.

Clause 20.2.2.5 — Diesel engine restarting test

Immediately after the pump set start test of 20.2.2.4, diesel engines are tested as follows:

• (a) The engine is run for 20 minutes, or for the time recommended by the supplier, then stopped and immediately restarted using the manual start test button.
• (b) On engines with closed circuit cooling, the water level in the primary circuit is checked.

Throughout the test, monitor oil pressure (where gauges are fitted), engine temperatures and coolant flow. Check the oil hoses and make a general inspection for leakage of fuel, coolant or exhaust fumes.

Why does the restart matter so much? In a real fire the engine will have been running for some time and will be hot; if it stops for any reason, it has to respond at once to a manual start. A cold start is comparatively easy; the real value of the test is showing that a hot engine restarts.

Clause 20.2.2.6 — Trace heating and localized heating systems

Heating systems that prevent freezing in the sprinkler system, i.e. trace heating and local heaters, are checked for correct function every week. The fuse or thermostat may have failed, or a section of cable may have broken. Use a thermometer or thermal camera: if the pipe surface reads 5 °C while the surrounding air is at 12 °C, the trace heating has dropped out. Problems most often start around cold stores, on runs in roof voids and outside the building, and at externally located valve sets.

Suggested logbook format

In a spreadsheet or on paper, one row per week: date, time, gauge P1, P2, P3, tank level, gong duration in seconds, jockey start pressure, main pump start pressure, diesel pump start pressure, diesel restart OK/NO, trace heating OK/NO, observations, signature. Fifty-two rows a year. Clause 21 requires the system to be periodically inspected by a qualified person at least once a year (see the informative Annex Q); the inspection report assesses whether the system complies with the standard, including its maintenance (EN p.123). The logbook is the basic evidence for that inspection; without it, "no record" means "no routine".

Field error — what one skipped week costs

At a shopping centre sprinkler room, a public holiday pushed the routine from Monday to Tuesday, then to Friday the following week, then it was missed altogether. Three weeks later the dry installation had fallen from 5.0 to 1.8 bar and the air compressor was running day and night without keeping up. The leak was a frozen test valve on the external facade. It would have been caught not at an annual test but at the second weekly check.

Comparison with NFPA 25

NFPA 25 asks for similar items under its weekly fire pump heading (8.2.2): suction and system line gauge readings, power to the jockey pump, and the diesel engine running time meter reading; dry system air or nitrogen pressure gauges are inspected monthly (quarterly where air pressure supervision is connected to a constantly attended location) under 13.2.4.1.3. The most visible differences: NFPA 25 runs the diesel start test weekly for 30 minutes, where EN 12845 requires 20 minutes and places clearer emphasis on the restart. NFPA 25-2026 tests mechanical waterflow alarm devices, including water motor gongs, quarterly (13.2.3.1.2) and inspects alarm valves externally quarterly (13.4.1.1), where EN 12845 makes the gong test weekly.

Link to Turkish regulation

BYKHY Article 100 requires fire extinguishing systems to undergo the periodic inspection, testing and maintenance specified in the relevant standards; since Article 96(5) ties sprinkler design to TS EN 12845, Clause 20 of that standard governs the periodic maintenance and records. Building inspections and external insurance audits in Turkey most often ask for the logbook; if it exists, they look at the format. If it does not exist, a non-conformity is easy to write.

Quick check list

• All water and air gauges read and recorded?
• Dry, alternate or pre-action pressure loss no more than 1.0 bar per week?
• Tank and reservoir levels where they should be?
• All main stop valves open and sealed?
• Water motor gong sounded for at least 30 seconds?
• Jockey and main pump start pressures recorded?
• Diesel ran for 20 min, then restarted successfully by hand?
• Trace heating and local heaters working?
• Logbook signed?

Frequently Asked Questions

How often must the weekly checks be done?

At intervals no greater than 7 days, holiday weeks included. Slipping past seven days is recorded as a missed routine at a maintenance audit.

What pressure loss is acceptable on a dry system?

No more than 1.0 bar per week. Above that, there is a leak to find — and the weekly check is where it gets caught rather than at the annual test.

How long must the water motor gong run?

At least 30 seconds. Weak sound or no rotation usually means sediment on the pelton wheel shaft. Close the test valve fully afterwards, or the retard chamber will not drain.

Why is the diesel hot restart so important?

Because a cold start is easy. In a real fire the engine is hot, and whether it responds instantly to a manual start after a stop is the performance that actually matters.

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