Annual Inspection Findings: Test Mode, Partial Testing, and a Signal Gap

No. Signing would certify testing that did not occur and would conceal an active impairment.

What must happen immediately:

1. Take the panel out of test mode and verify transmission with a live signal to the supervising station. Until that is confirmed, the building is effectively unsupervised - a fire alarm that rings locally but never reaches the fire department is a known catastrophic failure mode.
2. Notify the AHJ and the supervising station in writing of the impairment and the restoration, with the duration noted. Advise the owner of interim measures (fire watch) for the unprotected period.
3. Report the true condition in the inspection document: partial testing, no sensitivity records, and the 14-month transmission gap. The report describes what was found, not what the owner wants.
4. Schedule the outstanding testing: 100 percent of initiating devices, sensitivity verification for each smoke detector against its listed range, and functional testing of notification appliances.

The insurance audit is the owner's problem to manage; a signed false report is the tester's professional and legal problem.

The local LED proves the detector housing has power and the internal sensor responded; it says nothing about the interface to the panel. Likely causes, in order of probability:

1. Programming/address mismatch - the detector's address is not mapped, or is mapped to a zone or device type that suppresses annunciation.
2. Relay or interface not wired - the duct detector's alarm contacts are not connected to the monitor module or zone input; the local LED and the contacts are separate circuits.
3. Wrong device type - duct detectors are commonly configured as supervisory (to shut down the air handler and give a distinctive indication) rather than as general alarm. A supervisory condition may not appear where the tester was looking, so verify by address, not by the panel summary screen.
4. Wiring fault on the interface circuit, in which case there should also be a trouble condition - check the panel history.

Disposition: do not write "passed" on the local LED and do not write "failed" before verifying the mapping. Troubleshoot at the panel and at the detector, correct the interface or programming, then functionally retest each unit end-to-end, including the air-handler shutdown and the supervising-station signal.

The report should require and reference:

• A device-by-device test record covering all 240 initiating devices with the date, tester, method, and result - not a summary percentage.
• Sensitivity records for every smoke detector showing the measured value against the manufacturer's listed range, plus the cleaning/replacement action taken for any unit out of range.
• Notification appliance test results, including audibility and intelligibility where the design documents require them.
• Transmission records showing test signals received by the supervising station, with the date and time of restoration of the 45-day gap.
• A deficiency list with responsible party and target dates, plus a re-test date to verify corrections.
• Documentation that the AHJ and supervising station were notified of the impairment and its resolution.

Retain the records per the code and per the owner's insurer, and note in the report that the system was found in an impaired condition, so the next inspection cycle starts from an accurate baseline rather than inheriting a deficiency.