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Looking for input !!!
We are a small rural volly dept in northern Wi. We are looking to get a new water tender/tanker. We would like to get a 3,000 gal tank. Our issue is, do we go with a vaccum tanker, or 500 gpm pto tanker pumper. We have one dry hydrant in our district, we cover 110 sq miles. We run alot of mutual aid to neighboring communities, one of which has hydrants in the city only. Mutual aid is about 10 min out, and they run a 3,000 gal vaccum tanker. We have 2 tankers right now, 2,2oo gal each. We want to eliminate 2 old trucks and replace with 1 new and very much improved tanker. We only have 1 engine, 2006 1250 gal tank and pump. This is were our dilemma starts. Some of us think we should get a pumper tanker, and some think we just need a tanker. What are some of your opinions, pro's and con's, etc.... Thanks for any input.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Chad Furr on
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Do you want to hook up or use a drop tank? I prefer drop tanks because you can drop and go get another while the engine is usig the water from the drop tank. Just my 2 cents worth
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our "BEAST" 2500 gal
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Permalink Reply by John Schander on
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We are also a small dept w/ no hydrants. We get all our water from draft sites at two ponds in our district. We purchased a 3000 gal pumper/tanker. It saves time and we use it as our first out engine, and as a mutual aid tanker. We also have a 2000, and 3000 gal tanker that we use to shuttle water as needed. I think the pumper/tanker was the best way for us to go.
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Permalink Reply by Jay Nicholson on
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My opinion only. The more you try to get a piece of equipment to do, the less well it does. Or as the adage goes, 'jack of all trades, master of none.' In a perfect world, you would have the money and manpower to equip/man two pieces.
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Permalink Reply by Kevin Burks on
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Whatever you do Bull, remember to take your time with it . Dont rush into it . I also live in a small town and we cover alot of county out of our one station. when we started looking at pumper/tankers it took us 8 months to find and build it the way we wanted it. We ended up with a 3000 galpumper/tanker with a 750 gpm pump. It also has a 3000 gal. dump tank with a portable floating pump that has already paid for itself as much as we have used it. In my opinion your dept. should look at the pumper/tanker , it will have more options . Just my opinion. stay safe
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Permalink Reply by Chris Sterling on
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I'd definatley think in terms of a tanker. 10 min. can be a long time to have to wait for your next load of water, and judging by your rural coverage, you'll want to take plenty of water with you. Now, Vaccum, or standard pump? We don't really have any vaccum tankers here, but I know you can draw water from a higher or longer distance with one. I like the idea of a standard pump, because you don't have to rely on just your engine to cover exposures, and attack at the same time. It's also good to have a line off a second pump, for backup, just incase you would have a problem occur with your primary engine. Just a couple things to think about. Good luck with your purchase.
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Our tanker.
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nice truck chris. Seeing that we are in a rural area our brush trucks carry 1200 gal. each. and every FD around us has a tanker /pumper now so if we need water we just give a yell for more water and they come running . They are great neighbors to have
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Thanks Kevin, we're hoping to replace this truck soon. It's a 1987 Mack, and she's starting to get tired. Still tons of power though. Just starting to see the nickle, dime stuff more and more now.
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Permalink Reply by Scott on
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Well having only 1 engine and mutual aid a ways out it would be nice to have a back up, but if you commit your "tanker" to an attack what do you do when the water is low or runs out?
This is probably the first question you need to address. The value in the tanker is not how many jobs it can do for you but that you can get water on the road and keep it moving. I assume you use porta-tanks and drop water and go to a fill site. The key is to never wait with a load if you can help it. Dump and then refill.
The vacuum tankers are a neat idea. I would go an assess the potential fill sites you would have with this type versus a traditional PTO pump fill style. That will help make the case. If you can increase your fill site by 5, 10, 20, 30,???? that should decrease the amount for time you take to get that tanker back to the scene. Less miles on the load.
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