What Does color of a fire hydrants mean??

[alvisishere]

For us that are set up to use hydrants (if they let us use them again one day) Does the color of a Fire hydrant mean anything...example one color silver- county use, red for business use..meaning if it is a certain color the water used though it..is metered to the business.
This might be a interest to us during the drought.

[Kory]

Some are color coded for city, county as far as keeping track of water used.

[Beth n Rod]

For those from Maryland : Meters Frequently Asked Questions

For other states look up your local water utility and see what they have listed.

Beth

[Beth n Rod]

In our area, the color denotes the authority having jurisdiction (AHJ). Ex; we have a green hydrant for the WSSC area coverage and in Rockville who has their own water system, the hydrants are colored Yellow.

Rod!~

[A and J POWERWASHING]

Rod is right the color only mean that it is a different jurisdiction, I live in a city that is changing the hydrants color right now they are going red becuase the next city put in yellow the color of our old ones

[A and J POWERWASHING]

also guys always flush the hydrant first , being in the fire dept you see alot of build up in them .

[alvisishere]

does any paticulair color mean if the hydrant is on a commercial property (for ex. wal-mart) that the water used out of it is can be metered and charged to Wal-mart?
I heard this might be true but I have my doubts about it.

[Beth n Rod]

Originally Posted by powerwashing aj

also guys always flush the hydrant first , being in the fire dept you see alot of build up in them .

Doesn't hurt to add an extra filter inline when hooking up to a hydrant, and to clean the ones you already have inline before and after use.

Beth

[Steve Small]

With regard to the color of fire hydrants there are actual standards that some juristictions abide by, for example some juristictions may paint the hydrant a particular color it may be red, orange, green, or blue by painting the hydrants these colors the juristiction is actually using the NFPA coloring system. When a juristiction does that it generally indicates a particular water flow, or GPM. While that is found in some places in other places they just paint the hydrants the same color, with no distinction of GPM.
Where we need to be careful is when we are using water from hyrdrants on a private industrial setting. Where I currently work I can have the tops of the hydrants painted White for Fresh water, Yellow for Industrial water, or Silver for Salt Water. When I leave the industrial area the hydrants are all painted Orange, with the exception of the Private Hydrants which are painted Red and for us that indicates it is a private hydrant that is maintained by the property owner, and generally if it is a private hydrant it will be attched to a water meter somewhere so they will be charged.(not always the case but generally)

So the short answer is the color of the hydrant can mean something, or it may not mean anything based on the juristiction.
In addition I would be very careful about using hydrant water, many times if the hydrants have NOT been tested you will get ALOT of sediment, leaves, dirt, sticks you name it coming out of the hydrants. When stirring up all of the sediment you can stir up rust which can cause a discoloration of the neighborhoods water system, people really love when they do their laundry and it turns their clothes rust color

[David O'Connell Jr.]

Hydrant colors are for the GPM.

[MMI Enterprises]

Designing Water & Hydrant Systems; P.7

COLOR CODES AND MARKINGS

Body Colors:
Since they are needed upon an immediate basis during an emergency, fire hydrants should be immediately recognizable to fire fighting forces as well as to the general public. The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) specifies that fire hydrants are to be painted chrome yellow, however it accepts other body colors which were already in use at the time the standard was adopted in the 1970s. Other highly visible colors which have been used include white, bright red, chrome silver and lime-yellow.

In jurisdictions where no standard color has been established, the most important aspect is consistency. Standard colors should be adopted which, preferably, are the same throughout the region.

NFPA also recognizes that there are often functional differences in service provided by municipal and private hydrant systems. Therefore NFPA specifies that non-municipal hydrants be painted a color that distinguishes them from municipal hydrants. Furthermore, violet has been established as the international color code for non-potable water. Therefore hydrants supplied by non-potable sources should be painted violet (light purple).

FireHydrant.Org recommends the following body colors for fire hydrants:


Supply/Body Color
Municipal System: Chrome Yellow
Private System: Red
Non-Potable System: Violet (Light Purple)


Flow Indicators

The NFPA standard calls for bonnets and caps to be color-coded to indicate the hydrant's available flow at 20 p.s.i.

Standard color codes are as follows:


NFPA 291, Chap. 3
Class C Less than 500 GPM Red
Class B 500-999 GPM Orange
Class A 1000-1499 GPM Green
Class AA 1500 GPM & above Light Blue



Additional NFPA Language reads:
Hydrants rated at less than 20 psi (1.4 bar) should have the rated pressure stenciled in black on the hydrant top.

In addition to the painted top and nozzle caps, it may be advantageous to stencil the rated capacity of high volume hydrants on the top.

The classification and marking of hydrants provided for in this chapter anticipate determination based on individual flow test. Where a group of hydrants can be used at the time of a fire, some special marking designating group-flow capacity may be desirable.

Fire hydrants that are permanently inoperative or unusable should have barrels, nozzle caps, tops, and all visible parts painted black.

Fire hydrants that are temporarily inoperative or unusable should be wrapped or otherwise provided with temporary indication of their condition.