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Advantage of Flowing More Water in a Flow Test?

2/2/2022

 
I've come across this question - why do we need to flow more water - from two angles: as a total rookie, and later on as someone needing to really understand a water supply.

As a newbie - I was intimidated by a few things; first, that someone would call the police on me because I didn't look like I knew what I was doing. Second, that I didn't want to destroy any landscaping. And third, I definitely didn't want to be breaking any hydrants. Those three factors made me want to keep my flow tests as calm and low-flow as possible. 

However, as I was told at the time, that's not advantageous when we're trying to determine the quality of an existing water supply.

Just a year ago, I was working on a project with a marginal water supply, where the water tower and the pumps feeding it were controlled by the project owner. The tower was in some disrepair (not known to us at the time), and we were trying to figure out why we were getting such different results from what should have been a fairly consistent supply. 

It was on this project where we really needed to understand the strength of the supply that was well beyond just 300, 400, or 500 gpm into the system. But why?

Why does it matter if we flow 500 gpm or 1,000 gpm when doing a flow test?

One perspective - and one answer to this - is confidence in the data. We gain more confidence in our test results with the greater amount of water we flow. Here's a video we put together that explains this perspective a little better: 
Hope you have a great week!
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The views, opinions, and information found on this site represent solely the author and do not represent the opinions of any other party, nor does the presented material assume responsibility for its use. Fire protection and life safety systems constitute a critical component for public health and safety and you should consult with a licensed professional for proper design and code adherence.

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  • Blog
  • Forum
  • THE TOOLKIT
    • SUBMIT AN IDEA
    • BACKFLOW DATABASE*
    • CLEAN AGENT ESTIMATOR*
    • CLOUD CEILING CALCULATOR
    • DOMESTIC DEMAND*
    • FIRE FLOW CALCULATOR*
    • FIRE PUMP ANALYZER*
    • FIRE PUMP DATABASE*
    • FRICTION LOSS CALCULATOR
    • HANGER SPACER*
    • IBC TRANSLATOR*
    • K-FACTOR SELECTOR*
    • NFPA 13 EDITION TRANSLATOR ('19 ONLY)
    • NFPA 13 EDITION TRANSLATOR ('99-'22)*
    • LIQUIDS ANALYZER*
    • OBSTRUCTION CALCULATOR
    • OBSTRUCTIONS AGAINST WALL*
    • PLUMBING FIXTURE COUNTS
    • QUICK RESPONSE AREA REDUCTION
    • REMOTE AREA ANALYZER*
    • SPRINKLER DATABASE*
    • SPRINKLER FLOW*
    • SYSTEM ESTIMATOR*
    • TEST & DRAIN CALCULATOR
    • THRUST BLOCK CALCULATOR
    • TRAPEZE CALCULATOR
    • UNIT CONVERTER
    • VOLUME & COMPRESSOR CALCULATOR
    • WATER STORAGE*
    • WATER SUPPLY (US)
    • WATER SUPPLY (METRIC)
  • UNIVERSITY
    • ABOUT
    • CATALOG
    • CONTENT LIBRARY
  • PE Exam
    • PE Forum & Errata
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