vetter bags

[rosamond79]

Hi all, i'm a jnr ff. My superior just challenged us to tell him why nitrogen not oxygen is used to inflate vetter bags. We all thought it had to do with flammability but he said that's not the answer he's looking for. The first one to get the answer gets two days off! Please help.

[mikie333]

ok, i found another idea...i googled it (couldn't find anything related to vetter bags). On Wikipedia, they said it can be used "for filling automotive and aircraft tires due to its inertness and lack of moisture or oxidative qualities, as opposed to air...."

so i would assume the same principle applys to the bags.

[MichaelD77]

Without answering it for you... It's the same reason it's used to fill tires.

[afrexplorer1]

hay i think whot it is is that by filling it with nitro it would be more durable

[afrexplorer1]

sorry it's so the air bag will deploy faster and deflate.

[nmfire]

Uh. Riiiiight.

[IowaFFandEMT]

answer

Hi there, i am new to firefighting and rescue services as i have just been voted onto our dept this past june. I have not yet been trained on a "vetter bag" but i think i may have an answer for you. Alot of racing teams use nitrogen in their tires because nitrogen will not heat up and fluxuate like regular air does. It also won't hold moisture like compressed air will. I hope this helps you, unless it is too late already.

[clancyxdogg]

Uh, what in the H-E-doublehockeysticks is a vetter bag?

[doughesson]

Uh, what in the H-E-doublehockeysticks is a vetter bag?

An airbag,maybe.We usually used them as booster seats when someone brought their kid to Christmas Dinner more than we do at wrecks when I was on my old volunteer department.

[Bones42]

Quick survey...how many departments carry Nitrogen tanks?

PS - Vetter is a brand name for high pressure lifting bags.

[clancyxdogg]

Oh, thanks Bones--
our air bags are Hurst, and are filled by SCBA bottles. no Nitrogen here, nor have I ever heard of anyone who uses it.

[Bones42]

We use ParaTek, also off SCBA bottle. I'm thinking the next task this person gets will be to find the missing water hammer.

[BPFire1618]

I forget the brand of bags we have on the Rescue, but we use regular Scott bottles as well. Makes things easier since we already have a system in place to refill, and we're garanteed to have enough to fill however many bags we need.

[backsteprescue123]

We use ParaTek, also off SCBA bottle. I'm thinking the next task this person gets will be to find the missing water hammer.

I've always heard of them being filled this way. The water hammer is in the same compartment as the SkyHook and Left-handed smokeshifter (for those real smokey rubbish fires).

[Bushwhacker]

They used this same speal for tires awhile ago, mostly it is just a pain in the a## all the way around, the adavntges don't out weigh the diss.