The topic of loaded and painted sprinkler heads is something property managers, building owners, and sprinkler contractors deal with every day.

NFPA 25 5.2.1.1.1 states that all sprinkler heads must be free of paint, corrosion, and foreign materials.

As sprinkler contractors, during our inspections, there is not a day that goes by when our team does not see this violation in the field. The reality is that any paint on a sprinkler head, particularly the operating element, whether bulb or link, will affect the operation of the head. The paint, grease, or foreign material will delay the head from going off. In fire situations, when every second counts, we need that head to operate as it is designed, at the correct heat exposure.

Painted heads are a critical impairment to the system.

We want to bring this subject up because changing painted sprinkler heads is a very expensive repair cost that is 100% avoidable. It is a major inconvenience to tenants, property managers, owners, etc., that did not need to happen.

As a person who managed a large sales team that priced inspection repairs and deficiency remediation, I would cringe when our team won head replacement jobs. On paper, these jobs seem easy enough, but in reality, they are a huge undertaking. It is less invasive if the painted heads are in a warehouse, office, or industrial setting where access to the head is not an issue, but in a residential setting, it can be a nightmare. Consider a multi-family residential building or high-rise condo where the space has 15-foot-high vaulted ceilings in the bedroom on the second floor, with beautiful white carpets, expensive bedding, and high-end furniture, where everything in the room or house has to be moved before we can even set a ladder up to reach the head.

Then imagine the shutdown and draining of the system goes well. You have had the opportunity to connect a Duo-Vac to try to remove all of the residual water. You are lucky enough to get a perfect fit with the head wrench on the boss of the head, apply pressure to back it out… SNAP. Now you are holding the CPVC adapter with the head still in it and a 3-inch-long piece of broken CPVC in your hand. Now you have to tell the homeowner or landlord they need to cut the drywall open to access the broken pipe, make the repair, let the cement dry, hydrostatically test the system, and tell them to call a handyman or general contractor to fix, spackle, sand, and paint the hole we cut.

We have been through this situation more times than we like to count. We do write our proposals in a way that limits our exposure and liability, but it is still not a pleasure to be the bearer of bad news to the homeowner or property manager and inconvenience everyone involved.

We want to raise awareness that ALL painted heads are avoidable. We understand that corrosion or some environmental situations make loading unavoidable, but as homeowners and property managers, make sure your general contractor and painting companies are covering the head properly before painting.

We have seen customers spend hundreds of thousands of dollars changing heads in dormitories year after year because, when the painter is finished, all heads need to be replaced. Another reason this is so important is that in a multi-unit/multi-family dwelling, the certification of a passing system is for the address and not the individual units. We have seen property managers try to push the responsibility to the homeowner, unit owner, or tenant, but in many cases they do not approve the repairs due to the cost, which leaves the entire building with a NON-CERTIFIABLE system.

In almost 30 years in the industry, I have never witnessed a sprinkler fitter or sprinkler contractor paint a sprinkler head, but we often get blamed for breaking pipes intentionally, damaging property, getting black sprinkler water on irreplaceable family heirlooms and valuables, breaking TVs and computers, and being back-charged for all types of things associated with changing heads.

PLEASE, make sure the painters and other trades cover the sprinkler heads during renovations AND remove all the coverings when they are complete.