WHY YOU SHOULD CRACK YOUR KEYSTONE
Here is the (real world) scenario...
You just laid in 300' of 5" supply hose and connected it to your keystone. You (the Driver-Engineer) key your radio mic and give the call to charge the supply line. As water moves down the line, filling the hose, you manage your blow-off valve as water hits your engine.
You've got your permanent water supply... almost.
As you grab the handle and attempt to open your keystone, you find that something has gone terribly amiss, and it won't budge... It's frozen shut due to the hydrant’s pressure.
This ISN'T supposed to happen. And yet, we've had this exact situation occur (on multiple engines) due to an internal "failure" on our keystone's valve.
How We Can Mitigate This?
One of the better Drivers I know here in Dallas, Nicholas Martin, reminded me recently that we need to consider cracking (not opening) our Keystones just before water hits the engine. This will prevent the keystone valve from being locked closed due to the hydrant’s pressure and a faulty valve. This is a very simple step that we can add to our workflow that can prevent this from occurring.
The alternative (which unfortunately happened to my crew) is shutting down the hydrant and bleeding off enough pressure to open the keystone. Not only does this waste precious time, delaying water, but it also ties up members who could be doing critical tasks on the fire ground.
And all of this can be mitigated by adding the simple step of cracking our intake before water hits.
A quick disclaimer - we need to be careful not to "force air into the pump." We are not talking about opening the valve but simply cracking or "breaking the seal" with a small movement on the lever. Further, your bleeder valve should be open and blowing off air as it is being pushed ahead of the water.
We Already Do This (or Should Be) On Our Trucks
Several years ago, I was training with Truck 57, and a senior truck driver insisted that we be cracking the ball valves on our triamease (3-way siamese) as water is being supplied via the 3" supply lines between the engine and the truck.
Note - In Dallas, most of our Trucks are supplied with dual 3" supply lines from a single engine to a triamease. The third, 3" can be added as a backup line by another engine if necessary.
He had learned from experience that under pressure, these devices could end up locked in a closed position. The simple fix is to crack the ball valve and then fully open it once the hose is fully charged and the ladder is ready for water.
Hope this quick post helps in your efforts to keep the water flowing. Let me know what you think or any questions you might have in the comments section below.
Hold fast & raise the bar,
