Welcome to the Official Website for GBW Associates, LLC.
GotBigWater is the official website of GBW Associates, LLC, a privately owned training, consulting, and design firm located in Westminster, Maryland. Our specialty is water supply for public and private fire protection. We at GBW Associates, LLC are known for our training programs, our consulting services, our dry hydrants, and our testing services. Over the years, we have completed projects in over 41 different states and Canada ranging from rural water supply and incident command seminars to ISO water supply assessments to community master planning.
Use the menu at the left to take a look at our services and to contact us. Be sure to check out the News Archive and Big Water Information sections for a whole bunch of information on water supply delivery operations.
Scroll down to see our recent activities, upcoming events, and website updates.
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Be sure to join the Members Area to discuss water supply issues, view our document library, and receive announcement notices concerning our website and our services- it is FREE!
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Upcoming Seminars, Courses, and Drills
Click on image to view flyer.
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Drafting Tip #22 - Floating Strainer Pins/Slides
President Mark Davis, March 28
Another simple item that can make or break a quick drafting set-up. Many of the floating suction strainer manufacturers use some type of pin or slide bar lock to secure the strainer in the float during storage. On some brands, it you forget to remove the pin or move the slide bar then there is a good chance that the strainer and float will come out of the water once the suction hose is full of water ... (Full Story & Photos)
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The set-up was fast....but the slide locks on the float were forgotten during deployment and now the strainer is sucking air on the one corner. Gotta bring that back to shore and fix it.
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McClean Engine 1201 (1500 gpm) drafts for the first time using the new bridge-mount DFH.
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Dry Hydrant Design #63 - Bridge-Mount Installation - McClean, NY
President Mark Davis, March 21
This week we completed the installation of one of our bridge-mount dry fire hydrants on a bridge over Fall Creek in McClean, New York. The project was funded by the McLean Fire District and used our angle-mount bracket system. The lift at the bridge was pretty high (16-feet) but the water supply was abundant and usable. A 6-inch ETT brand female dry hydrant head and a 6-inch ETT stream strainer ... (Full Story & Photos)
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What's On Your Engine #15 - Twin Those Lines
President Mark Davis, March 14
Building on our last news story, "What's On Your Engine #14", one way to overcome the flow restriction of asmaller discharge when trying to support higher flows in an LDH line is to twin a couple of smaller lines into the larger line. A variety of appliances will work...you just need to get those lines combining into the single, larger line. The pumper shown in this photo from our 2018 seminar ... (Full Story & Photos)
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Supporting an LDH line without a high-flow discharge.
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Know ahead of time the flow limitations of your discharges.
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What's on Your Engine #14 - More About LDH Discharges
President Mark Davis, March 07
Building on last week's News Story, here is a good example of getting yourself into a jam by forgetting the flow limitation of your engine's discharges. The pumpers at this event were trying to support a 1,000 gpm operation at the attack pumper using a relay pumper over a 2000-ft distance of 5-inch LDH. The source had plenty of available water....that was never the issue. Elevation change was a ... (Full Story & Photos)
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What's On Your Engine Company #13 - Discharge Adaptors - Be Careful
President Mark Davis, February 29
There is nothing worse than trying to dig through a milk crate of adaptors in a back compartment on a rainy night trying to find the 2-1/2" to 5" adaptor. We get that. However, if you choose to carry that adaptor connected to a 2-1/2" or 3" discharge then make sure everyone knows the flow limitations of that discharge. The adapter shown in this photo provides a number of options - awesome, no digging ... (Full Story & Photos)
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The adaptor does not make this a high-flow discharge.
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Hmmm....will this retrofit clear the top of the dump tank frame. Something to evaluate before installation.
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What's On Your Tanker #50 - Rear Dump Retrofits
President Mark Davis, February 22
Nothing overly exciting hear - unless of course it doesn't work. We spoke about this issue before, when choosing to retrofit a rear dump valve/chute with a swiveling version, make sure that new chute will clear the top of your local dump tank frames. Remember that there is no standard on the height of a dump tank and there is no standard on the location of a dump chute. Many dump tanks come with ... (Full Story & Photos)
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Know the Max Operating Pressure in Your LDH System
President Mark Davis, February 15
With more folks moving to fabric 4 and 5-inch LDH it is still important to be aware of the maximum operating pressures of appliances and Storz couplings used in your LDH system. While it probably is very rare that we would pump that new 300 psi rated fabric 5-inch LDH at 300 psi, if we do....then there is a good chance that we are over-pressurizing some other system component. The good news is that ... (Full Story & Photos)
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Supplying this 250 psi rated intake valve using 300 psi rated 5-inch LDH means you don't pump the LDH above 250 psi to begin with. If you are pumping a 5-inch line over 200 psi, then take a moment to review what you are doing just to make sure that much pressure is truly required to meet your flow objective.
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Three suction intake lines improved the output of this pumper at this drill.
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Dump Site Operations #28 - Multiple Suction Intakes
President Mark Davis, February 08
A few photos from our 2014 seminar in Peace River, Alberta where folks got to practice their water hauling skills using a variety of fill sites and tenders. The dump site pumper was able to get three suction lines in operation which enhanced its ability to supply water to the simulated fireground. As noted in previous news stories, the ability to get additional suction intake lines in operation ... (Full Story & Photos)
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Your questions and feedback are important to us! If you have a question about water supply or pumps or FD stuff in general, join our Members area (for free) to post your inquiry. We will provide our thoughts and perhaps other folks in the field will provide theirs also.
Also - be sure to sign the guest book if this is your first time here - guestbook.
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