4"tanker fill

[wcfd51]

Is anyone using LDH for direct tanker fill?

[EFDems841]

We have a 4" direct tank fill on the rear of our 2500 gall. tanker. The driver doesn't even have to get out of the cab. The supply personell just hook up the LDH and open the gate and start pumping the water. No muss and fuss of throwing the pump in gear and getting prime....

[BB3939]

The four inch plumbing on the truck is great. However, it has always been my understanding that a 25 foot (pony) 3" hose was the best thing for tanker fill. While the added water you can easily pass through 5"LDH is great, the weight and ability to maneuver 5" LDH make it too difficult to use when it is being moved (quickly and safely)from one tanker to another at a fill site. I belong to an LDH company and think it's great, but to lug it from one truck to another is near impossible without expecting back problems.

[EFDems841]

BB39,
On our fill sites, we have thought of thatr issue of lugging LDH around. We use a gated "Y" valve with 2 25' 4" hoses comming out of it to supply the tankers. We drain out the hoses before we disconnect them from the truck so there isn't too much water in the hose to lug around. All and all it's not too bad moving the 25' hoses. as for supplying the gated "Y" we either use another 25' or use a full length.

[BB3939]

EFDems:
I don't know that there's a "right" way to load tankers (thought I have seen a lot of wrong ways.) It's a case of what works for you and the tanker and fill companies you work with. It is my understanding that there are two main factors at a tanker fill site ... Safety and Speed of fill. I guess my question is ... Is the time you gain using the 4" LDH over the 3" lost by allowing time for the 4" LDH to drain before you disconect it. I have never tried 4". I kmow the 5" is a bear if you try to move it. I guess a big consideration is what size hose is available to you at the fill site. If there is a better way to do it faster (and safely)then I want to try it.

[MFD]

No we don't use LDH but we use 2 2 and halfs there's a Pros and cons to this
Pros is
-It's smaller than 5 inch so its easier to move around .
-Plus almost all the departments around us has extra 2.5 inch if we're using ours as Attacks or stuff like that( I doubt if we'd run out of 2.5 inch but it could happen)
-If your in a awkward position where it's hard to get the 4 or 5 inch to another truck the nice thing(I've noticed on 2.5 inch) there usually discharges on the front or sometimes back.
Cons is
-It takes atleast 1000 GPM pump(cause 2 2.5 inch lines(that's 250GPM per line), and suction from the river or water source)
-It takes atleast 2 (but we like to have 3) on the water source crew
(you got one guy all he does is watch on the pumper pumping and watching gauges, the other 1 or 2 guys hook up to the tanker and watch the water level.
- It takes a little longer to hook up and unhook cause you gotta do it times 2.

For us it's worked pretty good I think. It utilizes our sources without buying LDH. (so it saved us some money).

[TRK4]

If you are going to larger fills Don't forget to add more venting. Also check directly with your tank builder Not the guy building the truck as to what your tank can handle.

If you are filling with LDH at full flow when the tank gets full it has to go somewhere.

[wcfd51]

Is anybody using a check valve on the direct tank fill connection?

[TRK4]

We used check valves on our newest tanker we have two quick fills on the rear. We will never do the check valves again. It does not take very much to keep them from sealing good and you can get soaked. when we get a chance we are going to put good old hand valves on there.

a dept. in county next door just got a truck with rear quick fill controled at the pump panel.

[Rhinofire]

We have been using 4" LDH to fill our tankers for some time. It is very easy to use. We place a gate valve on the steamer at the hydrant then hook a 25' section of 4" to that. This way we do not have to turn the hydrant on and off all the time. Just have to turn the valve a few cranks. As far as the connection at the apparatus the there is a check valve between the connection and the tank on the truck. This way you just hook the hose and turn on the water. When the truck is full shut down the line down and pull the relief valve at the coupling on the truck and unhook the Storz and the truck drives off. Weight is not much of a problem because the relief valve is pretty good size will drain the water in the hose from the ground to the fill quickly. In actuallity only moving a 4" hose that is less than half full. Therefore it is relatively easy to drag the hose out of the way. Prior to our new tanker the county standard was for tankers to fill with two 2 and a halfs with quick connects like on a milk truck. After some experimentation we could fill the tanker faster with a single 4" with Storz connections than with the two 2 and a halfs with the quick connects. The check valve is nice because it makes it possible for one guy to fill the truck with out having to run back and forth as much. Just my opinion but this system works very well for us.