Cafs hose length

[UPFireFighter]

Does any one know if there is a maximum lenght of hose you can pump cafs thru. Thanks

[firefighterbeau]

I know that foam has to be run though 100 feet of hose to be properly agitated unless injected with proper metering. I assume you can run it through as many feet as you need to as long as all connections are tight.

[CaptainS]

Cafs can be pushed through 4000 feet on a STRAIGHT and LEVEL surface in 1 1/2 hose.

[mayday12]

wow, i will have to say the same thing that we eastsiders say as we pass the local street corner at night, thats alot of hose!

[UPFireFighter]

Thanks, for the replys, I also heard back from our Pierce rep and was told no max length on Cafs line.

[vegas0012]

Why is that when running foam through an eductor that you're limited to 150 ft. but you aren't with CAFS. Any explanation would be appreciated. Thanks.

- John Rhem

[CaptainS]

I may be way off on this so dont hold me to it.

With an eductor you are pushing water through a tiny oriface wich results in large amount of friction loss? Then you can not compinsate for that loss?

With a CAFS line you are only pushing 1/2 the water/product of a normal water line and also compressed air. It is easier to push half product half air I would think.

Just taking a stab at this, please mcorrect if I am wrong.

[vegas0012]

I suppose that makes sense. I do recall that with an eductor you need 200 PSI at the eductor intake just to compensate for all that friction loss. That leads me to another question. Seeing as eductors are basically tubes that utilize the Venturi effect, which I suppose is inefficient in that it requires so much pressure, do CAFS units utilize a different way to mix the air, concentrate, and water? Once again, thanks for all the input.

- John Rhem

[newt303]

On our Pierce Husky foam/Hercules compressed air system the foam is injected into a water manifold at a rate that is set by the control panel to match the water gpm flow to the percentage of concetrate wanted. Then the water/foam mixture exits through the line valve selected where compressed air is introduced into the line just past the valve. The water/foam/air mixture (finished foam) then goes out the hose or even the deck gun if selected. You can adjust the foam concetrate mixture by the control panel buttons and you can adjust the water flow by gating down the valve. This will also change the water to air mixture. If you want thick foam for exposure protection you can gate down the valve to have more air than water/foam. If you want thinner (wetter) foam then open the valve more to get more water/foam than air (firefighting foam). The pressure of the air will be the same as the pump pressure. This only changes the ratio of air to water/foam. If you need more or less pressure then you change the pump pressure. Also if you want straight air from the line you can shut of the water valve and open the air valve (electric) to get straight compressed air for air tools, blowing out lines, etc. The foam solution can travel though great amounts of hose with very little friction lose or can flow through as little as the pipe to a deck gun as no post mixture is needed after the air is injected. This stuff works great on fires, just takes a little getting use to and some thinking out of the box.