Won’t aluminum melt?
Yes, so will steel at the temperatures these EVs could be burning. Some companies don’t want you to start flowing their nozzle until after the nozzle is under the vehicle, otherwise water will soak the firefighter placing the nozzle. These nozzles have the potential for heat damage. This could also place the firefighter in proximity to extreme heat and toxic gases. Poseidon is designed to be flowing water while being deployed. This water is continually cooling the nozzle prior to deployment and the water spray acts as a fog nozzle protecting the firefighter from heat and gasses.
Why don’t you use a 2 1/2 ” hoseline with your nozzle like some other companies recommend?
We could easily use a 2 1/2″ handline with a reducer to our nozzle. We would get over 500 gpm flow rates but the hoseline is way more difficult to maneuver and we are already getting over 400 gpm with an 1 3/4″ hoseline.
I thought you could only get 200 gpm out of 1 3/4″ hoseline. How do you get over 400 gpm?
Through better interior surface coatings of new hose and the old calculations were with nozzles attached that had significant friction losses (up to 100 psi). Poseidon has an extremely low friction loss. The 170 holes combined together makes a much larger exit opening than the inlet opening. This produces almost no back pressure, thus allowing freer flow of the water. Flow testing was verified using a flow meter after calibrating with a standard SM20 fog nozzle and getting the accepted flow rates using the appropriate psi.
Why do you have so many holes in your nozzle?
More holes with a wider distribution allows for more efficient cooling of the battery. Sure, fewer holes looks impressive when demonstrating out in the open! The spray reaching 25 feet into the air is cool! But a lot of that spray is wasted when it is hitting the battery at high velocity. Higher velocity doesn’t give the water a chance to remove the BTUs, it’s just bouncing off. A greater number of holes widely distributed more efficiently cools the battery. The battery surface is 4 – 16 inches from the ground.
Poseidon’s distribution of holes is an industry leading 288 sq inches. This allows for more efficient distribution of water and thus cooling effect. More cooling effect the quicker we get our job done.
Why did you choose aluminum?
EVs burning are admittedly low frequency events. We keep our higher frequency use tools closer to ground level and our lower frequency use tools higher up on our rigs. Handing down a heavy tool from the top of our rig has the potential for injury to our crew members or mishandling of the tool leading to damage of the tool or rig. The heavier the tool, the greater chance of mishap. Poseidon is designed to be as low weight as possible (17 pounds) and still be able to do the job at a high standard.
Steel, after training with the device, has areas where the paint gets removed. After awhile, oxidation (rust) will start forming. This is a degradation of the metal. Aluminum will not degrade when oxidized. Thus keeping it’s strength.
