LDH Intake: Which side?

[Guest alsfirefighter]

Was reading another topic and this came up and is often brought up when I am teaching Pump Operator. This was my reply to the topic and I hope some others also join in, including those in the other topic that commented.

QUOTE]what do people feel about the 5" intake on the passinger side with the discharge

I for one discourage it on side mount pump panels. Some have tried to make the point to me that it is a safety issue in the event that the 5" "lets go." I still do not understand or buy this statement. For one, unless you have older LDH, NFPA requires the locking devices on the couplings. Secondly, hose testing is required and I have not heard of very many instances of the LDH separating from a coupling. Particulary being we are discussing an intake at this point. How much pressure is an intake really under at hydrant pressures or even when being fed by a nurse tanker or source pumper? Storz couplings are only rated to 200 psi...you shouldn't come close to this number often. The most high pressure for LDH is when feeding your LDH discharge and that is on the passenger side and rightly so.

Let's also discuss good pump operator techniques. I leave my leg resting against the LDH when bleeding the air out to ensure its fully expanded with water prior to opening my intake. I also leave that leg there as I am charging lines and devices, you will often feel the hose get soft as you approach your residual pressure requirements long before you will see or hear it. Also, how can you keep an eye on the lines charged off the booster tank if you have to leave the panel to disconnect the supply line, attach it to the intake, wait for it to get charged...open the intake and then what? How can you efficiently mangage the surge in discharge pressure to your lines if you are on the opposite side of the apparatus? If you have a pressure governor its a simple flick of a switch...pressure relief valve will do the trick but MPO's can be overwhelmed with tasks upon initial arrival.

I do know of a few that say they also like it because it stops you and the ground around you from getting wet and/or icy from the relief valve on the device. My answer...find another job or join the Elk's club. You'll get wet. If its that much of an issue do what many of us have done and get a reinforced radiator hose and a hose clamp and attach it to the relief valve opening and use one that has a 90 degree bend to focus it to the ground.

Edited June 10, 2007 by alsfirefighter

[Guest]

i like to use the intake on the driver side because you can have control of the valve and you have a visual of whats coming in. i was also told that it balances the pump, you dont have all the weight of the hoses on one side. can it be done on the other side sure but when you want to fine tune your pump operation your leaving your pump panel. what does the book say to do?

[IzzyEng4 427]

To me its a matter of preference. I was taught to be a driver / mpo when we were still using dual three inch supply lines and used out legs to feet the incoming pressure from a hydrant. When my company was finally issued 5 inch supply lines, we continued to use the left side intake when using a forward lay.

To me having the intake for five inch on either side of the pump is a matter of preference and also an accessibility issue with apparatus positioning and the space required to hook up a feeder in certain situations. I really don't think their is a difference at all.

Your a pump operator, your going to get wet regardless.

[jd783 64]

I think OSHA says no LDH on the pump panel side not sure where I read it

[Guest partyrock]

I doubt that. Manufacturers are very careful not to ship apperatus that are not NFPA compliant.

[Remember585 815]

I'm with you Tommy, I like resting my leg against the LDH to feel it out. Most of our MPOs do the same thing, which was one of the reasons we didn't get a top-mount.

We spec'd our engine out to accept 5" on all four sides. The front suction and two side intakes are 6" piping which we have setup for 5" connections. The rear is a 3 1/2" pipe with a 5" stortz which also reduces to a 2 1/2" in the event we have a feed of 2 1/2" or 3". (Rare, but we didn't want to run around the rig for adapters.)

Our theory was simple, even though the majority of our 5" hook-up come to the driver's side, we didn't want to be limited to where we could get it from. We live in a district that is 1/2 hydrants and 1/2 tanker ops. We sometimes run into situations where we must get our water in from the passenger side or rear.

Good topic, good feedback.

[ltjay157 10]

When I took Pump Operator years ago, I was taught to have the intake on the pump panel side for two reasons. Reason 1 was that you can feel if the intake was going slack if you're running off the the hydrant or another engine/tanker, you can shut the intake quickly & go to tank water if guys are inside. 2nd reason was so you could keep an eye on the hard suction & see if there were any problems while drafting. In a perfect world, this happens. But if I can only hook up to the passenger side for an operation, I make sure to walk around the rig checking everything to make sure it's working properly. Even if i'm hooked up on the drivers side, I still to circle checks periodically. It all comes down to how each individual dept's SOG's are written & your training. It scares me to see some of the guys we have qualified as drivers when they have to ask how to put the truck into pump.

[RWC130 594]

I don't worry about the pump panel, alsfirefighter takes care

of that for me. LOL!

[Guest]

We keep the LDH intake set up on the pump panel side. For all the reasons ALS and Izzy mentioned plus, because we are all blessed with the wonderful Northeast winters. Keeping the connection at the pump panel is one more thing that keeps the operator from having to move around too much and risk a fall. We chose to keep a 50' length of 5" in a compartment near the pump panel, allowing the operator the flexibility to receive water from any direction without having to pull a 100' length off the rear. We don't draft and couldn't justify the expense of piping a 5" intake to the front and rear.

The only time you really have to be overly concerned about separation of the hose and coupling is if you do something like being on a bridge and throwing the line to a water source on the road below. The weight alone would be enough for a coupling to fail.

[Guest alsfirefighter]

OSHA has no standards in regard to pump operations. That is one of the downfalls of OSHA that has been mentioned from day one that they were put into effect for all services. NFPA 1901 I believe requires LDH discharges to be on the passenger side of the panel...not intakes.

[Guest]

ALS...you are correct on the NFPA 1901 issue.

16.7.9.1 No discharge outlet larger the 2.5" (65mm) shall be located at the pump operator's panel