Taking the hydrant

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Bob Shovald on November 9, 2008 at 3:48pm

John -
My mistake...I meant to ask Ray McCormack that question.
It eems like most urban departments are using either 4" or 5" LDH. We use the 5" any reason you went with the 4"?

Ray -
How does a FDNY engine lay in? What size hose are you guys using?

Bob

Permalink Reply by John Dantuono on November 9, 2008 at 4:58pm

Not a problem Bob. At the time LDH was becoming popular it seemed that 4" was all that was available. Of course shortly after that 5" came into the picture, the district felt that they already had a significant cash outlay for the 4" so thats where we stayed.
We were one of the first depts. in our area to do this also, prior to the LDH we would lay in with 2 x 21/2" suppliy lines. Again at the time most fd's were laying in with one 21/2" supply.
There are a few neighboring depts that do use 5" LDH around us.

Permalink Reply by Ray on November 9, 2008 at 8:03pm

FDNY uses 3 1/2" hose for suppy. We don't lay in as many depts do. We back stretch and use a 35' length of 5" hose.

Permalink Reply by Larry Lasich on November 10, 2008 at 4:50pm

We have 1200 feet of 5 inch LDH on the Engine and the hydrant bag in the rear compartment. The tool bag has Steamer connectors in 4 ½ threaded to Stortz, plus a 3 and ½ inch gate valve and adapters and spanners. Either Tools or the 5th guy on the Engine will get out, grab the bag and pull enough LDH out of the bed and then wrap the hydrant. When he signals the D/O to pull away, he makes the connection and informs the Engine that he is ready to open the hydrant. After he starts the hydrant, he gets to the scene, packs up and gets his assignment.

Permalink Reply by Bob Shovald on November 10, 2008 at 5:10pm

Does anyone have numbers on flow loss when using a 2 1/2" to 5" stroz adapter on the 2 1/2" hydrant port. I have heard you have 80% of what you would have if you were using the 4 1/2" steamer port. We have many double 2 1/2" hydrants in the older part of town. We connect a 2 1/2" to 5" stroz on these plugs.
Bob

Permalink Reply by Larry Lasich on November 10, 2008 at 6:23pm

OK, good thing I re-read your post.

Are you asking about working pressure from the 2 1/2 inch versus the 4 1/2 steamer or the difference in volume between the two?

Permalink Reply by Bob Shovald on November 10, 2008 at 7:14pm

Lets say you have a hydrant that can supply 2000 gpm with a 5" stroz connected to the 4 1/2" steamer outlet.
Now take the same hydrant and connect to the 2 1/2" outlet using a 2 1/2" to 5" stroz adapter. How much flow do you loose with the 2 1/2" to 5" adapter.

Bob

Permalink Reply by Larry Lasich on November 10, 2008 at 8:24pm

I don't have a copy of the IFSTA Pump Operators book, but it has formulas for what volume does for flow.

You need to flow the hydrant to get the starting information, but from that you can run the calculations.

Permalink Reply by Bob Shovald on November 18, 2008 at 11:32am

Has anyone had any safety issues "wrapping" the hydrant with the hose?
Bob

Permalink Reply by Larry Lasich on November 18, 2008 at 3:00pm

Bob Shovald said:

Has anyone had any safety issues "wrapping" the hydrant with the hose?
Bob

If the supply line has been correctly stored in the hose bed the hose should pay out without jamming a coupling. Having that happen is the only problem I can think of. Don't let you foot get inside the wrap and stand on the tag end of the hose and it should go smooth as silk.

Permalink Reply by Ray on November 19, 2008 at 10:28am

One of the problems with wrapping the hydrant is if a parked car is parked at the curb close to the hydrant the line can get really snagged under the wheel. Your hose will be on an angle to the hosebed. A better way by (Capt. Bill Gustin) is to pull what you need off straight behind the engine and secure it while being able to signal the driver to move foward.

Permalink Reply by Brian Arnold on November 19, 2008 at 10:36pm

We are using a hyda-assist valve or Humat on about 95% of our engines. They also carry 1200 of 4" supply line. We still wrap the hydrant with the hose when laying in and use the hydrant valve whenever doing a forward lay. Personally, I'm not a fan of either of the valves or our current method of wrapping the hydrant and laying in. It's worked for us for years but could be improved upon dramatically.

Bob Shovald said:

Anybody use a hydrant valve? If so how do you utilize it? Also does anyone wrap the supply hose around the plug? If so what are your thoughts on that procedure.

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