Sprinkler tank service, maintenance and replacement
A tank losing level, an inspection that found corrosion, or a system that has outgrown its supply.
A sprinkler tank needs its level checked weekly, and the tank itself inspected annually: drained where the arrangement allows, inspected internally, cleaned out, and the coating condition recorded. The weekly level check is the one most often skipped, because it takes a minute and nothing appears to be wrong.
- Four years of active trading, 100+ projects completed
- ISO 9001 and LPCB approved, the certification insurers look for
- Free survey, fixed price in writing, no travel charge
BS EN 12845
Our own jobs. Swipe, or tap to enlarge.
Sprinkler tanks, on our jobs
4 photographs of this exact work, from the owner's own sites. Tap any of them.
- SurveyFree, and we walk the building
- Fixed priceIn writing, with the standard named
- First visitDone, recorded and certificated
Covered on every visit
BS EN 12845
- Water level, automatic refill and low level alarm proved
- Internal inspection, cleaning and coating condition
- Suction arrangement, anti-vortex plate and screens checked
- Sectional tank replacement and capacity upgrades, pump house included
When it is due
- Weekly water level check
- Annual inspection and clean
The duty sits with whoever controls the premises under the Fire Safety Order 2005. It can be delegated as work, not as responsibility, which is why the certificate matters as much as the visit. How compliance works
What actually goes wrong with a sprinkler tank
The tank is the water the whole design assumes is there. It is also the part of the system nobody opens, which is why these four are so common.
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Capacity lost to silt and corrosion
An older steel tank accumulates sediment and corrodes internally. The tank still looks full and the effective stored volume is lower than the calculation requires, which is a shortfall that never announces itself and that a visual inspection from outside cannot find.
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The refill does not keep up, and the alarm does not say so
The inlet valve, the float or solenoid, and the low level alarm are one system. When the refill is slow or stuck and the alarm is unproved, the tank empties over weeks with no indication at all.
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Sectional tank joints weep
Bolted sectional tanks are made of panels and gaskets, and gaskets age. A weep is a small job while it is a weep. Left, it takes out the floor of the plant room and, more to the point, the stored volume.
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The tank no longer matches the building
Capacity was sized for the hazard as it was. Racking has gone up, the goods have changed or the building has been extended since. The tank is not faulty in that case, it is simply too small for what the building now is, and that is a design finding rather than a maintenance one.
Questions we get asked
How often does a sprinkler tank actually need looking at?
The level is a weekly check and it is the one most often left undone, because it takes a minute and nothing appears to be wrong. The tank itself is an annual job: drained where the arrangement allows, inspected internally, cleaned out and the coating condition recorded. A tank that has never been opened is a tank nobody can vouch for.
Our tank keeps losing level. Is that a leak?
Not always, and the order you check things in matters. Evaporation and a passing float valve look the same on a gauge as a leaking joint does. What separates them is measuring the drop against time with the refill isolated, which is a short test, and it tells you whether you are looking for a plumber or a tank.
Does the system have to come out of service to clean a tank?
Usually in part, and for as short a time as the work genuinely takes. Where there are two tanks or a divided tank, one half can be worked on while the other holds the supply. Where there is one tank, the isolation has to be planned, the insurer told, and the building told what it is operating under while the work is on.
When is a tank replaced rather than repaired?
When the steel has gone rather than the coating, when a sectional tank is leaking at the seams faster than it can be patched, or when the building has changed and the tank is simply too small for the density the system now has to deliver. The third one is the common case and it is a design question, not a maintenance one.
Can you replace a tank and the pump house together?
Yes, and it is usually the sensible way round. A tank and its pumps are one water supply, not two items, and replacing one while leaving the other at the end of its life tends to mean doing the same job twice. We have taken out old tanks and put in new sectional tanks with the pump house alongside them.
Read more about this
We also cover
Sprinkler tanks for your kind of building
The standard is the same. What changes is the hazard, the design and what an insurer asks to see.
- Warehouses and distribution Racking, storage height and what you keep in it decide the design. Get those wrong and the system is under-designed from day one. Warehouse and distribution sprinkler systems
- Schools and colleges The DfE stopped pointing at BB 100 in January 2026. What replaced it sets a height threshold, three building types that always qualify, and a maintenance regime for everything already installed. Sprinkler systems in schools and colleges
- Museums and galleries The objection is always water on the collection. The arithmetic runs the other way, and it is worth seeing why before the decision gets made for you. Museum and gallery sprinkler systems
- Cinemas and theatres Ordinary Hazard Group 4, the highest of the ordinary groups. Most people assume an auditorium is a low risk. The standard does not. Cinema and theatre sprinkler systems
- Hospitals and healthcare Ordinary Hazard Group 1, and the only building type on this list where nobody can be asked to leave. Isolation planning is the whole job. Hospital and healthcare sprinkler systems
- Food processing Three different hazard groups live under this one heading. Which one you are in depends on what you make, not on the size of the shed. Food processing sprinkler systems
All our services The standards we work to Questions and answers
The published documents behind this page
Every interval and threshold on this page comes from one of these. Links go to the publisher, not to a copy of the document.
- BS EN 12845Fixed firefighting systems. Automatic sprinkler systems. Design, installation and maintenance
The standard commercial and industrial sprinkler systems are designed, installed and maintained to. It sets the weekly, monthly, quarterly and annual routines.
BSI
- LPC RulesLPC Rules for Automatic Sprinkler Installations, incorporating BS EN 12845
The insurer-facing ruleset that sits alongside BS EN 12845. Part 1 is the standard itself; the technical bulletins in Part 2 are what an insurer means by property protection.
Fire Protection Association
British Standards are copyright documents and most are bought rather than read free. We hold the ones we work to. If you need to know what one of them says about your building, ask us rather than buying it.
Approved, and audited on a schedule.
Two certifications, and the first one is the reason we could apply for the second. ISO 9001 is a precondition for LPCB approval, so this is a sequence rather than a collection.
ISO 9001:2015
Certified by BRE Global, accredited by UKAS
An audited quality management system. It means the way a job is planned, recorded and signed off is itself inspected by somebody independent, on a schedule.
LPCB approved
Loss Prevention Certification Board
The approval UK insurers look for on sprinkler work. A system installed by an LPCB approved contractor counts as genuine risk mitigation on your policy; one installed by anybody else may not.
Working to BS EN 12845, BS 9251 and BS 9990. If your insurer or fire risk assessor wants the certificates themselves, ring us and we will send them over.
Tell us the building. We will tell you what it is due.
No survey fee to find out where you stand. Describe the site and we will tell you which intervals apply and what the visit involves.