Water tank/fire skid —— tree watering

[evo]

This might be the path to a better price to a working solution, but I would wanna have the use of my mini whilst working. Can one easily make a connection to the hydraulics to run a separate tool like this hypothetical rig on a trailer?

Yup, and a quick google search is suggesting a hydraulic powered water pump is a thing though. Cost goes up and PSI goes down to 34 on the one I looked at.
Granted this was a quick google search.

 

[ATH]

Or with the two bungs I can just gravity off the 3/4 and use the pump filling the tank, or spraying at a greater distance/area.
I’m less concerned with gpm and volume as like you said without a pump at a 2” outlet fitting it’s a matter of minutes to drain the 300 gal. That Honda I linked would drain the tank in 3 minutes!
I’d be happy with 50 gal per min and a higher psi of around 100. If I recall that should shoot the water upto 75’ which is about just right for my most extreme use.

That is if I’m understanding all this right…

You are in a MUCH more fire prone area than I am, so I don't want to pretend to know more than you about this. I did carry a red card for 20 years (requiring renewal training every year) and spent time on a few fires (a "few" is literal, not some false modesty....I'm not playing like I'm a super experienced wildland firefighter).

Anyhow...you may already know this, but a lot of wildland fire fighting is done with very low volumes. Until the fire is crazy intense, it doesn't take a lot to knock it back. Even backpack sprayers have quite the useful place on a fire line. 5 GPM at 100 PSI is probably adequate for much of what you'd experience. On the other end, yeah...you probably need 50GPM to do any good, which means your tank is empty in 6 minutes....then your are hosed (no bad pun intended) if you have fire big enough that you need that much water. That is why fire trucks carrying +/- 1000 gallons are supported by tank trucks carrying another 3-5000 gallons.

 

[evo]

You are in a MUCH more fire prone area than I am, so I don't want to pretend to know more than you about this. I did carry a red card for 20 years (requiring renewal training every year) and spent time on a few fires (a "few" is literal, not some false modesty....I'm not playing like I'm a super experienced wildland firefighter).

Anyhow...you may already know this, but a lot of wildland fire fighting is done with very low volumes. Until the fire is crazy intense, it doesn't take a lot to knock it back. Even backpack sprayers have quite the useful place on a fire line. 5 GPM at 100 PSI is probably adequate for much of what you'd experience. On the other end, yeah...you probably need 50GPM to do any good, which means your tank is empty in 6 minutes....then your are hosed (no bad pun intended) if you have fire big enough that you need that much water. That is why fire trucks carrying +/- 1000 gallons are supported by tank trucks carrying another 3-5000 gallons.

Oh I totally got all that. As I mentioned the long term goal is the have 1-2000 gal storage at my home (independent from grid electricity).
Not only as potential backup for fire, but to moderate peak storm flows, and to supplement the gardens water use.
Besides all that, we are screwed water wise here on the island. With the population projections vastly surpassing the estimated capacity of our water table by 2050.
Add that into our climate change projections, of being significantly drier in the summer, and much wetter in the winter. It’s drop in the bucket but at least a step down the right path(?)..

My island is very different from some of the others. We sit on the edge of the convergence zone/rainshadow buffer. This means our storms and rain fall is fickle already as a norm. Couple that and we are nothing more than a lump of glacial till sitting on top of the ‘pre vashon’ layer (till from x2 ice ages ago, that a mile of ice compressed)… essentially making hydrology and landslides a huge deal.
Increase fire risk, increase winter prescip, longer growing seasons, and much drier summers… really comes down to Fire and Water….

 

[Matias]

If you wanna blast 75' away though, that is a feat. I don't think that 5 gpm 100 psi spray pump you are thinking of will accomplish better than 25', which in my experience is plenty far away from any fire you should ever be dealing with. You spray your way in with a big high pressure cone of water and get you high volume hose up near the heart of that fucker and cool it down.

 

[evo]

Oh I totally got all that. As I mentioned the long term goal is the have 1-2000 gal storage at my home (independent from grid electricity).
Not only as potential backup for fire, but to moderate peak storm flows, and to supplement the gardens water use.
Besides all that, we are screwed water wise here on the island. With the population projections vastly surpassing the estimated capacity of our water table by 2050.
Add that into our climate change projections, of being significantly drier in the summer, and much wetter in the winter. It’s drop in the bucket but at least a step down the right path(?)..

My island is very different from some of the others. We sit on the edge of the convergence zone/rainshadow buffer. This means our storms and rain fall is fickle already as a norm. Couple that and we are nothing more than a lump of glacial till sitting on top of the ‘pre vashon’ layer (till from x2 ice ages ago, that a mile of ice compressed)… essentially making hydrology and landslides a huge deal.
Increase fire risk, increase winter prescip, longer growing seasons, and much drier summers… really comes down to Fire and Water….

So emotionally this comes back to my desired setup, one that I can get some trees established with on the further reaches of my property. A couple of watering contracts and potentially some aux uses for fire and other….
Similarly I’m seeing water stressed trees where one or two waterings throughout the summer months is a make or break situation

 

[evo]

If you wanna blast 75' away though, that is a feat. I don't think that 5 gpm 100 psi spray pump you are thinking of will accomplish better than 25', which in my experience is plenty far away from any fire you should ever be dealing with. You spray your way in with a big high pressure cone of water and get you high volume hose up near the heart of that fucker and cool it down.

I’ll admit I don’t know what the hell im talking about from any kind of experiential base line.
I do know I want more than my garden hose which is probably set at a 40/60 psi pressure tank switch.

 

[evo]

@27RMT0N you know my area and similar situation (other than you are bed rock and more rain shadow) but also a volunteer ff.. am I nuts or is there an affordable multi purpose middle ground with a 300-600 tank?

 

[Matias]

I’ll admit I don’t know what the hell im talking about from any kind of experiential base line.
I do know I want more than my garden hose which is probably set at a 40/60 psi pressure tank switch.

It always sucks giving bad news to good people, but if you have to deal with a fire, you're gonna get closer than you'd like to be.

 

[evo]

It always sucks giving bad news to good people, but if you have to deal with a fire, you're gonna get closer than you'd like to be.

Oh I’m quite aware of that. For some additional I info my 5 acres has a low gentile spot if about 1.5 of wetlands to the west, middle of the property is critical are steep slopes, about a 1 to 1.5 acres. North of us is a steep valley of 150’- 200’ second growth east is grass feild and blackberries (unmaintained), south is a less dramatic valley of mixed conifers and alder, smaller in size of 60-80’

Essentially a finger ridge.

I have no issue getting up close with a fire, but a little extra squirt would be nice with the topographical features.

 

[Matias]

If most of your real fire suppression concerns are at home, I would work on emergency sprinklers. I think you'll get a lot more bang for your buck

 

[flushcut]

This might be the path to a better price to a working solution, but I would wanna have the use of my mini whilst working. Can one easily make a connection to the hydraulics to run a separate tool like this hypothetical rig on a trailer?

I’m not sure but I think anything is possible with the right parts. A hydraulic powered water pump has to be out there somewhere.

 

[Phil]

You can check through this company for gpm and psi levels used for their pumps and pickup truck skid rigs. Maybe even give them a call and ask if they have a technical sales rep that could help guide you. Pretend like you're going to buy from them and maybe they'll play ball with info sharing. We have the pickup skids at work for fire suppression, but also use them for watering trees and power washing gross public restrooms...think campground style.

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