Water Pumping Systems

When the electricity goes out, you’ll need a fire cistern or you may need to use the swimming pool or hot tub. To make any of these options work, you need a water pumping system. This is especially important if your water source is going to be from a well or river away from the home.

What Will a Water Pumping System Do?

The water pumping system makes it possible to bring a high volume of water with high pressure, helping to tackle a fire immediately. You want to get a pump that will discharge 15-30 gallons of water per minute. Yes, that is going to use up that 80-gallon hot water tank very quickly.

You don’t need more than the 30 gallons per minute. That will waste water, and if your electricity is out, you have minimal water available.

The water pump will also need to make it possible for water to be delivered at 100 psi at the nozzle. Each inch of fire hose is going to lose about 30 psi each 100ft just from the friction, so your pump should put out 160 psi from the head.

Of course, you need much more than a simple garden hose. Getting something that is around 1in in diameter is important for these water pumping systems. You can get hoses that are 1.5in at the base and 1in where you hold it for better pumping but easier handling.

Caring for Smaller Homes

For the majority of homeowners, you could look into the Wildfire Hot Tub Package from Primo Pumps. This comes with a gas-powered engine (so you’re not relying on electricity) and pump and all the accessories you could need for between $800 and $1000.

If you have a larger budget, you could opt for the Home Firefighting Cart System, which is a heavier system and needs a larger water supply. This is something firefighters love to see around homes, but it does cost around $4500.

Caring for a Ranch

What if you have a ranch? Maybe you run a summer camp. You need a much larger system to help, and you’ll want to look at stationary firefighting systems or those that are mounted to trucks and trailers.
They can cost between $7000 and $20,000 depending on the exact system you get, but you just can’t put a price on the children or the animals at the camp or ranch.