A fire hose and the nozzle attaching to it are two most important pieces of equipment used by a firefighter on the fire ground. A hose nozzle serves a specific purpose of extinguishing the fire, and every firefighter knows it.
A firefighter holding a hose can shut off the water flow, by manually control the nozzles, without stopping the water supply in the hose. Not only that, but the nozzles enable firefighters to select the spray patterns, which directly determine the speed, volume, pressure, and reach of the hose flow.
Having a rough idea of what a hose nozzle looks like and how it functions is not enough for every firefighter. They need to know the following three fundamental principles of a hose nozzle before they can be put on duty.
1. Automatic nozzles don’t always outperform the conventional ones.
Designed differently from the regular nozzles, automatic nozzles can sense and increase/decrease the pressure in the nozzle automatically through an internal spring to maintain near-constant pressure and provide a consistent stream of water. That is why automatic nozzles are often called “constant-pressure nozzles.” The added advantages that they have over the regular nozzles include variable GPM rates, less regular care, and easy maintenance.
Despite of all these impressive facts about automatic nozzles, they are only chosen conditionally by the firefighters and obviously not the best choice.In contrast, conventional nozzles have either the selectable or fixed GPM setting. Therefore, to work properly at the right nozzle pressure, a fixed conventional nozzle must be provided with adequate water flow supply.
2. Don’t be obsessed with high pressure nozzles
Most people take it for granted that greater pressure makes the nozzle work more effectively, which is not true indeed. It is not as easy as one can imagine to find a nozzle with the highest pressure, let along finding the nozzle with the right pressure that suits the job at hand the best.
We can safely assume that while a low volume, low pressure nozzle can’t be your first pick for putting out the fire in a two-story building, a medium-to-high pressure nozzle wouldn’t be ideally suited for certain fire scenarios. Even the rookie firefighters know the simple fact that the greater the pressure, the more difficult for them to maneuver and control a hose.
Not surprisingly, picking the nozzle with the right pressure is not a matter of luck but a laborious process because the pressure alone determines how well a hose works: its reach, penetration, ease of use, overall performance, etc. Furthermore, a right nozzle can significantly reduce kinks or deployment issues that a hose inevitably encounters.
3. No nozzle is perfect.
Despite tremendous research efforts to discover the best nozzle, so far there has been no single piece of all-purpose nozzle that can suit all the scenarios. In fact, nozzles come in such various designs as well as many different types and brands that firefighters enjoy considerable latitude in deciding which nozzles they need for the tasks at hand.
Just because no nozzle is perfect doesn’t mean that you can’t find a right nozzle that suits you best from MAFCO TAIWAN. With a wide variety of firefighting supplies, we guarantee that you’ll find whatever nozzles you need. Call us now at +886-4-26310990 to talk with our representative for more information and find your nozzles before you hang up.
