Turbo Draft

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Permalink Reply by Jeffery A. Hartle on May 11, 2009 at 1:32pm

Joseph:

I've never used one of these devices, but my first guess was that you were trying to move water too far from your water source and my second guess was that you had too much elevation difference between source point and use point. I did a quick search of the internet and found that the company that makes your device has a lot of online resources. Point your browser to http://www.turbodraft.net/ and peruse the information! There is even an operating guide available in .pdf format.

Under the best conditions (10' of lift and 50' from the source), the manufacturer indicates you can deliver 670 gpm to your pumping engine. Efficiency drops off considerably as lift and distance increase. I was surprised to note that the pump discharge pressure required for the 2.5" line starts at 175 psi. This is a high operating pressue! As distance increases, you have to increase the pump discharge pressure to 190 psi.

Back to your problem--what might be going wrong?

If your distance from the source is only 200' but your lift is 20', your device is only rated to flow 280 gpm. Depending on the capacity of your pump, this might explain the minimal performance of your deck gun.

What type of pump is installed on your pumping engine? If it is a single-stage pump, it might perform better than a two-stage pump. If you have a two-stage pump and you are operating in pressure mode to achieve the required pump discharge pressure, your deck gun will be limited in its performance. If you are operating in volume mode for the deck gun, you won't achieve the required pump discharge pressure for the device to perform properly. You might consider using two pumps to test your device. Use one pump operating at the required discharge pressure to draft, and run the 5" hose to a second pump to flow to your deck gun.

I think if you review the materials at the manufacturer's website, you will be able to troubleshoot your operations and achieve the maximum efficiency the device is capable of delivering. Good luck!

Jeff

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Permalink Reply by Joseph Schenk on May 11, 2009 at 8:52pm

Jeff the other day when i was using the turbo draft i had 150' of 5" out and had no grade it was flat ground. i did not need that much hose out but i was doing a training demo on it so i need the hose to show people how fast the 5" line fills up with water the pump i was using is a 1250 single stage pump

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Permalink Reply by Jeffery A. Hartle on May 11, 2009 at 10:20pm

Joseph Schenk said:

Jeff the other day when i was using the turbo draft i had 150' of 5" out and had no grade it was flat ground. i did not need that much hose out but i was doing a training demo on it so i need the hose to show people how fast the 5" line fills up with water the pump i was using is a 1250 single stage pump

Joseph:

As I noted in my first posting, I've never used this device. However, as a (usually) competent fire instructor, I simply referred to the resources I could find to see if your issues could be diagnosed at distance! If you read the operating guide, you might observe a lot of other possible issues to investigate. For example, the operating guide suggests that the screen should be facing up, not down, in the water source. If down, efficiency would certainly be affected. There are other possibilities that you should investigate, as well.

Based on your data (150' of 5" hose with less than 10' of lift), your maximum flow is 480 gpm (See Chart 1 in the Operating Guide). This flow may be less than the flow your deck gun is capable of handling. You might need to check the nozzle orifices used on your deck gun to match the rated flow at that distance. The Operating Guide (Turbo Draft Set-Up) states, "Supply line (5 inch LDH) from the unit should always be monitored. Maximum flow from the TurboDraft unit is achieved when the supply line starts to become soft." This is probably the key clue during your next session. Does your 5" supply line go soft at the point your deck gun valve is half-open? If so, you've reached maximum flow!

Maybe some day I'll get to see your device in operation. In the meantime, good luck with your research and future training sessions.

Jeff

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Permalink Reply by Larry Lasich on May 13, 2009 at 1:40am

I would think that these drafting devices are more for supporting a water supply Engine than for an Attack Engine. As such, 400 GPM seems like a very reasonable flow rate.

As an aside, that's a spendy piece gear. Why did you buy it without having a rep demo it or checking out someone else's?

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Permalink Reply by Dave Tessier on May 13, 2009 at 2:06am

Try using the 2 portable pump setup shown in the web page. It will elminate your 2.5" (65mm) supply line coming off your pumper.

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Permalink Reply by Larry Lasich on May 13, 2009 at 9:13am

Dave Tessier said:

Try using the 2 portable pump setup shown in the web page. It will elminate your 2.5" (65mm) supply line coming off your pumper.

But if you are running the supply line from the Engine, you can control the flow back to your Engine (gate it off and shut down the pressure line when not needed, start running immediately at need) and you aren't burning gas out in a lake. You also can control the amount of pressure in the line and adjust as needed.

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