As long as I've been a part of Dallas Fire-Rescue, we've outfitted our Spartan Engines with ECO-10 or National 8D hose for attack lines (1 3/4” and 2 1/2”). Traditionally, our 1 3/4" hand lines have been paired with a 75psi Mid-Matic TFT (or 100psi pre 2011) Automatic Fog Nozzles (link: https://tft.com/product/hml-vpgi) , whereas our 2 1/2" hand lines have been paired with a 1 1/4" TFT smooth bore tip.

A couple quick notes on this set up:

Eco-10 is manufactured by Key Hose and is marketed as "lightweight" hose. It's designed to be ECO-nomical, lightweight (when it's dry) and looks great when it's loaded into our trays.
Eco-10 is NOT good with low pressure nozzles (under 75psi). All one has to do is grab an old Elkhart break-apart nozzle from your stations oil room and do some testing. That nozzle has a built in 7/8" smooth bore (when the fog tip is screwed off) and will quickly reveal how dangerous Eco-10 can be with lower pressure tips.
The TFT Automatic Fog is a genius design! With that said, there is one major drawback that members need to be aware of — Automatic Nozzles can easily deceive the nozzleman into believing that he/she has adequate volume. For example, the “effective stream” we all look for will be nearly the same at 70 GPM and 200 GPM. This can lead to under-pumping and/or "pumping to comfort,” both of which can lead to devastating results on the fire ground.
The 1 1/4" Smooth Bore tip delivers massive volume — 328 GPM! With that comes the high price of massive nozzle reaction (123lb of force!!!) and caused many firefighters to leave the blue 2 1/2” hose on the engine, despite it’s necessity at certain fires (see chart below).

Dallas’ New Hose & Nozzle Package

The Hose

Tru-ID Hose - http://www.keyhose.com/Municipal/TRU-ID/

We're transitioning from the lightweight ECO-10 hose to a stouter, more rigid Tru-ID hose. This hose is specifically designed for a "low pressure - high volume" set up. Paired with the nozzles below, we're going to see lower pump discharge pressures and higher volumes from the same diameter hand lines we are used to working with:

1 3/4"
2 1/2"

Something that needs to be pointed out when discussing ECO-10 vs TRU-ID is the thickness of the internal liner. TRU-ID is double the thickness, leading to a more robust and rigid hose line. This is going to significantly help in preventing burn-through, punctures and kinking.

TRU-ID & ECO-10 DRY Weight vs. Charged Weight

As mentioned in the training videos, a huge advantage to the new Tru-ID hose is the reduced charged weight. This especially will be noticed once companies begin utilizing the 2 1/2" Tru-ID hand lines. As you can see from the chart below, although Eco-10 is lighter when it's dry, rolled up on the hose rack, once it's charged it quickly becomes a heavier, less manageable line than it's Tru-ID counterpart. This is a result of the internal, rubber liner in each hose. The Eco-10 is developed in such a way that it expands, creating greater water weight once the line is charged. The Tru-ID is going to be lighter with less nozzle reaction (more on the reaction force below).

**Formulas in the chart for the ECO-10 are based in internal diameters of 1.88" and 2.75” due to internal swelling that is allowed by the manufacturer in order to reduce dry weight and reduce friction loss.

The Nozzles

The key word here is… OPTIONS.

Part of this new package are three different tip options when it comes to our primary attack line - the 1 3/4"

1 3/4" Handlines:
Elkhart Cutoff (1.5") with the following tip options…

Chief XD Constant Gallonage Fog 175gpm @ 75psi
7/8" Smooth Bore Tip 175gpm @ 60psi (note the operating pressure). or 160gpm @ 50psi
15/16" Smooth Bore Tip 185gpm@ 50psi

We are moving away from our Automatic Fog Nozzles and replacing them with Constant Gallonage Fog Nozzles. There are some very significant differences that you need to be aware of:

Automatic Fog Nozzles = Constant Pressure Nozzles. TFT has a great video explaining the mechanics of their Automatic nozzle here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhaUjFX5Ras
Automatic Fog Nozzles adjust to the pressure being delivered in order to maintain an "effective stream" across a range of flows (70-200 gpm). This can lead to the nozzleman having a skewed view of what volume is being pumped to their line as well as the pump operator over/under pumping.
An Automatic Nozzles GPM is affected by the pattern of the nozzle. Constant gallonage nozzles remain relatively similar GPM from straight stream to wide fog because the orifice size does not change. This is important to understand.
Constant Gallonage Fog Nozzles are a much simpler design that provides a set volume (gpm) at a set discharge pressure (psi). Under-pumping will result in a noticeable change to the fire stream and nozzle reaction as well as over pumping.
The built-in feedback mechanisms of each nozzle are completely different. Automatic Fog Nozzles, "mask" changes in volume and pressure. Constant Gallonage Fog Nozzles will reveal these changes immediately. A great example of this is when the nozzleman "half-bales" the nozzle.

2 1/2" Handlines:
1 1/8" Smooth Bore Tip delivering 265gpm @ 50psi

The new 2 1/2" hand lines are going to be a game changer on bigger fires. This has to due primarily with the lighter weight [when charged] hose and reduced nozzle reaction from the 1 1/8" smooth bore tip because we have reduced our target flow from 328 down to 265. Remember, nozzle reaction is the result of 1) operating pressure, and 2) volume flowing from tip.

This new hose and nozzle set up carves off 30lb of a charged 100' of 2 1/2" hose. It also reduces our nozzle reaction by 24lb.

Our old 1 1/4” tip was flowing 328GPM @ 50psi and had a nozzle reaction of 123lb. The new 1 1/8” tip flows 265 GPM @ 50psi and produces 99lb of nozzle reaction.

Let's Talk PDP...

As always, we need to start at the nozzle and work our way backward to develop our pump discharge pressures. When it comes to our 1 3/4" line we have three nozzle selection.

Chief XD 175@75
7/8" Smooth Bore
15/16" Smooth Bore

But, what if you want to work the range (40-60 psi) of those smooth bore tips?

What About The 2 1/2"?

With the new Tru-ID 2 1/2" hose, we've transitioned to the Elkhart 1 1/4" Smooth Bore Tip.

THIS IS A HUGE IMPROVEMENT, in my opinion.

Our target tip/operating pressure of 50psi will deliver us 265 GPM on the fire ground. And in order to determine our PDP we need to account for 15psi of friction loss per 100' (or 7.5psi per section).

So, it you were to pull off 4 sections of 2 1/2" line, your starting PDP would be 80psi (50+30=80). Not only will that deliver 265 GPM, but you're now managing a much lighter [charged] hose.

The Videos:

Additional Resources:

Nozzle Dreams by Dennis Legear
Hose Dreams by Dennis Legear -
TRU-ID vs National Hose Kink Test:

DISCLAIMER: Dallas Fire-Rescue does not endorse or necessarily promote these videos. The information herein is my best understanding of the material covered and the subsequent views expressed are my own and not necessarily those DFR. These videos are strictly for educational purposes only. It is critical that you follow your department's MOP/SOP, and talk with your Station Officer (and crew) before implementing anything you see here on The Roll Steady.

DALLAS’ NEW HOSE & NOZZLE PACKAGE - TRU-ID & ELKHART