Water pumping for fire fighting and general use

yep.... has the same winches as well.... diesel...

 

How about a 2006 PowerWagon? It's for sale, no need for 4.56 gearing on icy roads here in AK.



It gets the standard 10 mpg but really shines when towing @ 7.3 mpg.

 

Well I didn't like priming the 1/2hp utility pump so I picked up a 1/6hp submersible to put on the pickup.
The submersible pump is a lower head but double the volume of the 1/2hp utility pump. Its rated for 22gpm at about 25ft.
That submersible pump will force feed the utility pump with about 5psi.
At the moment its a water filtering rig.

 

The fire in TN.
Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge Fires Kill 3; at Least 400 Structures Damaged or Destroyed

It may be my turn next year. A year and a half of unprecedented rain fall caused all kinds of plants to grow then next year we will likely roll straight into a drought.

 

General use and firefighting is very different. I did a little volunteer FF and a pump that can handle the needs of a wildland hose would be the minimum I would have. I have a gas irrigation pump that is 8000 gph. The numbers are probably off but I think wildland is about 20 to 25 GPM. 1 3/4 is 50 to 100 gpm or 3000 to 6000 gallons per hour. Then the pressure gives you the ability to throw the water where you need it.

 

This isn't a dedicated fire fighting setup I know.
It's an improvement over the people who figure they will just use there garden hose.

Well the way I figure it, if everyone uses their garden hose when a grass fire rolls up to the edge of town and the fire department is refilling their tanks then there won't be any useable water pressure.

All I have is my hot tub, 5 gallon potabe water containers to refill the hot tub and 2 small pumps that can be powered by my generator or 2000w inverter and 60ah lithium iron phosphate battery pack.
Which is better than nothing, which is what everyone else will have.
If the trailer park next to me burns then I really want to keep living there.

 

A set up I had intended to build , is a 250 gallon caged tank on a trailer with a Gas engine powered water pump .
Since the pump sets below at the tank level, priming is no problem. I am figuring a 4 wheel trailer so that in the event it must be moved by hand , lifting would not be an issue . 4 wheels will cary that weight better any way.
The trailer would be fully dedicated to fire fighting alone so fighting tools would be aboard as well. I can use my Husky garden tractor for moving it around.
I have most every thing for assembly, but time.

 

The easiest method to feed water to the inlet of a centrifugal pump (and pretty much guarantee a prime, every time) is a flooded suction. Meaning, if you have a tank, your outlet from the tank, to the pump, is at or near the bottom. Then you're giving that centrifugal pump the head pressure of the water in the tank to get it started, and the flow of the fluid after that will keep things going. Centrifugal pumps are good for lower cost, higher volume pumping. But since they are not positive displacement, pumping against a head (uphill, or wanting to shoot water from a nozzle, at long distances) will decrease their efficiency. You can increase the pressure or flow output, by having multiple stages to the pump. They also, typically, run at ~1700-1800 rpm (so now you know why powering one with a bicycle is probably not going to work).

The earliest fire fighting equipment (and, in fact, the earliest pumps invented) were positive displacement piston pumps. They don't typically put out as much volume as a centrifugal pump, but they don't require a prime (since they can pump air as easily as water), and can run under a smaller amount of power. That's why they were popular for the early, hand-driven pumps, on horse drawn fire fighting equipment. They can operate with a single or double piston (single will give you flow/pause/flow/pause, double will give you fairly constant flow, with a small dip of pressure on the end of the strokes).

 

I'm just using a feed pump and boost pump setup.
The submersible feed pump is lower pressure, higher volume than the boost pump.
The boost pump instantly primes and eliminates suction lift of the boost pump.

 

The new place has a metal roof.

I would like to put in a cistern that holds 5,000 to 7,000 gallons but it won't be very full most of the time.

 

IMO
If I add another cistern to my place I want to dig a hole for it at the upper portion of the property so that it will gravity feed to the house.
Even if I had a well , I'd maintain the water levels in my reserves high as possible . Why ?
Because an earth quake can alter under ground streams , and a once productive well can be reduced to a trickle if that.
Or a severe drought that effects the area that feeds the under ground stream that feeds the well . or a change down stream that drops my water level in the well. I have experience with all these occurrences.

 

I need to have room for water when it rains. I fugure using a mix of rain and well water is the cheapest way to fix the hard water here. Water straight from the well maxes out the test strips I have.
I have calculated that pumping water from my deep well will require up to 2 mega watt hours of power per year.
So the more I can catch and the less I pump is a win-win-win-win situation for me.

 

I've learned something through the years I use in my building equipment ,water related .
Zinc anodes pay off ,if you install them right and remember to replace them as necessary.
Both the navy and private boating industry install these on l water related equipment to reduce the electrolysis break down of critical equipment .
The break down works on the Zinc anode instead . (so long as it is properly installed and maintained )
Boat shops are a good source for these, but I'm sure you can get them on line.