Do fire hydrants have a service life?
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This post was last edited by ds66616 on 2018-8-27 07:27. Fire hydrants are part of fire protection facilities and must not be used in non-emergency situations, as stipulated by fire safety regulations. But in actual manufacturing plants, it is inevitable to temporarily use some fire hydrants. For example, a new storage tank was added recently; before it could be put into use, tests for water leakage had to be conducted, which required the use of fire-fighting water (the company’s fire-fighting water and production water are part of the same pipeline system). Unexpectedly, when the water was added and the fire hydrant was closed, the valve cover of the hydrant suddenly came off, causing a large amount of water to spill out. A post-inspection revealed that all the connection bolts of the valve cover on top of the fire hydrant were corroded and loose. This raises a question: do fire hydrants all end up like this after a long time? And exactly how long does it take before they need to be replaced? Previously, when checking fire hydrants, people only looked at their appearance; how is the inside checked? Intact fire hydrants; damaged fire hydrants, with the valve stem pulled out and the valve core still in place. The valve stems that have been removed are also severely rusted. At the joint where the top of the fire hydrant meets the valve cover, all the bolts used for connection are missing their heads. The nuts that connect the fire hydrant’s top cover to its main body are also completely corroded
As fire-fighting equipment, I’m not sure if there are any specified retirement periods required by regulations. However, regular maintenance and use allow us to detect any damage to the equipment in a timely manner. Routine inspections usually focus on the surface or the red paint on the equipment’s exterior, but we can also conduct regular tests, such as water tests once a week or a month, to determine whether the equipment is functioning properly
When ours breaks, then we replace it.
We did the same; that day we noticed there was a problem, so we replaced it. The problem identified this time was quite unusual, so we observed several fire hydrants that had been in place for a long time and were not normally accessed, and found similar phenomena in all of them. As shown in the figure: 1 and 2 are the bolts that connect the valve stem to the main body of the fire hydrant ； 3 is the bolt that connects the top cover of the fire hydrant to the main body of the fire hydrant. The damage to these fire hydrants was mainly caused by the complete rusting of these 6 bolt heads and nuts
There’s no service life; it should be regularly inspected and maintained
The operating spool of low-quality fire hydrant switches is prone to breaking. Okay, the plug will work fine for over a decade
During the equipment bidding phase, it is essential to maintain strict quality controls; fire protection equipment with excellent quality and high cost-performance ratios should be selected, and regular inspections and maintenance must also be carried out
Generally, only regular checks are carried out; we conduct tests once a month. But what if something goes wrong during this time? Is it necessary to specify a maximum usage period? Please discuss it from your own perspectives.