Inspections serve as a vital checkpoint, ensuring that every component (pumps, hoses, and safety systems) meet rigorous quality standards.
Unbalanced Loads and Voltage Drops, Part Three
By Kevin Roberts Last time we left you with this diagram. Figure 1 Our point was to introduce the practical application of unbalanced loads in a series circuit. You wouldn’t have thought it would take this many articles to do so. But the point of...
Talking Trucks: Tires
Chris Mc Loone and Fire Apparatus & Emergency Equipment Advisor Chris Daly discuss the importance of properly maintaining the tires that carry you and your crews to emergency incidents and cover some ways to maintain control of a vehicle in case a tire blowout occurs while responding.
Choosing a Fire Apparatus Mechanic or Service Center
Here are some key factors to consider when selecting a fire apparatus dealer as a repair facility or a technician.
Speaking a Common Language
In this article, I want to cover ways mechanics and firefighters can communicate and work together to solve apparatus problems. Most of these problems come from both sides of the conversation, with both using terms and descriptive statements that one side does not understand.
Fire Chief Considerations: The Fleet Manager
Fleet managers may be full-time positions within the fire department structure or they may be roles assigned under another position.
Unbalanced Loads and Voltage Drops, Part Two
At the end of the last article, I left some of you with a bit of a cliffhanger. But it was a cliffhanger only for some of you because the rest of you clearly understood all the ramifications of the principle set forth in that article.
‘What We Live For’: W.S. Darley and Co. in Chippewa Falls (WI) Makes Life-Saving Fire Pumps
The facility specializes in manufacturing fire pumps, with a team of skilled machinists and engineers.
Unbalanced Loads and Voltage Drops, Part One
Today let’s consider the series circuit in which the intended loads are not balanced. In a past life, I trained for a company who had on their curriculum staff the originator of this idea. For the moment I will skip the introduction to his question, but he asked what would happen if we connected a low wattage bulb in series with a high wattage bulb.
Voltage Drops and Amperage Flow
Today we will look at the principles behind unbalanced loads and how we can use what we learn to train our brain to think in a certain way. It is in the development of thinking skills that we can learn to recognize that odd problem that may seem as though the vehicle is playing tricks on us.
Maximizing the Efficiency of Your Fleet
Parts shortages have impacted all fleets for the past three years. During the pandemic, all parts were in short supply, gas and diesel.
Voltage Drops and Available Voltage
Today we will go a little deeper into the third voltage test from last time, that of Available Voltage. To review, Available Voltage is the voltage that is delivered by the Source Voltage (battery, for our purposes today) through the harness to the load.