Part 2: "If pressure vessels could talk"

A 4-inch pipe with a mechanical rising stem valve was all that stood between the potential energy in the storage tank and the inside of the treatment chamber with the delayed action pneumatic valves in a "fail deadly" full open position. You never had the luxury of being asleep at the switch being up all weekend during the carbon monoxide season. I spent many weekends, 72 hours, with only 4 hours of sleep. 

We made a great rumble like a shuttle launch when we did a full open test twice a year, looking for plumbing o ring leaks and blowing loose rust out of the pipes. (super enjoyable) It was all part of the chamber wash-down procedure to flush out the stagnant brown water and test the 150 PSI fire water pumps. The sewer behind the chamber would back up if we flooded it. Our cleaning procedure included squirting lemon-scented Lysol on the fireproof silica sand's second coat of paint. 

The old-fashioned conical brass hose nozzles could knock you off your feet on the slippery floor if you didn't take a firm stance trying to hold the nozzle. With one hand while attempting to modulate the water flow. The other hand on the opening valve. It was not a one-man operation. Or for the faint of heart. It was great fun to think on your feet as a training maintenance exercise. And there was an overhead manual valve sprinkler that needed to be opened first. The fire hose was there on a parallel larger pipe in case the sprinkler nozzles failed by plugging with rust or if the ball valve on the sprinkler line was frozen shut. I kept a short length of lead pipe behind the vaulted entrance door for such an emergency to give me extended leverage on the sprinkler handle. (mechanical advantage!)

The French Columnist