2 1/2" gated wyes

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Permalink Reply by L. Chapel on May 5, 2008 at 8:54am

Ian, we had some interesting results the other day when we hooked up the flow meter to a standpipe with two attacklines. Each to their own pressure gauge and coming off a single gated wye. I'm going on vacation, I'll give you a call when I get back to discuss it the end of May...Les

Permalink Reply by Brad Smith on December 21, 2008 at 11:29am

Hey Les, what were the results?

Permalink Reply by L. Chapel on January 1, 2009 at 6:50pm

Brad
By way of background : As a department we replaced our obsolete 1.75” high-rise hose packs with 2.5” hose packs with a 1 1/8” smoothbore nozzles in 2008. So then we had a bunch of extra 2.5”x1.5” gated wyes that were removed from the standpipe kits.

We wanted test the feasibility of placing two 1.5”x2.5” adaptors on one of the gated wyes and test it for GPM, friction loss and ease of operation for an operator to obtain and maintain the correct attackline pressures while supplying two 2.5” attacklines from one 2.5” standpipe outlet (SPO).

For the test we used our drill tower’s dry standpipe system. We attached the adapted gated wye and Akron inline pressure gauge to the first floor SPO. Then attached 100’ of 2.5” hose with a 1 1/8” Smoothbore nozzle on each of the gated wyes’ valve. We used Akron electronic flow meters on each line.

We had no problem obtaining 500 GPM with both lines flowing.

Two problems surfaced. The valves on the gated wye wanted to work there way to the closed position. We switched out for another one. It worked OK. After removing the valve, the handle and valve seemed tight. The reason we choose it in the first place.

With the first line flowing we had a firefighter open the second valve to charge the second line. It wasn’t very easy to do. At one time the first line dropped to 140 GPM while the second line was opened and then they were both adjusted to flow 250-265 GPM. These valves just aren’t the quality and design that allows the pump panel to be adjusted with ease.

All of us tried our hand in it. It was hard to get the feel of it; to get the second line flowing without adversely affecting the first line. We are going to perform this test again. The next time we do we will make sure we have more time to devote to the project and hopefully work out the kinks. We just didn’t have the time the first time to do the test justice.

So for now that’s all we know…Les

Permalink Reply by Mike Walker on January 1, 2009 at 7:42pm

Great information brother, thanks for sharing it.

Are you concerned at all about the weight of two 2 1/2" lines breaking off the standpipe? I've heard that this can be a problem.

If I understand you correctly, you did not use any 30 degree elbows?

Permalink Reply by L. Chapel on January 1, 2009 at 10:38pm

We carry elbows and do use them. In fact we carry 60 degree elbows (twice as good). I've not been aware of this problem. Does it only occur when the lines come straight out from the SPO and no turn downs used?

Permalink Reply by Mike Walker on January 2, 2009 at 1:14am

I'm not sure but I suspect that the farther away from the SPO the more leverage the weight would have.

I'm also curious as to how much weight two lines full of water consist of?

I also wonder about the leverage the lines create as they are opened and closed?

Ofcourse, none of these questions could have any validaty at all, but I am curious.