Skip to main content

Fire Hydrant System

A fire hydrant, (also known as fire pumps, hydrant boosters, fire water pumps)is a connection point by which firefighters can tap into a water supply.
These are high pressure water pumps designed to increase the fire fighting capacity of a building by boosting the pressure in the hydrant service when mains is not enough, or when tank fed.

A Fire Hydrant with fully-on valve , releasing pressure water.

Safe Operating Procedure- Fire Hydrant

The user attaches a hose to the fire hydrant, then opens a valve on the hydrant to provide a powerful flow of water.  Most fire hydrant valves are not designed to throttle the water flow; they are designed to be operated either full-on or full-off.
Attaching Hose with Fire Hydrant
When a firefighter is operating a hydrant, he or she typically wears appropriate personal protective equipment, such as gloves and a helmet with face shield worn. High-pressure water coursing through
a potentially aging and corroding hydrant could cause a failure, injuring the firefighter operating the hydrant or bystanders. In most jurisdictions it is illegal to park a car within a certain distance of a fire hydrant. In North America the distances are commonly 3 to 5 m or 10 to 15 ft, often indicated by yellow or red paint on the curb. The reason behind these laws is that hydrants need to be visible and accessible in an emergency.

Hydrant Color Coding 

Hydrant-Green color
Hydrant coloring may be due to either purely practical criteria or more artistic. In the United States, the AWWA and NFPA(National Fire Protection Assocation) recommend hydrants be colored chrome yellow for rapid identification apart from the bonnet and nozzle caps which should be coded according to their available flow. Class AA hydrants (>1500 gpm) should have their nozzle caps and bonnet colored light blue, Class A hydrants (1000–1499 gpm) green, Class B hydrants (500–999 gpm) orange, Class C hydrants (0–499 gpm) red and inoperable or end-of-system (risking water hammer) black. This aids arriving firefighters in determining how much water is available and whether to call for additional resources, or find another hydrant

Inspection and Maintenance:

In most areas fire hydrants require annual inspections and maintenance — they normally only have a one-year warranty, but some have 5- or even 10-year warranties, although the longer warranty does not remove the need for periodic inspections or maintenance. Some fire hydrant manufacturers recommend lubricating the head mechanism and restoring the head gaskets and O-rings annually in order that the fire hydrant perform the service expected of them, while others have incorporated proprietary features to provide long-term lubrication of the hydrant's operating mechanism. In any case, periodic inspection of lubricants is recommended. Lubrication is generally done with a food-grade non-petroleum lubricant to avoid contamination of the distribution system.
Watch this short video for correct inspection and use of hydrant system:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTIBkvDy3vk


Dry Hydrant 

Dry hydrant pipe
In rural areas where municipal water systems are not available, dry hydrants are used to supply water for fighting fires. A dry hydrant is analogous to a standpipe. A dry hydrant is usually an unpressurized, permanently installed pipe that has one end below the water level of a lake or pond.The other end is above ground. When needed, a pumper fire engine will pump from the lake or pond by drafting water. This is done by vacuuming the air out of the dry hydrant.

Standpipes

Standpipes are connections for firehoses within a building and serve the same purpose as fire hydrants in larger structures. Standpipes may be "dry" or "wet" (permanently filled with water).


Stand Pipe-Vertical
Note:

- GPM means Gallon Per Minute.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Safety Culture and Safety Performance

Let us discuss what makes some companies prone to accidents, while others are accident-free. Numerous studies have been conducted to determine the factors that make a company prone to accidents. There is a growing body of empirical evidence concerning the impact of safety culture on safety performance. Numerous studies have investigated characteristics of companies with low accident rates, while generally comparing  them with similar companies with higher-than-average accident rates. A fairly consistent result of these studies conducted in industrialised as well as in developing countries, emphasises the importance of senior managers' safety commitment and leadership for safety performance (Chew 1988; Hunt and Habeck 1993; Shannon et al. 1992; Smith et al. 1978).  Moreover, most studies show that in companies with lower accident rates, the personal involvement of top managers in occupational safety is at least as important as their decisions in the structuring of the safety ma
Post a Comment
Read more

Nuclear Biological and Chemical Terrorism-1

Introduction Terrorism is a criminal act that influences an audience beyond the immediate victim. The strategy of terrorists is to commit acts of violence that draws the attention of the local populace, the government and the world to their cause. The terrorists plan their attack to obtain the greatest publicity, choosing targets that symbolise what they oppose. The effectiveness of the terrorist act lies not in the act itself, but in the public's or government's reaction to the act. Terrorism has become a global threat and needs to be controlled from the root level to the international level. Governments throughout the world are realising that terrorism is a serious threat. The bombing of the World Trade Centre in 2001 was one of the deadliest terrorist episodes in the world. There are various types of terrorism  nuclear, biological and chemical (NBC) terrorism. Different types of terrorism have been defined by lawmakers, security professionals and scholars. Types
Post a Comment
Read more

Hazards of Radio Frequency from Mobile Towers and Phones

Cell phone radiation damages DNA, inflicts cellular damage and creates a broad spectrum of health problems and diseases, including DNA mutation and cancer in humans. A group of scientist published this in a scientific journal “Oxidants and Anti oxidants in Medical Science” in March 2014, in a study called “Low intensity radiofrequency radiation: a new oxidant for living cells”. 76 studies (or 92.5%) proved that cell phone radiation inflicts cellular damage. Cell phone radiation affects production of Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS); these are molecules that form in our bodies as byproduct during normal metabolism of oxygen. A healthy human body has balanced, non health-threatening amounts of ROS. However, microwaves cause overproduction of ROS and dramatically increase oxidative stress – body’s inability to detoxify itself and repair the damage. Too much of ROS damages lipids, proteins and DNA in cells, and disrupts all kinds of natural cellular interacting signals,
Post a Comment
Read more