Pump Operations
Relay Pumping
Relay pumping is moving water over a long distance by chaining engines, each one boosting the pressure for the next. It overcomes the friction loss that would otherwise bleed a single long supply line dry.
Over distance, friction loss eats the pressure of even a large supply line. A relay breaks the run into legs: the source engine pushes to the next pumper, which receives water at a safe intake pressure and pushes it onward, and so on to the attack engine.
Planning a relay means keeping each receiving engine's intake above a floor so it never starves, while covering the friction loss of each leg. The longer the distance and the higher the flow, the more pumpers the relay needs.
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Relay Pumping