Foam Tanks

[doughesson]

The only way is by hand, as these chunks can get significantly large.
JT

Preferably having the party that mismixed the solution doing the work,I suppose?That would tend to make them remember which is which better.

[hwoods]

Naw...........

A Shop Vac?

Man, You kidding?? Them things suck.......

[jtstoney]

Jellied foam

Depends on what you mean by "jellied".

AR-AFFF foams are thick by nature, so keep that in mind, just in case someone loaded the tank with 1x3 without telling.

If the plasticizer has come out of the solution, you will see small pieces of plastic, and the the worst case, large chunks.

If it is small in nature, its probably just the foam concentrate drying out on the surface. The suggestion of mineral oil will solve this. Scoop out the solids and add the oil.

If it is large chunks, this is almost always a case of someone dumping a class A in the AR-AFFF tank. Specifically, a class A that contains alcohol. You will have to drain the tank and clean the piping. The only way is by hand, as these chunks can get significantly large.

To drain, I have used the tank drain, or a small centrifical pump attached to a hand drill.

Try to pump out as much as possible before flushing with water, or you'll have boatloads of bubbles to deal with.

Here are worst case pictures. This stuff looked and felt like hardened silicon.

Notice that the "worms" were created when the class A went through the fill strainer in the top of the AR-AFFF tank.

FYI, these are labeled Denver, but are not from the Denver CO FD.

JT

[Dickey]

That sucks!

Scoop out as much as you can by hand then use a fill hose to overfill the tank to float out the klunkers. Take your screens out if you have them. Flush with lots and lots and lots of water, the hotter the better. If it is really really jammed up, use a pipe snake to knock out anything caught sideways in there.

Good luck!

We had to resort to putting a big label of "A" and "B" on the tank fill to avoid mixing the two. Make it obvious or it will happen again.

[slackjawedyokel]

we opened the drains and used a hot water pressure washer to flush it.

[hwoods]

Yup!......

Huge amounts of water. For quite a while. In one instance that I know of, the Foam Tank was cleaned out by inserting a 1 inch hose line into the fill opening, working it until it hit the bottom of the tank, then letting it flow for an hour or two. Lotta water, but the tank was clean....

[dday05]

Tried searching to no avail, so does anyone have any solutions to a jellied up foam tank?

We will be draining our tanks once a month and flushing them out. Let us know what you make out though and good luck.Sounds like a bad situation you have on your hands.

[VinnieB]

Haaaa! the olb Class A and Class B mix jello...

Happened to a FD not to far away and they had to scoop it out by hand...

Best of luck

Sly

Yup....the ol'e Zantin Gum trick....yup...as George Carlin says..."JWF" , Jolly, Well, FU**ED

[lvwrench]

When we have had this problem, and still do occasionally, we open up the foam tank drains and use massive quantities of water to flush. Also if you have the in line screens they will need to be removed and cleaned. There is just no easy way around the situation. Overflowing the foam tank with the water helps float out the jelled junk. Good luck.

[RDL210]

Haaaa! the olb Class A and Class B mix jello...

Happened to a FD not to far away and they had to scoop it out by hand...

Best of luck

Sly

[JHR1985]

if you have a foam tank and you keep ar-afff foam... put some mineral oil at the fill opening to help keep it from drying out

[Bones42]

A Shop Vac?

[JTFIRE80]

Tried searching to no avail, so does anyone have any solutions to a jellied up foam tank?