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LDH
Our department has switched over to 4 inch supply line within the past five years. Each pumper carries 12 one hundred foot sections for a total of 1,200 feet. I have noticed that when we tested the hose this year that 4 sections failed and had to be replaced. I was told by someone from another department that they quarterly pull off the hose and re-rack it to prevent weak spots where the hose is folded. Does anyone else have this type of failure rate and does anybody else re-rack the entire bed to change the folds?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Smoke Eater on
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We don't have LDH where I'm at now, but in my last dept. we had 1,000 ft. per engine. We were testing one day and had 6 sections off of just one engine fail. 2 actually blew apart at the pump. The next shift also had 2-3 more failures. We contacted the manufacturer only to be told that at the time our order was being made they had some bad hoses make it out the door. We must have gotten some of those. May want to ask the manufacturer what they recomend.
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Permalink Reply by Doug on
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I can't say I recall any failures during testing, but we re-rack the entire bed twice a year.
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Permalink Reply by Perry Bryant on
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W also carry 1200 feet of 4" for our supply line. That is the standard for our county except for the naval base and one other dept which carry 5 ". Our mutual aid out of the county is 3".
I do not know how busy your area is but our LDH gets pulled much more than 4 times a year.
I am assuming that you use flat lays which is where you are having the bends coming up. Did your sections fail in the line or the coupling?
If you are having problems with lines failing and they are not pulled on calls very often then for drill one night do a supply line drill and lay the whole length. That way you kill two birds in one stone, drill-training, as well as potentially saving your station money in the future.
Hope this helps
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Right. I should have clarified. Sections have failed testing, usually just one, maybe two. For some reason I was thinking catostrophic failure, bursting during testing, when I first read this.
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Permalink Reply by Jay Nicholson on
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Pretty much standard for us. Repacking at least a couple of times a year during training evolutions. Not counting the actual use which means even more rotations. I was always told that repacking in the order it comes off causes stress on the folds and that by repacking you prevent this to some degree.
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Permalink Reply by Oldman on
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It is recommended that all hose be rotated at least twice a year, but every quarter is best. This is especially true if it is not utilized very often. Rotating decreases the chance of the hose weakening at the folds.
Besides, it gives the probies something to do.
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Permalink Reply by larry jenkins on
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Thanks guys for your input. My engine runs about 5,000 calls a year, but our hydrants are within 500 feet of each other so we usually only pull the top three sections on any given day. So the only time the entire load is pulled is when we test. The failures were in different places in each section of hose.
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Permalink Reply by Trainer on
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Just to throw this out there for comment, we carry 5in and most failures I have seen are close to or at the fitting. My guess this is an inherent flaw during manufacturing as the hose is crimped and a week point is created especially with the size and thickness of materials, besides the shear weight hanging from the pump or hydrant.
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Permalink Reply by NOVAFireman on
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What brand is Alexandria running these days?
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NOVA fireman as far as hose they are still carrying 3" , apparatus they are Pierce
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Permalink Reply by J Whaley on
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we have pretty long distances to pump at times, relay or just single engine to handlines. On my own truck we pull 500' of 5" at least once every 6 weeks on average for training, and others in my station do similarly. I can't recall when we have had a 5" fail testing, and some of our hose has been around a while. I suspect the weak spots are at the folds, and decrease the integrity of the liner from sitting in position for too long. Regular rotation of the hose load is a good thing.
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