Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Travis Bowers on August 23, 2009 at 4:43pm

When you start talking about friction loss and stuff like that and water pressure, thats over my head, i will admit if i was the operator i would be what they call a lever puller, cause i dont know how to calculate friction loss.

Permalink Reply by A.Kent Henson on August 23, 2009 at 8:27pm

And when they start lifting off the ground, throttle back, right? lol Nothing wrong with that. I have always heard that ballpark is just fine to get started and that no one can tell a difference of five to ten pounds of pressure. I guarantee that someone will tell you to increase or decrease when needed. The math comes into play on long and/or large incidents and who wants to be stuck on the pump panel then? But try to get into a CDPO class because you'll learn a whole lot, even if you do tend to forget the math. Thanks for having this group and replying to my discussion.

Permalink Reply by Lee Huff on August 28, 2009 at 3:57pm

That's what I like about our '06 Silverfox.The pumps are electronically controlled. Put them in PSI mode and the truck just about pumps itself, pretty hard for even me to screw up!:)

Permalink Reply by A.Kent Henson on August 29, 2009 at 12:25pm

Ours also have an electronic controller but like everything else, we have to still be vigilant. Ive seen it come close to cavitating and shoot the pressure up to 200 and things like that. It would be nice to have it totally automatic where only things like hose length and elevation would need to be entered. Im sure nozzles used will already be programmed. Im sure the future technology will make it foolproof. With manual overrides, of course.

Permalink Reply by Travis Bowers on September 1, 2009 at 9:13pm

I know Fire-Trucks now are like miles of wires, were as you take my stations original 1958 american-lefrance, it's nothing but the real deal of line, and levers, and the pump, LOL

Permalink Reply by Tim Brooke on December 13, 2009 at 7:54pm

Train alot, ask senior guys questions. figure out your pump pressures/friiction loss for all of your preconnect hoselines so you have a staring place .

Permalink Reply by Travis Bowers on June 9, 2010 at 11:19pm

I think all Departments and the Fire Service as a whole maybe NFPA standards should require that drivers take the intro and basic pump opps classes. Because its a big deal when you screw up on that pump panel and you misstakinly kill the pressure to your guys on the line on interior attack, you are basically burning them up. So driver training is another big part of it.

Permalink Reply by A.Kent Henson on June 23, 2010 at 9:48am

Just downloaded an app for firecalc on my Blackberry. Pretty cool and real simple. $2.99 on crackberry.com

Permalink Reply by lb on July 28, 2010 at 11:27pm

Calculations can be hard to remember. we have charts at the pump panels, but it is still good to know the numbers. When I took my A/O class we had an instructor from a coastal town and he said they carried 4,5,and 6" hoses on their trucks. I am glad we only carry 1 3/4, 2 1/2, with 5" supply line.

Permalink Reply by Mark Poznanski on May 7, 2011 at 2:17am

FF Henson, I love 'cheat sheets'...I see nothing wrong with it, it can help when the fog rolls into the brain. I will agree, I too am a lever puller. Friction loss, lines laid up-hill, around corners, couplings..etc/I'm lost!! The Chief yells for water...here it comes. If anyone has a 'general chart' to follow and at least have a starting point, maybe we can get it posted somehow...and then able to print it off.

Permalink Reply by Timothy J. Gaffney, Jr. on May 9, 2011 at 6:46pm

In all honesty, not all pumps and hoses are created the same. I use to follow friction loss and other hydraulic equations but I've discovered that you should flow test each of your discharges and hoses you use. I started doing it at work with our first-due engine and what a difference! Discovered we were losing about 30 psi from the pump and entering the hoseline. Then lost another 60 psi before the water exited the nozzle and this was through 200 feet of 2 inch with a fog/automatic nozzle and pumping at 200 psi (70% capacity of your pump). This was due to numerous bends (four 90-degree elbows) in the pump. There are standard and digital flow test meters that can cost about $800.00 but well worth it. It's always better to have a cheat sheet that's true to your operations than something that's found in textbooks.

Permalink Reply by Scott Taylor on May 13, 2011 at 8:59pm

Did anyone think to take your firefighters out to find out what they can handle? When we switched to smoothbores we tried just that then figured out what the flow was from there. As a driver, I then knew about what to give the firefighter based on their size. nozzle reaction is a concern.



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