Fire Hydrant

[Jeff 232]

I'm bidding a property 47 buildings and no hose bibs on any of the buildings, the property is going to get hydrant meters, I haven't checked them out yet, but how do these work, meaning do they have smaller hose type bib adapters or could i run a large hose off meter/hydrant to fill tanks quicker?

Thanks

JL

[Don Phelps 85]

The ones that I'm used to operate with larger hoses and you can fill your tanks that way very quickly.

If you have any hose/hydraulic shops near you, they'll probably have them to show you how it all works. Most sell the wrench, hose and meters.

[R L S 14]

My city has differant size adapters you can specify from 3/4 inch to 3inch.

[HotShot 34]

Alan (OneToughPressure) gave me a little device that plugs into the sprinkler system that I have found very useful. I know that he knows about Hydrants also...you may want to pm him in case he doesn't see this thread.

[Big Bill 14]

What the hell, 47 buildings & not one damn hose bib? How damn cheap can a property owner get? I have done lots of buildings, very, very few of them have not has hose bibs. How much could it have cost the property owner to have at least one hose bib, with a lock box, installed? Didn't that **** you off, Jeff?

[Jeff 232]

What the hell, 47 buildings & not one damn hose bib? How damn cheap can a property owner get? I have done lots of buildings, very, very few of them have not has hose bibs. How much could it have cost the property owner to have at least one hose bib, with a lock box, installed? Didn't that **** you off, Jeff?

Insane isn't it. They are building 20+ more buildings and still aren't going to put any hose bibs on. They know its a PITA for pressure washing because the PM told me the last time they PWed it was a nightmare. They dont want people washing cars. This is a nice complex too I just think they are crazy

In this whole 47 building area there is one hose bib at the pool area.

This would be such an easy job, its all vinyl, but with no hose bibs its going to add a major PITA factor. Nothing we cant handle for the right $$$$$$

[David O'Connell Jr. 14]

we have 1/2,5/8, and 2" down here, the city will put on what you ask for....with the deposit for the meter. Depost changes per fitting size. I wish that we could keep the meter and get it checked 1x a month like postal meters. Just think of the time that would be saved.

Just bleed out the hydrant for about a minute. Make sure that all the sand and silt are out first. It'll kill a pressure washer

[Christopher 102]

Hello Jeff, I have used water meters a few times and there is a huge difference in the results you get. I clean heavy equipment on a construction site and the meter there has a 2" hose with a camlock fitting on the end. I put together a long 3" "L" to go up and into the top of my 325 gallon tank so I can open the meter up all the way without the pvc "L" flying around. The "L" is about 4' long with a piece about 1 1/2' long at the end that connects into the 90° . I made it this way so it can just hang into the tank and I can open up the water meter all the way and the "L" will not fly out and it fills the tank very fast. It takes me about 75 seconds to fill up the tank. It is so cool. It takes me longeer to shut down the engine and roll up the hoses and drive to the water meter than it does to fill up the tank. The other option is a 1" meter and the city put a garden hose spigot on it for me. I was cleaning a 16 screen movie theatre concrete sidewalk around the building. The building is about 150' wide by 400' long. I had to string out about 600' of 3/4" hose from the meter to keep my tank supplied. With the 1" meter the flow out of it wide open is about the same or less than a garden hose. This really slowed down the job as I thought I would have a lot more pressure so I could "T" the water and have the helper rinse with lots of volume behind me and speed up the job. It dd not work. The further away from the meter we got like at the end of the building and turning to the other side of the building, the water did slow down and several times I had to stop and wait for the tank to get to a good level to keep going. Then when finished, having to roll up all those 50' sections and draining them. It just depends on what you want to do and how big your tanks are. If you had big tanks you could fill up and work until you ran out of water but if you had small tanks, you would have to string out a lot of hose. Contact a local hose supplier and offer to purchase a whole roll because the price drops a lot. I bought a whole roll of 600' and he put the ends on the pieces for free. If the buildings are not too far away or just the ones close by I would use the 2" meter and use a "T" and then reduce it to 2 or more outlets depending on how many rigs you have and then string out the hose. By using the 2" meter you will have a lot of pressure for the long runs but do not open it up all the way. The other option is make a 3" pvc "L" like I did and get the heavy duty 2" fill hose with camlock fittings (15' or 20' long ) so you can get the trailer close to the meter facing any direction because 10' will be too short. With this you can just shut down when out of water and go and fill up very fast. How close are the buildings to the Fire Hydrant? Hope this helps.

[One Tough Pressure 580]

Jeff,

The device that HotShot is referring to is most often called a irrigation line quick connect. They have different sizes, the most common for my area is 1/2", but they also use 1" on occasion. The 1/2" will do 20 gpm, so do not be fooled by the size.

Typically found under a small green or purple cover in the bushes or grass, this is what the landscapers use to hand water areas. They are standard here even in sprinkler zones. Usually close by is a rectangular valve box iof roughly 10x14, so that helps to find the smaller ones.

Ask the building folks if they know anything, or just look around on your own. They are usually close to the curb line, inline with the sprinklers.

As far as hydrants, you can get adaptors to reduce to 3/4" lines. I have not had to run over 200 feet of supply off a hydrant and flow was way more than adequate. That was even up the side of a 3 story garage.

Make sure that your fittings/clamps are secure. With the added psi and gpm of a hydrant, you do not need anything blowing apart.

If you have very long hose runs, you can use a fire hose for a branch line and then split at the end of it.

For quick fills, I have a 1 1/2" hydrant adaptor that I use. Does not get much use, but goes real fast when needed. The hose is rubber so 20 feet of it weighs a decent amount and helps to counteract the hydrant strength.

[Christopher 102]

Alan, Where can I get that irrigation line quick connect and do you have a picture of it? Is there a hose or quick connect in the green or purple covered box that this will connect to and then your supply line to it? I always wondered about those boxes. Do you need a key to open them up? Thanks.

[One Tough Pressure 580]

I am to lazy to go out and take pics right now, but will try to get some soon. They can be found at any quality irrigation/plumbing supply house.

Under the cover that may be bolted down if not used often, is the female end of the coupler. Some of the couplers that I have come across, have had the dust cap locked in place. This can be opened with the standard 4 way water key.

Go to www.grainger.com and put 3W730 in the search. Their links always seem to timeout so that should work. You can see the bottom end of the coupler.

[Christopher 102]

Thanks Alan for the info, I will go to the Home Depot or Lowe's and see if they have them and if they do not there is a couple of sprinker places here and I will try to get some of these adapters. That would be a lot better than having to string out hundreds of feet of water supply hose or rent a water meter and wait 3 weeks to get your deposit back. Here the deposit is $270.00 plus a minimum of $38.00 for the water up to the first 2000 gallons and then $2.00 per thousand gallons after that. I add it to the bill.

Thanks again.

[One Tough Pressure 580]

Make sure you have areas that you can use it before shelling out the dough.

[Barry M 73]

Jeff, the meter will screw right on to the hydrant (tighten with a pipe wrench or a hyrant wrench). The outlet end of the meter is a 2" cam lock fitting. Tractor Supply or any farm store sells cheap 2" flexible hose with cam lock ends, normally sold in 25' sections. Use a pipe wrench or hydrant wrench to turn the hydrant on slowly, let it flush for awhile to get the rust out and then hook up your hose(s) and fill your tank. Personally I dont like the idea of downsizing to a garden hose and running it straight to your pwer. It's to easy to open the hydrant too far and release to much pressure. I've seen it blow hoses apart and crack fittings.

[Jeff 232]

Thank you ALL. I went to the water company and they are going to sho me what to do. I need 2 meters for this job 1 for a tank and one to run 2 other machines. i dont have the job yet, but its one of my regular PM's.

$500 deposit on each meter around here.

Thanks again for all the info

JL

[Jeff 232]

What a day, yesterday the water company called and said the meters will be at job . One of my guys was out there posting signs at buildings for project to start Monday. Water guy tells my guy he's leaving hydrant open partially and we just have to turn the hose bib on. I get out there to put chain & lock on 1st meter and theres water seeping up from the ground(Doesnt look right) so i go over to other meter and theres water bubbling from crack in roadway NOT GOOD. I call after hour # and they said someone out. Now I'm going through the local water company and had it set up for days, but the truck that comes out is from the city. The city guy says they should of let hydrant all the way open or all shut. The other water company screwed up it was under mining the ground, the guy shuts it off all is well for now.

This morning water company calls and says bad news. Its not there water its the city and they have to take meters off that they cant charge me when its someone else's water. I ask him where to go. He said City and I told him thats who I called 1st and they told me those guys. He said its city thWater company only handles sewer.

Well at 8am this morning after this call I have to go get shot in my neck for bulging disc & pain, so I need a ride after procedure. So Moms with me , I get shot start calling City water go to office they send me to shop to see the main man he's not there. I call rental company to rent 500 gallon tank as a back up to run water from the one hose bib on this whole property its at the pool. I figure I can run my tanks and have this other 500 gallon filling my tanks. I have to strat this job next week, because I have other work lined up after this project. I get tank for Monday. I get hold of City guy and he sends me to meet one of his men. The whole times my Mom is driving me around, she's GREAT. I meet with City they send me back to office to pay deposit and back to city guy. He sets up the whole thing with 3 hose bibs, they only have one meter available. Good enough, these guy were great, they went to the project and hooked it up and showed me what to do and now we are ready for Mongay !!! YAY!!!!!!!!!!!! Now Im off to get my $1000 deposit back from water company. Just another day.

I was washing these buildings Monday no matter what, Over come and Conquer:lgsideway and still smiling, but did feel like pulling out my hair earlier.

Then I go check on my guys, the builder on a new construction job had them do extra's so they were still there and another builder came over and asked me to price out 15 other new homes around the corner. What a 24 hours and I left out about the fight I had with the builder of my house, thats another story.

JL Just venting, thanks

[Russell Cissell 65]

This is a universal Hydrant Adapter that was built for a recent project that required the use of multiple machines. The demand for water exceeded what was available from the property owners source. The best option was to tap into the fire hydrant.

The municipality where the job was located didn't have a meter for rent so this unit was designed to meet all state and local regulations. In this case a meter and back flow preventer were required. This same unit can be used in a variety of configurations based on the situation at hand.

This unit cost $850.00 to assemble. It was over engineered and the components are all top of the line. The meter for instance could be replaced with a less expensive model and save about $200.00 - $250.00. If it something you will need a lot you might consider building one.

I'm sure that if you take it to the Water Gods for inspection prior to use they would approve it. That was the thinking behind going with the super fancy meter. I thought it might be more persuasive should I have to use it in another municipality later. Water Gods like fancy things.

Hope this helps!

Russell Cissell

Extreme Solutions, Inc.

www.esproducts.net

[GymRat 14]

Sorry I didn't chime in earlier, some times I get lazy and don't voice my opinion. I a'm trained in firefighting at my real job and we always open the hydrants fully because of this reason of Under mining due to the drain valve is not closed off until the hydrant is almost fully open. These drain valves are in place below the freeze line for obvious reason. Some areas that are not subject to freezing temps may not have this type of hydrant.

Moral of the story is, you may have one heck of a hole in the ground if you try throttling the main hydrant valve.

[Jon 533]

WARNING:

For any of you that ever intend to use irragation connections unless you want to pretend you're in Yellowstone N.P. watching Old Faithful do not push down and turn till you connect your hose to it FIRST.

FAILURE TO DO SO WILL DRENCH YOU WITH WATER AS Old Faithful goes up.

First time I had to use one one of my employees said hey Jon I know how they work so let me hook it up, sure enough he did but without the hose.

Now if I can find a picture of my water meter I had on my rig I will post it. City required it when I had a permit to use fire hydrants. I had 3/4 hose thoughout my set up so fill rate was pretty fast.

[Jeff 232]

Heres the meter i got from the city water dept. Plenty of H2O for the job

[HotShot 34]

that's cool man, so how much is water per gallon, or however they bill?

[One Tough Pressure 580]

Funny that they do not have an anti siphon on there. I am sure you do not have air gaps on your equipment. Impossible on direct fed units.

Looks like they went to the plumbing store and just bought parts, that thing is brand new.