Ensuring their fire hydrants, hose reels and sprinkler systems are operating safely is not only a legal requirement for businesses, but a critical safety measure in enabling fire services to operate quickly and effectively in the event of a fire.
Victorian Hydrant Testing & Plumbing Pty Ltd (VHTP) Director Andrew Hor had ten years’ experience in the fire protection industry before starting VHTP in 2004, and is proud to now be one of the state’s most respected providers of fire hydrant testing, repairs, maintenance and certification.
“We have tested thousands of systems on behalf of the fire brigade, insurance companies, fire protection installers, and national fire protection providers, and we find faults in system design and installation almost every week. Insurance is void if maintenance and testing is not upheld and it can lead to fines and building closures for severe cases,” Andrew said.
In 2009, to ensure VHTP had the capacity and sufficient resources to test large industrial sites and some of the city’s tallest buildings, Andrew added two Isuzu NNR 200s to his small fleet of cars.
“We need our trucks to simulate what the fire brigade would do in the event of a fire. The fire brigade trucks can pump up to 65 storeys and this truck will pump up to 100 storeys.
To equip the NNR 200s for their role, the bodies were custom-built to VHTP specifications, and each fitted with a fire pump, hydrostatic pumps, required hydrant fittings, adaptors, flow test equipment, pressure gauges and hand tools.
“One truck is for large capacity flow tests for large industrial sites and the other is specifically designed for high rise installations. Its high rise pump can output 1500 litres a minute at a pressure of 5500 kPa. For comparison the city mains water pressure is around 600 kPa,” Andrew said.
Fire hydrant testing is required annually under essential series maintenance requirements with a full commissioning test required every five years to ensure systems are still capable of delivering optimum performance.
“We do a flow test at the most disadvantaged hydrants – which is either the highest hydrant on a multi-storey building or the furthest hydrant from the water main supply or onsite pump – to measure the city mains pressure and flow capability. We test onsite fire pumps and measure their performance if installed as well.
“We also flow test booster connections which is the water supply device the fire brigade connects to when attending building fires. We perform a two-hour hydrostatic test to check that the pipe work can handle sudden pressure increases and its overall condition.
See more at www.isuzu.com.au
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