We know what fire hydrants are for, but have you ever seen one get tested?
We know that fire hydrants are there for safety and putting out fires, but most of us haven’t seen one get tested before. If you have ever seen one in use or been hit by a car, sending a giant fountain into the air, then you know there is a lot of pressure behind the water that flows out of a hydrant. But just how much pressure?
This past week we learned that before our property could pass the inspection, the fire department needed to come out and test the pressure in our hydrants to be sure that they were flowing at a rate of 1,000 gallons per minute. Now that is a lot of water!
Even though the fire department is located across the highway from us, it is super important to make sure our property passes all its safety regulations. Not only for the safety of our guests but for the safety of the landscape and wildlife as well. Being located in a place that can be prone to wildfires, we want to make sure we take all the precautions we can!
The test was super simple and quick. Since I had never seen a hydrant be tested before I was very curious about how the process worked. In my mind, I pictured just a giant geiser of water shooting out from the top of the hydrant, probably because that’s always what you see in shows and movies. To my surprise, they had a hose that they hooked up to the hydrant that has a tee at the end where water shoots out of both sides. This is called a hydrant flow test. During this test, a pressure gauge is attached to one of the outlets of the static/residual hydrant. Then the air is expelled from the hydrants. A pressure gauge reading is taken before the hydrant is flowed (static pressure), then they turn on the hydrant and gauge the pressure on the hose that sends the water bursting out. The results? We passed with flying colors!
This means we are good to go and can now install the other hydrants when they arrive and completely backfill all of our waterline trenches!
