×
INTELLIGENT WORK FORUMS
FOR ENGINEERING PROFESSIONALS

Log In

Come Join Us!

Are you an
Engineering professional?
Join Eng-Tips Forums!
  • Talk With Other Members
  • Be Notified Of Responses
    To Your Posts
  • Keyword Search
  • One-Click Access To Your
    Favorite Forums
  • Automated Signatures
    On Your Posts
  • Best Of All, It's Free!
  • Students Click Here

*Eng-Tips's functionality depends on members receiving e-mail. By joining you are opting in to receive e-mail.

Posting Guidelines

Promoting, selling, recruiting, coursework and thesis posting is forbidden.

Students Click Here

Jobs

Strainers and Fire Pumps

Strainers and Fire Pumps

Strainers and Fire Pumps

(OP)
All,

In NFPA 20, editions 2007 and after, the requirement for strainers on the suction of vertical inline pumps was deleted. Does anyone know the reason for the deletiion? Was it a pump performance issue? Or was it cost driven by owners/contractors?

In other words, if I still call for a strainer, will it adversely affect the pump?

RE: Strainers and Fire Pumps

In the USA, Firewater typically comes from the potable City Water system. Since that water is 100% sand-bed filtered, adding a strainer at the pump does nothing except reduce the suction flow.

RE: Strainers and Fire Pumps

The NFPA 20 technical committee is adopting the same approach as FM. Water that is not reliable from the perspective of being clean, free of debris, and of any nuisance that complicates the impellers is not reliable. It's a solid move as far as I concerned. Everything in the fire protection design is required to be listed yet the standards create large loopholes where the fire protection equipment is expected to respond and react to debris-riden water supplies. Let's face it. As currently written, NFPA standards love potable water supplies.

RE: Strainers and Fire Pumps

I agree with stookeyfpe,as in Europe, insurers ask for clean-water only, as this is an essential element of the reliability of the sprinkler system
Regards,
Pierre Paul
sprinkler engineering

RE: Strainers and Fire Pumps

For an industrial site that gets it's water from a river or other body of water surely a strainer is a good idea?

RE: Strainers and Fire Pumps

many rural commnity fire departments rely on lake and stream waters, so strainers are advisable in those cases.

Red Flag This Post

Please let us know here why this post is inappropriate. Reasons such as off-topic, duplicates, flames, illegal, vulgar, or students posting their homework.

Red Flag Submitted

Thank you for helping keep Eng-Tips Forums free from inappropriate posts.
The Eng-Tips staff will check this out and take appropriate action.

Reply To This Thread

Posting in the Eng-Tips forums is a member-only feature.

Click Here to join Eng-Tips and talk with other members!


Resources