Pump Operations

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Nov 8, 2015
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Watched a few videos of FDNY responses lately, videos less than 4 years old and I keep hearing the primers being used as they start water, is this common? I’ve heard it in quite a few videos now. I know these engines get used quite a bit I was just curious about this.
 
From FDNY Engine Operations book,

Primer Button (Figure 13) A. Adjacent to the PPG, there is a button labelled “Push to Prime”. Pushing and holding this button will “prime” the pump, which has the effect of ejecting air from the pump as water is supplied. This prevents air from entering the hoselines that are being supplied.
 
If the Engine Co. is being supplied by a Positive Pressure source, hydrant or another Engine Co. in a relay operation, it goes no Priming ins needed. If the lift from the source is only a few feet in a NON-Positive Pressure source, use a Hard suction, dump water from the booster tank into the pump
and suction hose will remove the air and often allow you to begin pumping without resorting to using the Priming device. I have used that way of doing things in both the FDNY and Volunteer Fire Depts. Captain Bob Rainey FDNY Engine 26 retired
 
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Thanks for the replies, I wasn’t sure if the FDNY didn’t keep the pumps wet or if it was coincidence that these videos all had the engines priming to use tank water.
 
When in doubt its pumps prime preset, taught to the younger guys and non ecc’s. We’ve also had some weird issues with the pump airlocking and being unable to even drop the booster. Its taken some creativity to fix by some heads up eccs in numerous places.
 
The way it was explained to me was its not being done to get a prime. With the advent of the electronic pressure governor you now have a pressure sensor. That sensor is near the top of the pump housing where an air pocket would/could develop. That air pocket would make the sensor think you ran out of water and shut down the pump. Priming is done as a way of minimizing this possibility.
 
The above statements makes sense, I just learned something new. Captain Bob Rainey FDNY Engine 26 retired
 
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