Your department is dispatched to a report of a leaking propane tank. The crew arrives on scene and discovers the tank is leaking liquid and the leaking area is inaccessible. What’s driving your tactical decisions at this point. The liquid leak is producing a large flammable and billowing cloud that is expanding downwind. For most, your options are limited, if it’s in the middle of nowhere allowing it to bleed off might work. Not really a tactic that most of us want to use, freeze patches may be able to slow the release if you can get to the leaking area safely. Setting up and dissipating vapors with fog streams and using thousands and thousands of gallons of water and many hours on scene is another well known tactic.
What if you had another option, what if you could connect a line from an engine and force water into the tank and lift the propane away from the leaking area, now you have a water leak. No more billowing white cloud, with a little more vapor dispersion the explosive vapors are gone as long as you manage water in to match the leak. Of course this like all response tactics require specialized training and the tools to make it work, but it does work.
Our Propane Incident Water Injection Kit; designed to provide you with the tools necessary to convert a liquid propane leak into a water leak by forcing water into the tank using fire apparatus.
When something happens and you’re faced with an uncontrollable liquid propane leak you have very few options. Depending on the size of the release, a liquid propane leak can quickly create a large hazard area requiring evacuations, limit your ability to safely extricate trapped accident victims or identify the location of a leak.
Water injection is the process of forcing water into a tank or cylinder using a water supply capable of producing more pressure than the propane tanks static pressure. If a tank has a liquid propane leak and water is injected, the water will replace the propane at the bottom of the tank, and the propane leak will be converted to a water leak. Propane has a specific gravity of .5 and water has a specific gravity of 1. This applies to propane wither under pressure or not.
Training from qualified instructors is a must.
100 lb cylinder evolution at Southern Manatee Fire Rescue
Use of the Propane Incident Water Injection Kit just like all response tactics requires special knowledge, training and identified tactical objectives.
The application of this kit and its use must be done by properly trained personnel and in conjunction with a high-volume flare system (1-inch flow capacity) to aid in product removal and forced auto-refrigeration if desired.
This kit include:
- Water Injection Valve assembly with safety check (1 3/4″ ACME out to Propane X 1 1/2″ NH inlet)
- Vapor Out valve assembly (1 3/4″ female ACME to 1 1/2″ female NH hose adapter)
- Stress relieving hose assembly
- 3 1/4″ X 1 3/4″ ACME adapter
- 2 1/4″ X 1 3/4″ ACME adapter
- 1 1/2″ male NH hose X 1 3/4″ male ACME adapter
- Carry case (upper and lower storage)
- Gasket set
Trademark and Patent in process. Copyright, All rights reserved. 2016
California Prop 65 Notice:
Warning: This product contains chemicals, including lead, known to the State of California to cause cancer and birth defects or other reproductive harm. Wash hands after handling.
