Real People. Real Stories.
"I've never had a failure with an Elkhart nozzle."
On nozzle performance…
“Over the years, either teaching or with the department, we’ve found that the bales on some nozzles from Elkhart competitors just fall apart…. In fact, years ago, we had a nozzle that had a plastic coating on it. The plastic coating started to melt and would not let the bale open up for us to knock down the fire and was to the point where we almost got hurt. It took two of us beating with our fists to get that nozzle to operate.
“We’ve also had situations, especially down here in Florida, where the sunlight just heats different materials up. One company had a predominantly plastic shut-off or handle and several times, the plastic bale handles have deteriorated from being in the sun. When you go to operate that nozzle, the bale just falls apart and, if you’re lucky, you can still open it with both sides of the bale, but the bale falls apart in your hands and you can’t have that under fire conditions.
“Elkhart’s bales are metal. We literally beat up nozzles, drag them, things like that, and I’ve never had a failure with an Elkhart nozzle.”
On dependability…
“Again, over the years I’ve worked for a couple departments here in Florida. We’ve done flow tests and that’s the biggest thing - getting the gallons per minute that you need for the fire attack. We have found Elkhart to be more accurate in their flows than other manufacturers - being able to pump it at a lesser pressure and still getting that flow. With some of the other manufacturers you get kind of a smoke and mirrors type thing. But many of the departments I know that have switched to Elkhart along with mine have lined up the nozzles, compared flows and made sure they are getting the proper flows you need for today’s fire attack.
“I actually have my own set of (Elkhart) nozzles that I use and take to different conferences with me because we never know what nozzles we’re going to get donated by different manufacturers. I take my Elkharts because I know they are reliable.”
On breadth of products…
“Besides nozzles, our department predominantly uses large intake release valves, the monitors, Stingers, the gated wyes, the gated release valves… (Actually), all of our equipment, with the exception of some stuff that is on reserve pieces. Yes, our department is standardized to Elkhart.”
On industry leadership…
“It seems like every time I turn around, go to shows or conferences, Elkhart is always out front. It seems like they’re keeping up with the times and technology and they constantly want feedback to make their products better.”
Satisfaction
John Simpson
Firefighter and Fire Instructor
Kissimmee, FL
John talks about the dependability of Elkhart nozzles.
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Handline Nozzles
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Jerry Knapp
Rockland County Fire Training Center, Pomona, New York
Nils Richardson
Spring Green Fire Department
Spring Green, WI
John Simpson
Firefighter and Fire Instructor
Kissimmee, FL
Jason Blake
Firefighter & Fire Service Instructor
Baltimore, MD
