I just found out that we were awarded a grant for $24,000 to replace all the hose and nozzles on both engines. Right know we have 2 - 1 3/4" cross lays and 1- 2 1/2" cross lay. When i applied for this grant we thought we would go to 2" attack lines.

I keep hearing we won't like the 2" lines. I would guess some of you are using 2" hose so; Whats the good,bad and ugly of 2" hose?

Views: 2327

Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Not everyone has full timers that roll out in a minute or 2 and then have the immediate additional resources that DC fire has.

 

Further, who says because we don't do things the way you do that we don't do aggressive attacks on most of our fires.  The fact that with the same manpower you use we can flow between 160 and 300 gpm per line, or 320 to 600 gpm with 2 lines speak volumes.   We do what we do because it works for us.  

5 inch hose marked with "Attack Line" means it can be pumped at a higher pressure, usually 225 psi, where 5 inch supply line is usually rated at 185 psi.

Bruce, We loose this much hose because most of it s 20 years old. We never had it tested neither. It took awhile to get our upper heads to go with hose testing. They didn't want to spend the money on testing. Finally was able to get them to see a couple of hundred bucks on testing was cheaper then years in court because we killed someone when their hose blow apart.  

Did not know that Don thank's.

The idea is to have three complete sets of hose for the engine, so once we come back from a fire we can clean the set on the engine and our new engine will have the boxes you can pull out and put the cross lays in.  That way once we get back to quarters all we have to do to get back in full service is get one of the boxes of cross lays that we used off the shelf and slide it on the engine, boom back in service while the crew starts cleaning and drying the recently used set. We are also getting one additional complete set of supply lay so we have a back up if there is an issue with our primary set on the engine.  A few companies in our area have started doing this as we seem to get our fires in groups and we do not have a hose dryer.

hummm, our supply line is tested at 400 psi for certification, our hydrants do give us 225 from the hydrant so we are normally gating back our engine to control the pressure from the hydrant and we are basically a gate valve. Last hydrant test we did we were able to run 2-      1 3/4 hand lines, a 3" line to our blitz gun, and 1 2 1/2" smooth bore with a residual pressure of 110.  It is a very new hydrant system, only been in place for about 2 years, we get big water from all of them. Think Chief said they are 16" mains in the ground.

Bruce,

The flow difference between real 1 3/4 inch hose and 2 inch is substantial. We flow 300 gpm out to

What are you using for supply line?  Because I am not aware of any rubber LDH that is rated that high. 

Not sure why the last post I made messed up but here we go again.

 

Bruce,

The flow difference between real 1 3/4inch hose and 2 inch hose is substantial.  We flow 300 gpm out to 300 feet of pre-connected 2 inch using a smooth bore nozzle at a pump pressure of 195 psi.  In order to do the same with 1 3/4 your pump pressure would be almost 500 psi using a smooth bore.

We just use regular rubber 5" supply. We don't run over 70psi most of the time.

If you have plenty of manpower to haul a 2"line around. 1¾" is easier to maneuver.  Personally I would stay with 1¾, you have 2½ on your truck if you need that volume of water. I've been a full time FireFighter 25 years in a small department and have knocked out many house fires even using 1½ back in the day.  Now 75psi nozzles are available and work great with 1¾ handlines.  The rule of thumb is 1 FireFighter per 50psi on a handline. Although the norm for us is usually 2 firefighters.

Steve,

Plenty of manpower? We normally move it with 2 or 3, just like most move 1 3/4 inch hose.

 

The truth is 1 1/2 inch hose and 95 to 125 nozzles did put out a ton of fire in its day.  But fuel loading and the make up of the fuel loading has changed considerably in the last 20 to 30 years.  Synthetics with higher burn temps and quicker flashovers have replaced natural fibers and wood.

 

I am beginning to wonder how many "experts" here have actually ever used 2 inch hose in an actual fire incident.  Because my FD has for over a decade.  I can speak from personal experience on the ease of movement and the fire killing ability of 1 inch booster hose, 1 1/2", 1 3/4", the new miracle 1.88", 2", 2 1/2", and 3 inch hose for fire attack.

Reply to Discussion

RSS

Find Members Fast


Or Name, Dept, Keyword
Invite Your Friends
Not a Member? Join Now

© 2024   Created by Firefighter Nation WebChief.   Powered by

Badges  |  Contact Firefighter Nation  |  Terms of Service