Pumped the B85 this Weekend

[Mack58B42]

So, I was able to get the B85 out a couple times this month, once to a fire dept. open house in town, and on Saturday took it to Boy Scout Camp Yawgoog in RI as part of a fire instruction series they were doing at camp last week.

Westerly Fire Dept. brought their 1860 hand tub (have a video if anyone's interested), and they pumped that out of a 3000 gallon tank.  When they were done, there was still a couple thousand gallons of water left in the local FD's tank, and since I haven't had a chance to pump my truck, I thought perhaps they'd let me suck a few gallons of their leftover water up.

Hope Valley Fire Dept was kind enough to agree, and let me borrow some hard suction, a hose, a nozzle and some tools from the camp's forestry truck, and we got it set up.  Was pleasantly surprised to find out that it sucked up a draft in no time flat, and was comfortably pumping 150psi with an open nozzle at 1500rpm.  It pumped smooth, and sounded great doing it.  And the truck ran wonderfully on the 20 miles there and 20 miles back.  Temp rock steady at 160, oil rock steady at 55, and air rock steady at 100.  So it was a good shake-down trip, and comforting to know that everything is in good working order.

Here's a quick video of the pumping.  Can't see much, but you can hear that it sounds pretty good....

2016-08-20 15.23.00.mov

[fxfymn]

Nice. Is that the camp truck in the background? I don't recall their stuff being green.

[bulldogboy]

  That green Ford "C" looks like the Ford "C" 4X4/Pierce  that the Rhode Island Environmental Management Agency used to operate. Perhaps they donated it to the camp?

                         bulldogboy

[Mack58B42]

That is their camp truck behind mine.  I don't think they've had that one all that long.  they used to have an old military rig outfitted for firefighting, but it was getting pretty tired.  I was talking to a DEM fire guy a couple weeks ago, and he was telling me that this one came down from the Washington Management Area up in the northern part of the state when they replaced it with another one there.

It's obviously a C-Series, but it only has a pickup truck diesel in it.  They say it's not very powerful.  But then, it never goes anywhere, so it doesn't need to be.  And it is all wheel drive with super-singles.

[Mack58B42]

Bulldogboy - you sent your message while I was writing mine.

You nailed it.

[fxfymn]

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It's obviously a C-Series, but it only has a pickup truck diesel in it.  They say it's not very powerful. 

Probably a 3208 Cat. Not the most powerful engine Cat ever built, but they used a lot of them in the C cabs.

[Vladislav]

Sounds like a good event!

Definitely fun to operate your equipment the way it should operate.

Hope you will drain all the rest water from the pump before cold days.

[Mack58B42]

4 hours ago, fxfymn said:

Probably a 3208 Cat. Not the most powerful engine Cat ever built, but they used a lot of them in the C cabs.

I talked to one of their guys, because when I listened to it, it sure sounded like a 3208 to me, so I asked him if it was one, and he assured me that it's just a standard Ford diesel that they would have used in their F250s......

But I'm not sure - I may ask that question again some time.  The one I drove for my department had the 3208, and it sounded the same to me....

[Mack58B42]

3 hours ago, Vladislav said:

Sounds like a good event!

Definitely fun to operate your equipment the way it should operate.

Hope you will drain all the rest water from the pump before cold days.

Vlad - what's funny is that i haven't pumped an engine in almost 8 years, and I actually forgot to close the drains before pulling the draft, so water was flying everywhere out of 4 different drains at 200psi!   But I did remember to re-open them all before putting the truck back in the garage when I got home.  My garage does get a bit chilly in the winter, but rarely ever drops below freezing (since 3 sides are underground, and the open side gets full sun all day), and even then, only by a degree or two, so frozen pipes isn't a huge worry.  But thanks for the reminder!

[Vladislav]

I suppose it's better to have some holes just because they are unplugged than from ice cracks. Warm garage is sure nice to use but sometimes we might just "forget about something". For instance that some temp at some time dropped down for more 3-5 degree than we used to keep in mind.

Cool truck you have 

[fxfymn]

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and I actually forgot to close the drains before pulling the draft,

If the master drain was open you might need to replace the "O" ring as it can get blown out when the master drain is opened under pressure.

What are you using for oil in the primer tank? With all the worries about environmental damage these days most folks are using vegetable oil or just plain water.

[Mack58B42]

I hadn't planned on pumping it, so I did not do a check of the oil in the primer tank (although I did notice where that is at one point recently, I think), so I'm not sure what (if anything) is in there.  What would have been standard for that back in the day?  I was only pulling up from one length of hose to the main intake, so it wasn't being over-worked.  One more thing that I hope to get to as the weather cools down and my schedule lightens up a little bit.  And, honestly, chances are that it could be years before I ever pull a draft with it again!  But that and all the drains and seals throughout will have to be looked at at some point.  I just hate to pull apart things that don't need to be without confirmation, because experience tells me that once something comes apart, it seldom ever wants to go back together again easily, and before you know it, there are 50 things on the bench that all need repairing or replacing or re-fitting!  So since it's not an in-service truck, I'll be a bit more lax than I would be for something that was expected to actually save buildings....  I just wanted to confirm that it would actually work.

Next test is to find a way to get some water in the tank to see if it leaks (or more likely, how MUCH it leaks), and to find out why my tank-to-pump valve is stuck.  Hoping it's just a bit of rust, and nothing more insidious.....

But my garage is a bit tight for working on things, so I have to sit tight until my neighbor has some floor space available in his barn.  And since he as nice radiant heat in his floors, and bright T-8 lighting, that sort of thing will be a good project to do some chilly Autumn Saturday afternoon....

[fxfymn]

Back in the day straight 30w was pretty much standard for primer oil, but as I said environmental concerns have changed that. I'd drain the tank and keep it empty until you want to try drafting again. Most of the folks I've asked are using just plain water and it seems to work.

Having been out of the active fire service for a few years now I'm not sure what the new rigs are using, but somewhere in the deep, before the last beer binge, memory I recall that they have eliminated the primer oil tank.