1 1/2 or 1 3/4

I have been with two volli houses and one used 1 1/2 and the one I am with now uses 1 3/4. Here is the discussion, do you fellow firefighters out there have a preference, and what does your house use?

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Permalink Reply by Todd on February 27, 2009 at 1:03pm

1 3/4"

We don't even have any 1 1/2" hose any more.

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Permalink Reply by Bruce Mack on February 27, 2009 at 2:05pm

In our firehouse we use 1 3/4 but have some 1 1/2 in the fire house we use when we rotate beds after runs, but it is being phased out. we also use 2 1/2 alot but with the smooth bore nozzles and removeable tips we can tie in a 1 3/4 for overhaul. Oh buy the way our 1 3/4 is coupled 1 1/2

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Permalink Reply by turk182 on February 27, 2009 at 2:27pm

We use both but the 1 3/4 is our primary attack lines and we also use a 2 1/2 attack line.

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Permalink Reply by Tony P on February 27, 2009 at 4:53pm

This is a response I like!

It's not so much how much water you put on a fire as how you put it on. What you do with it.

We use 38mm (1.5) here for most structure fires and wildfires. We use our 20mm high pressure reel for bin and car fires (note the words 'high pressure', nothing like the reels that used to be used a lot in North America). Our career neighbours use their HP reels for most fires. For something like a factory going from end to end we all use 64mm (2.5) for surround and drown.

Yes there will be a little less friction loss with the 1.75. A lot less if using 2.5. I'll take the easier to use 1.5 thanks. For those that like the idea of dragging the 2.5 everywhere, go for it - your choice.

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Permalink Reply by Chad Furr on February 27, 2009 at 5:56pm

Both depending on the truck that is there. not much of a need for a 1 3/4 on a grass fire.

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Permalink Reply by Chad Furr on February 27, 2009 at 5:57pm

the only advantage I have seen is with the extra 1/4" your friction loss is considerably less. But as Tony said it is where you put it now how much you can move.

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Permalink Reply by Rob on February 27, 2009 at 6:02pm

We have a little 1 1/2 left in our inventory. I load our primary engine with 1 3/4 and the crosslays on the second out with 1 3/4. The only thing I will use 1 1/2 for if I have to is for the bumper line on either engine for small trash fires or mulch fires or other small fires that are not likely to overcome the water provided.

Obviously between the two I prefer 1 3/4. However after using 2" at the department I just left I would not oppose a switch to 2" for our crosslays. It is not much different in behavior than 1 3/4 and delivers that little extra punch to a fire. As for 1 1/2, as it fails hose test it is all being replaced by 1 3/4.

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Permalink Reply by Rick Boisvert on February 27, 2009 at 6:18pm

At my Dept. we cover a large area of city, rural and suburban settings with five stations. We use 1 1/2" with combo nozzle, 1 3/4" Smoothbore on our 200' preconnects mainly used for room and contents and residential structure fires. for the larger fire (defensive) or commercial fires we use 2 1/2" smoothbore. (we also have the capability to pull additional 2 1/2" and put combo nozzle on it.) we also utilize 100' of 1 1/2" rubber jacket for car fire preconnected in tray along bottom of CO-side pump panel. i personally prefer 1 3/4". more water, less FL. you don't get the advantage of hydraulic ventilation with the smoothbore nozzle once the fires knocked down but it's worth the knockdown power. besides the guys on the outside should be venting for you anyway right? i personally don't find much handling difference between the 1 1/2" or 1 3/4". 2 1/2" is whole different discussion.

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Permalink Reply by Mike Schlags (Captain Busy) Retd on February 27, 2009 at 6:23pm

We used to only purchase 38mm (1 1/2-inch) for our engine companies but over time, the industry standard has become the (45.45mm) 1 3/4-inch. I think this was driven by less friction loss and more water flow as a result but a lot of fires are still fought using our reel lines. Not everything needs big water all the time. You know right off what you can and cannot handle using this tactic. Quick attack and quick rollup for highway incidents is a nice tactical goal to achieve. The reality of this is that often times, dependent upon the cargo, intensity and threat to adjacent wildland interfaces, we use the 45.45mm (1.75-inch) freeway line that is attached to the passenger side of the engine or we will pull a lateral line that is 200-feet with a TFT nozzle. Large fires, big water uses 64mm (2.5) for providing master stream appliance water requirements.