Category: Fire

This is a followup to the Fire Protection post, where I contemplated using my petrol generator to power my water pump in a fire emergency, rather than using a separate petrol powered fire pump.

I have tested my generator with the main electric water pump, and it works fine. I turned on the sprinklers, and the fire hose outlets, and the generator was able to drive the pump.

So, this saves us about $900. I actually think its a better solution because both the pump and generator are ‘on demand’, rather than permanently on like a fire pump. With the fire pump, once its on, then you are pumping water, even if you don’t need it right then. With the electric pump, it come’s on when the line pressure drops. And, the generator can run in ‘eco’ mode for about 6-8 hours on one tank of fuel – much better than a fire pump.

My water pump is quite sizable for a domestic pump – its a 2kva pump, and its water output is comparable to the fire pump we would have bought.

So, we will go with that till someone convinces me otherwise.

I am starting to think that I might not get a petrol fire pump. I need to see if my Honda 2kVA generator can run the 1.8kW electric house pump. If it can, then we dont need a separate fire pump because the water output from the fire pump is similar to this electric pump. The electric pump would be better too in a fire because if you turn the hose off the pump will stop, unlike the petrol pump. So you wont waste as much water when putting out spot fires or embers.

The only benefit of the fire pump is that it could draw water from the ponds.

Here are the sprinkler and fire hose points we have set up on the 50mm ring main pipe.

There is one sprinkler at each corner of the workshop, one at each corner of the house, and one in the middle of the long sides of the house. There is one fire hose point on either side of the workshop, and one hose point on either side of the house. They are 25mm hose outlets. All the sprinkler heads and hose outlets have their own ball valve on them so they can be opened individually as needed.

The idea of the sprinklers is to wet down the area so embers cant ignite. Much better to have sprinklers near the ground, rather then on the roof tops. If they are on the rooftops, the high winds that occur during a fire will just blow the sprinkler water away and it will be useless. With sprinklers near ground level there is a much better chance that the water will get where you need it – on grass and on walls.

The multiple hose points mean you dont have to drag heavy hoses around the block. You just have sever (4) hoses, one at each point, and use them as needed.