Fire Hydrants: Why yellow, why green? A very small concern.

Home Forums Open Discussion Fire Hydrants: Why yellow, why green? A very small concern.

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  • #589843

    JayDee
    Participant

    OK, i just noticed this, and it it falls off the WSB radar, so be it.

    Across from my house is a painted yellow fire hydrant. Yet every other hydrant within 2 blocks (well, those I’ve checked since Sunday) are painted green. I would assume that there is a reason the nearest fire hydrant is yellow and the rest are green, but all I can imagine is that the FD can turn off other hydrants using the yellow hydrants to redirect pressure/flow. I was just wondering why because green seems an odd color choice for a fire hydrant (though they are abundant enough). But why would 1 out of 10, 15 hydrants be painted yellow? “A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of small minds” so perhaps I am confused by a hobgoblin…

    #658540

    WSB
    Keymaster

    So far I have found only one reference, in a newspaper story about somebody painting fire hydrants gold:

    >>The caps on hydrants are painted different colors based on how much water pressure they provide.<<

    Still looking.

    #658541

    cjboffoli
    Participant

    JayDee: Sorry to be pedantic, but Ralph Waldo Emerson actually said “A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of LITTLE minds.”

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    The context in which he used it was in defending a thinking person’s right to change their mind. Just as in Emerson’s day, we demand that contemporary politicians stick to their earlier statements. If they ever change their minds we accuse them of waffling. But Emerson believed, and I agree with him, that opinions and ideas can change with time, especially given the development of new information. His famous quote was meant to chide people who demand mindless consistency.

    #658542

    JayDee
    Participant

    My bad. As a science major who had to take but one “liberal arts” class, I am a barbarian at the gates. Given the particular science I studied, small ain’t too far from little. Still, why aren’t all hydrants green? ;-)

    #658543

    WSB
    Keymaster

    If nobody comes up with the answer, I’ll ask SPU tomorrow … what I found on the city site indicates they actually own the hydrants, not SFD.

    #658544

    WesCAddle
    Member

    It’s water pressure. I asked some SFD personal last summer when they were driving through the neighborhood doing their annual pressure checks. We used to have a yellow hydrant in our parking strip and I was interested in painting it green so it would blend in with the surrounding foliage better. The SFD said “no dice” because it allows them to quickly determine the water pressure they can expect from that particular hydrant in an emergency.

    #658545

    FullTilt
    Participant

    I just asked a friend that is a fire fighter, in LA though, and he said it was to do with pressure. He also pointed out that there is a little blue reflector in the middle of the road at every fire hydrant.

    #658546

    JayDee
    Participant

    Thanks everyone. Well, maybe mine needs a new coat of yellow paint. As to the blue reflectors, those seem to have gone the same Valhalla as the yellow “turtles” did.

    #658547

    Sue
    Participant

    You can also see where a fire hydrant is in relation to your home if you go to http://web1.seattle.gov/MNM/ and type in your address, zoom all the way in, and then click on Fire Hydrants in the list of checkboxes on the left. With all this talk I realized I had no idea where my closest hydrant was, so this was helpful.

    #658548

    MrDude
    Member

    Well duuhh…the yellow ones are the ones that have been “visited” by dogs, right?

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