Fire, Security & Life Safety Systems
Dry Riser Testing
A dry riser only matters on the worst day your building will ever have, and by then it is too late to find out it does not hold pressure. Under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 the responsible person must keep it in efficient working order.
Robinsons Facilities Services coordinates dry and wet riser testing for commercial buildings across Yorkshire and the Humber, using specialist riser engineers working to BS 9990:2015. We schedule the six-monthly inspections and the annual test, chase the remedials, and hold the certification where your insurer and fire officer can find it.
- Contract, covering the annual test and both inspections: from £385+VAT a year
- One-off testing: from £180+VAT minimum visit
- Repairs and remedial works: quoted from £100+VAT
Get a quote for dry riser testing →
Prefer to speak to someone? Call us on 01423 226578 →
Dry riser testing is the inspection and pressure testing of a building’s dry firefighting main, carried out to BS 9990:2015. A visual inspection is carried out every six months and a full wet pressure test annually, charging the system to 12 bar for 15 minutes to confirm it holds. Buildings with a floor above 18 metres normally require a dry riser.
Where the legal duty actually sits
This is worth stating precisely, because a lot of the trade gets it wrong. There is no statute that names dry riser testing or sets an interval. Article 17 of the Fire Safety Order requires firefighting equipment to be subject to a suitable system of maintenance and kept in efficient working order, and a dry riser is firefighting equipment. That is the duty.
BS 9990:2015 is a code of practice, not law. It is simply the recognised way of discharging that duty, which is why fire officers, insurers and managing agents all measure against it. Insurers in particular tend to ask for current test certification before they will confirm cover, and that is usually the deadline that drives the booking.
The distinction matters when you are challenged. “It is a legal requirement to test annually” is not quite true and is easy to pick apart. “We maintain the riser to BS 9990:2015 to meet our Article 17 duty, and here is the certificate” is accurate and holds.
The riser should be identified in your fire risk assessment in the first place, which is where the trail starts.
How often dry risers must be tested
BS 9990:2015 sets a two-stage cycle, and the stages are not interchangeable.
Six-monthly visual inspection
A visual inspection every six months by a competent person, covering the inlet and outlet cabinets, landing valves, drain valves, signage and access. Most dry riser failures are found here rather than in the annual test, because the common problems are vandalism, theft of couplings, padlocked or obstructed cabinets, and missing caps.
Annual pressure test
A full wet pressure test once a year, charging the main with water to confirm the system holds without leaking and that every landing valve performs. This is the test that produces the certificate your insurer asks for.
When the building changes
A riser tested against the old layout is not evidence for the new one. Refurbishment, a change of use, new partitioning across a landing valve, or any work in the firefighting shaft should trigger a test outside the normal cycle.
For the detail on where risers are required, cabinet and landing valve positioning, and what the regulations say in full, see our guide to dry riser regulations in the UK.
What each visit covers
The six-monthly inspection:
- inlet and outlet cabinets checked for damage, corrosion, glazing and secure access
- landing valves, blank caps, chains and washers present and undamaged
- drain valves and air release valves operating correctly
- signage present, legible and correct at inlet and every outlet
- access routes to the inlet clear for a fire appliance
- written report listing any defect found, with priority
The annual test adds:
- the main charged with water and pressure tested to 12 bar, held for 15 minutes
- every landing valve opened, flow checked and reseated
- the system drained down and left dry and secure
- certification issued for your fire safety file and your insurer
Wet risers
Wet risers are permanently charged with water and fed by tanks and pumps, rather than filled by a fire appliance on arrival. Approved Document B sets the dividing line by height: a building with a floor above 18 metres normally needs a dry riser, and above 50 metres a wet riser is required instead, because the pumping pressure needed to charge a riser that tall is beyond what a fire appliance can deliver.
The practical difference for a facilities manager is that a wet riser is a live pressurised system with pumps, tanks and valves attached to it, so there is more to go wrong and more to inspect. We test wet risers as well as dry, on the same visit where a building has both.
Pricing
Riser testing is priced by visit and by contract rather than per riser, because most of the cost is the attendance rather than the riser itself. A minimum visit charge applies to one-off work. Larger buildings, multiple risers or difficult access are quoted individually.
Testing contract: from £385+VAT a year
Covers the annual pressure test and both six-monthly inspections, scheduled so the intervals are met without you tracking them, with certification issued each time and held on file. Contract customers also receive priority response and preferential rates on remedial works.
View our PPM and compliance contract →
One-off testing: from £180+VAT minimum visit
For buildings that do not need a contract, or where you want a baseline test on a riser of unknown condition before committing to anything. Wet riser testing is available on the same basis.
Get a quote for dry riser testing →
Repairs and remedial works: quoted from £100+VAT
A failed test is not unusual on a neglected riser: seized landing valves, perished washers, stolen couplings, leaking joints. Every defect is reported with a priority and quoted through our quoted works process before work starts, or attended in business hours through on-demand repairs.
How we support you
We coordinate specialist riser engineers, manage site access and scheduling across multiple buildings, and give you one point of contact. For managing agents running a portfolio, that means one call and one certification set rather than a different testing company in every block.
Robinsons Facilities Services is SafeContractor approved, holds UKAS-certified ISO 9001, and is CHAS accredited. Riser testing is one line in a building’s fire compliance schedule, and we manage it alongside the other fire protection services a commercial site needs.
Contract customers also have access to our 24/7/365 out-of-hours call-out facility for issues affecting safety or compliance. This is a separate service, available to PPM contract customers only.
Get a quote for dry riser testing →
Prefer to speak to someone? Call us on 01423 226578 →
Dry Riser Testing FAQs
A testing contract with Robinsons Facilities Services starts from £385+VAT a year, which covers the annual pressure test and both six-monthly inspections. One-off testing starts from £180+VAT as a minimum visit charge, and any remedial work found is quoted separately from £100+VAT. Buildings with several risers or difficult access are quoted individually. Send us an enquiry or call us on 01423 226578 for a fixed price before we attend.
The duty is legal; the interval is not. Article 17 of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 requires firefighting equipment to be maintained in efficient working order, and a dry riser counts. BS 9990:2015 is a code of practice, not legislation, and it is where the six-monthly and annual intervals come from. Following it is how you show the Article 17 duty has been met.
12 bar, held for 15 minutes, with the main charged with water. The test confirms the system holds pressure without leaking and that each landing valve operates. A riser that will not hold pressure has failed and needs remedial work before it can be certified.
A dry riser sits empty until firefighters charge it from a pumping appliance at ground level. A wet riser is permanently full of pressurised water, fed by tanks and pumps in the building. Height decides which you have: dry risers for buildings with a floor above 18 metres, wet risers above 50 metres.
The responsible person under the Fire Safety Order, which in practice is usually the building owner, the landlord, the managing agent or the facilities manager, depending on how the lease and the management agreement are written. Where responsibility is split across a building, it is worth settling in writing who holds it, because an enforcing authority will ask.
You get a report listing the defects with a priority against each, and the riser is not certified until they are rectified. That is not a reason to delay testing. An uncertified riser you know about is a manageable problem; an untested riser that fails when the fire brigade connects to it is not. Send us an enquiry or call us on 01423 226578 to get a failed riser back into certification.
Yes, and where a building has both they are covered on the same visit. Wet risers carry more equipment, because the pumps, tanks and pressure controls all form part of the system and all need checking.
A written report after every inspection and a test certificate after the annual test, covering the date, the building and riser identified, what was carried out, the readings taken, any defects found and any work completed. Keep them together in the fire safety file. This is the documentation an insurer asks for at renewal and an enforcing authority asks for during an audit.
There is no formal in-house check equivalent to the monthly extinguisher inspection, but it is worth someone confirming that inlet cabinets are unobstructed, undamaged and locked as part of routine site walks. Riser cabinets on external walls attract vandalism, and a stolen coupling found in March is much cheaper than one found during the annual test in November.
Last updated: 20/08/2026
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