Four decades ago, AGF Manufacturing found a better way to build an inspector’s test and drain valve, and the fire sprinkler industry has been installing it ever since. That first valve established an approach the company still follows today: listen to the people in the field, identify the challenges they face, and engineer a better solution made in the United States. Today, AGF products help contractors simplify installation, give inspection teams a more reliable way to do their jobs, and help building owners keep their fire sprinkler systems ready when they are needed most.

One Handle in Place of Seventeen Connections

AGF’s story began in 1986, when George J. McHugh III and Alan Gilmore recognized a familiar problem for sprinkler fitters nationwide and decided there had to be a better way. The traditional inspector’s test and drain setup used a loop assembly with seventeen separate components, each one another fitting to source, connection to make, and potential leak point to repair later.

Their answer was the TESTANDRAIN Model 1000: a single-handle, multi-function valve that did the same job in one piece. It was not a complicated idea, and that was precisely its power. It saved labor, saved space, and removed points of failure from a system that cannot afford them.

That founding logic of identifying recurring frustrations in the field and engineering them out still guides how AGF develops products. The TESTANDRAIN line has since expanded to offer more sizes, K factors, and connection configurations than any comparable product on the market. That same approach has also led to entire product families designed to address drainage, air venting, corrosion, and system testing.

Family Owned, American Made, Still on Quaker Lane

AGF began as a family-owned and operated business committed to domestic manufacturing, and it remains one. From its facility at 100 Quaker Lane in Malvern, Pennsylvania, the company designs and manufactures its products in the United States, a distinction that has grown rarer as the industry has consolidated, outsourced, and folded independent manufacturers into larger groups.

George McHugh III’s sons, Jim and George IV, joined the business and expanded it, adding the COLLECTanDRAIN auxiliary drain line and the PURGENVENT air vent line while keeping manufacturing at home and keeping the family directly involved in the work. Jim McHugh serves as President today.

In 2025 the company welcomed its third generation: George “Joe” McHugh joined as Director of Operations, arriving with more than a decade of logistics and program management experience from Amazon, including large-scale process improvement work and lean implementation across North American operations. His focus at AGF is on streamlining processes and scaling production capacity, allowing the company to grow without compromising what has made it worth growing.

Domestic manufacturing is also increasingly a specification requirement rather than a preference. AGF’s Build America, Buy America Act compliant offerings, including the PURGENVENT Model 7940 BLE branch line extension released in 2025, exist because federally funded projects now demand documented domestic content. A company that never left is well positioned to answer that question.

Products Designed with the Fitter in Mind

AGF was founded on three principles: reliability, versatility, and code compatibility. The product line reflects each one.

Reliability, because in life safety a component either works when called on or it does not. Versatility, because no two sprinkler systems are alike, and a product that only fits the ideal installation is not much use in the field. Code compatibility, because every AGF product is engineered against NFPA requirements, so that meeting code is a consequence of installing the product correctly rather than a separate problem to solve.

The range now spans TESTANDRAIN and INSPECTOR’STEST valves, REMOTETEST, PURGENVENT air venting, COLLECTANDRAIN auxiliary drains, RISERPACK preassembled floor control risers, CORRINSITE corrosion monitors, pressure relief valves, and TESTANSAVE. Each addresses a specific field reality: PURGENVENT continuously vents trapped air to slow corrosion in wet pipe systems; heated COLLECTanDRAIN cabinets keep low point drains from freezing and failing; REMOTETEST lets a single operator conduct required testing across multiple floors or buildings; TESTANSAVE recirculates test water back through the supply riser so the system is properly tested without wasting water or introducing fresh water into the pipe.

Preassembled risers, drains, and vents shorten installation and make retrofits practical. The common thread is labor. On a job site where schedules are compressed and skilled labor is scarce, every eliminated fitting, connection, and return trip is worth something real.

Bringing the Riser into the Connected Era

That problem-solving instinct has carried AGF into new territory. In November 2025 the company launched AGFConnect, a remote monitoring system for auxiliary drains on dry and pre-action systems. A wireless sensor paired with indoor or outdoor gateways delivers real-time drain status to a cloud portal, with alerts by text, email, or app.

Notably, AGFConnect operates independently, with no tie-in to the fire alarm panel or building management system required. This removes the coordination and cost that usually keep monitoring off the table for a component like an auxiliary drain. Contractors gain remote visibility across client sites and can schedule service proactively; facility managers learn a drain needs attention before ice damage or an accidental trip occurs.

In July 2026 AGF introduced the DRYTEST Model 5600, which consolidates the test connection valve and orifice manifold for dry and pre-action trip testing into a single compact assembly, replacing a field-built arrangement of multiple components. Forty years on, it is recognizably the same idea that produced the Model 1000.

Teaching the Industry, Not Just Supplying It

AGF treats education as part of the product. Through AGF University the company offers free training on site, online, and hands-on down the road in the Exton, Pennsylvania training center operated by General Air Products, along with webinars, on-demand courses, and continuing education credits. Fire protection professionals who complete the on-demand curriculum can earn recognition as Certified AGF Product Experts.

The company is active across the industry’s associations, including NFPA, NFSA, AFSA, SFPE, ASPE, and the International Fire Suppression Alliance. Closer to home, AGF’s culture is built on service, family, and community: solar panels on the Malvern facility roof, a company kickball team, and fundraising teams for causes its employees care about. It is a reminder that the people a fire sprinkler system protects are not abstractions to a company that has stayed in one place for four decades.

“Our business has always focused on the parts of a sprinkler system that people rarely think about until something goes wrong. Those are often the places where time is lost, problems begin, and thoughtful engineering can make a real difference. As a family owned company that manufactures here in the United States, we take personal responsibility for every product we put our name on. Our partnership with IFSA reflects the same philosophy that has guided AGF since 1986: our industry is stronger when we work together to solve the challenges we all share.”

Jim McHugh, President, AGF Manufacturing, Inc.

AGF Manufacturing Inc. is a proud member of the International Fire Suppression Alliance. To learn more, visit www.agfmfg.com.