air paks

[Funkyfire13]

our department recently had all our air paks checked and inspected buy a local company, and they told us the our scott 2a's are no longer usable do to osha and nfpa standards, well this came a bit of a shock to us at first because we had heard nothing about this, but from what i have heard there are several area depts that use the scott 2As that are now in the same position. well we lost 5 air paks that day and need to replace them asap, the thing now is that there is a bit of discussion on what to replace with, we have always used scott and still have 7 scott 2.2's that are in service and not one is over 7 years old so naturally many in the dept want to stay with scott, but we are also looking into dreager air paks a nearby city jsut bought 40 brand new adn seems to like them alot, plus they are supposed to be really lightweight, any thougts or suggestions on what to buy, pros and cons. we are looking at getting 6 to replace the 5 so it is a substantial purchase and i want to make sure we get the best for our money.

[jmkfire]

I'm partial to the Scott Air-Pak 50 2.2 myself. We're upgrading to them from the 20+ yr old 2A's. Cost was relatively the same as other makes but most of our mutual aid companies have the 50 2.2's. We train together and work scenes together, so that influenced our decision quite a bit. That way if we have to use each others equip. on scene @ 3:00 in the morning everyone knows how to use it no matter what company it comes off of.
Just my 2 cents worth!

[Fire/Rescue43]

The best advice I can give is contact some dealers have them bring out some packs and tell them you want a demo unit for elavuation. This way when the dealers have gone, you can get out the various packs put them side by side, use them in drills doing diffrent evolutions, then get together and pick the pack that best fits your needs and how your department operates.

My own department currently went through this same procedure. We where a SCOTT company with 2.2 & 50 series packs in service. Our 2.2's where all over 15 years old and we where looking to go high pressure. We had dealers and reps from SCOTT, MSA, SUVIVEAIR and DREAGER come in go over the products and leave demo units. We compared the demo's side by side, took them to the training school and used them in live burns, at RIT drills, and even at one actual fire. We gathered our interior firefighters togethter and compaired notes on each pack what people liked, disliked, etc. In the end we choose DREAGER, for how we operate their pack proformed well in all our tests.

Was Dreger the right choice for us, yes. Is it the right one for your department, it depends, do the homework and make sure before you buy.

Stay safe

[80FIRE]

We also had Scott packs and have 6 new ISI Viking packs. We are very satisfied with them. Several of our mutual aid departments had them and was one reason we switched. After using these it is hard to get anyone to use the Scott packs still in service. ISI has a great slide valve to switch on/off air, intergrated PASS, LED lights in the mask show air levels and a voice amp that allows great clear communications (instead of the old mouth full of ####) The pack is also more comfortable to wear. We have no regreats going to ISI

[Fitguy51]

Hey Funky what counts is what OSHA says. If I want to sell you some new equipment, sure Im going to tell you that this equipment is non compliant. Maybe your FD should take the time to send someone to the NYSAFS to get training so that checking SCBA can be done in-house and you might see it coming.

[ffemt19]

Over here in Belgium, most fire departments use Draeger airpacks.
We have tested different styles of airpacks last year (MSA, Interspiro, Draeger, Sabre and an other one i can't remember) and the Draeger came out the test as the best one.
We use the Draeger airpacks in our department and they are very light but i think most brands have light weight packs.
Here's a pickture of a draeger airpack on a fire scene.
I think you have to buy the airpack that you want and that you have tested.
Also you have to think what type of airpack most of your mutual aid departments use. Draeger works on a pressure of 4500 PSI so maibe you have to modify your filling station and cascade system.

[ffemt19]

In Belgium most Fire Departments use Draeger airpacks.
Last year we tested some different types of airpacks (MSA, Interspiro, Sabre, and an other one i can't remember) and Draeger came out the best.

There backplates are very ergonamicly and light and there bottles are light to. The are fild with a pressure of 4500 PSI so if you change to draeger you maybe have to change your filling station and cascade system.Also you have to see witch brand your mutual aid departments use so you can interchange your SCBA equipment if nessecairy.