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Drafting From Rivers and Creeks. Tips, Techniques
Do your departments have any special tools or techniques that you use from drafting from moving water sources such as rivers or creeks?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Paul Montpetit on
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They normally don't move....Pretty much stationary....pretty hard to move a river.....If it is moving you had better clean your glasses...I think you are trying to draft from a tanker.......LOL
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If it is fast water then you will need to anchor your strainer(cinder block will take care of this)....I have found that carrying a basketball with a tether comes in very handy when trying to draft from less that 6 feet of water......start drafting and when the whirlpool develops throw the ball into it....it will act like a valve and prevent you from loosing suction from sucking air into the line......we also will have the deck gun set up....if not pumping constanly we let the gun drain some of the pressure.....don't overload/overheat the pump....also remember your change of elevation....keep it less than 20 feet if possible....
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Permalink Reply by Chris Weber on
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A floating strainer works pretty good too.One thing you might have to do is tie a piece of rope to it and anchor it to something on the bank to keep it from trying to float down stream in a fast current.We've also tied our hard tube to a roof ladder and anchored the ladder to the bank.The basketball is a super idea.I've used an empty plastic jug tied to a rope to plug the whirpool but I'm going to try the basketball.
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Permalink Reply by Jason on
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We have a few dry hydrants, at numerous locations around the county. Biggest thing is to make sure you back flush them prior to pumping into the tenders as they do silt in. We have a few 3 inch trash pumps we use with a floating strainer. They work nice as well, but not as quick as an engine hooked up.
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Can fill a tanker in a matter of minutes with the engine....unless equipment is a major consideration we will use an engine to fill tankers....
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Permalink Reply by John Dobson on
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We have a 5" turbo Draft fairly new haven't used it in real life. There shouldn't be a reason it won't work. It is a heavy device with a built in strainer and a jet siphon.
http://www.turbodraft.net/
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Permalink Reply by Bill Brierton on
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A couple of hard sleeve hoses, strainer usually are sufficient to draft from any river or creek in our first due. Of course if we need to anchor the stainer a good cinder block or roof ladder works. Basically you're stuck there until the incident is over.
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Permalink Reply by Vic Silverfish on
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We have the standard strainer/tether/float arrangement and that works really well if you have more than a meter of water. We've been experimenting with a clam-shell shaped device for drafting in as little a 8 inches (maybe even less) of water. I can't find a picture, but basically the "shells" cover the bottom so you don't suck mud, and the top so you don't create a vortex. the sides are open to allow water into the hose. Works pretty well when we're using a 3" drafting line.
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We use a 2000gal a minute pump on our main engine....we need about 6 feet of water to avoid the vortex...that is until we started using the basketball that I mentioned
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I am so going to try the basketball trick - assuming I can find a basketball in Australia!
Our floats are a square metal box full of polystyrene which are clipped on the end of the strainer so they float right above the intake. In this spot, they interfere with the formation of a vortex and work great.
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We have one....but don't tend to use it that much.......usually have a nearby dry hydrant....luckily
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