
The Legal Requirement
The person responsible for a building or site is legally required to maintain all fire fighting equipment, including dry risers. Current British Standards require a full annual pressure test and six monthly visual check for dry risers for buildings above 18 metres and below 60 metres (buildings over 60 metres/18 storeys require wet risers).
British Standards state that inlets, landing valves, drain valves and landing valve boxes should be inspected every six months and that wet tests be carried out annually when the riser can be checked for leaks. They also state that maintenance and repairs should be carried out by a competent person.
The Dry Riser British Standard was published in January 2015. The dry riser British standard BS 9990:2015 is the code of practice for non-automatic fire-fighting systems in buildings. It’s important for fire protection of a building to be considered as a whole.