The Pump Panel

The Pump Panel is the interactive core of Tank to Pump — a generic side-mount fire-engine pump panel you can operate freely. Throw the pump into gear, open valves, raise the throttle, and watch the pressure, flow, tank level, and warnings respond in real time. It's where you learn to read the panel and predict what each change will do.

The panel is free and works without an account.

The layout

Brass analog gauges (top): master intake, net pump pressure, and master discharge.
Flow diagram (center): an animated schematic showing where water comes from (tank, hydrant, or draft) and where it goes (the discharge lines or back to the tank).
Discharge control bank (below the diagram): one to three lines, each with its own gauge, valve, and hose/nozzle setup.
Supply row (bottom): controls to set up your water source, adjust tank fill, and prime for draft.
Digital Deck rail (right side): live readouts for tank level, pump heat, flow, capacity used, warnings, and a plain-language coaching note that explains what just changed.

The controls

Most valves and the throttle are levers you drag (click-and-drag vertically, or touch-and-drag on a phone/tablet). They also respond to the keyboard: arrow keys nudge, Page Up/Down jump in bigger steps, and Home/End snap to fully closed/open (or idle/full throttle).

Getting water moving

Pump shift switch — throws the pump into gear. Usually your first action, before you raise the throttle.
Tank-to-pump valve — gates flow from the onboard tank. Positions run CLOSED → CRACKED → ¼ → ½ → ¾ → FULL, so you can draw a little or a lot.
Intake valves (left & right) — feed water from a hydrant. Crack them partially to control how much supply comes in.
Connect hydrant button — connects or disconnects a hydrant at the intake.
Primer button (draft only) — press and hold to prime the pump when drafting from a static source like a pond or cistern.

Setting pressure and flow

Throttle — sets how hard the pump runs, shown as a percentage from idle (0%) to fully governed (100%).
Discharge valves (per line) — gate each line (CLOSED → CRACKED → ¼ → ½ → ¾ → FULL). A quick toggle above the lever snaps a line fully open or closed.
Tank-fill / recirculation valve — sends some flow back to the tank instead of out the lines. This is how you keep the pump cool when you're not discharging much water.

The gauges and readouts

Master gauges (top)

Master intake — intake pressure. Reads positive when a hydrant is feeding you, and into vacuum when you're drafting or pulling too hard. A marked zone warns of cavitation.
Net pump pressure — the pressure the pump itself is producing, useful when balancing two lines.
Master discharge — the total pressure leaving the pump. Every open line sees this pressure.

Per-line readouts

Line gauge — that line's outlet pressure, color-coded green (in the target band), yellow (low/high), or red (over). The target band comes from the nozzle's required pressure.
Actual flow (GPM) and actual nozzle pressure (PSI) — live numbers for each open line.
Status pill — a quick label: GOOD, LOW, HIGH, CLOSED, NO WATER, or OUT OF SERVICE.

Digital Deck (right rail)

Tank level — gallons and percentage remaining; drains as you pump.
Pump heat — climbs as the pump works hard with little water leaving; cools when you throttle down or open recirculation.
Total flow / line flow / recirculation — water moved in total, out the lines, and back to the tank.
Capacity (%) — how much of the pump's rated capacity you're using. 100% means you're at the pump's limit.

Tracing the water (the flow diagram)

The center diagram lets you see the water path:

Supply nodes (left): tank, hydrant, or draft — whichever is active.
Pump (center): a spinning impeller that turns when water is actually moving.
Discharge nodes (right): one per line.
Pipes: active paths animate with a moving dash; idle paths are dull gray.

At a glance you can tell which supply is live, whether the pump is drawing water, which lines are flowing, and whether any water is recirculating back to the tank.

Supply setup

The Supply Setup card (left rail) lets you configure your source before you run:

Hydrant strength — choose Weak, Average, or Strong, or type in custom static pressure and available flow.
Draft — set the lift (how far above the intake the water sits) and the source flow. The primer has to be working and submerged for the pump to draw.
Tank level — drag the slider or enter a gallon amount (starts full).
Per-line setup — pick a hose/nozzle package (e.g. Attack 1¾″ Fog 150@100), set the hose length, set the elevation if the line climbs or drops, and toggle a line in / out of service.

Warnings and coaching

When the hydraulics go wrong, alerts appear in the Digital Deck:

Cavitation — intake pressure dropped too low; the pump is starting to pull air (often from a failed prime, an intake cracked too far, or a near-empty tank).
Overdraw / starvation — you're asking for more water than the supply can give; intake sags and pressure wobbles.
Run-dry — the tank is empty or the intake is closed; no water flows.
Churn — the pump is spinning but not engaged; no water moves.
Over-capacity — you're demanding more than the pump's rated flow, so flow is capped.
Line overpressure / underpressure — a line's outlet pressure is above or below its target band; throttle (or gate) to correct it.

"What changed" — the coaching note

Below the line readouts, a note labeled "What changed" explains the result of your last action in plain language, for example:

"You raised the throttle by 30% — discharge pressure rose by 45 PSI." "You opened the tank-to-pump valve — tank supply began flowing."

It stays put until your next action, so you build a clear sense of cause and effect.

Practicing on the panel

Want a goal instead of free play? The panel is also where you solve Practice Drills (randomized pump-pressure problems) and run coached Scenarios. Both put you on this same panel with a task and feedback.

The panel is a generic training simulator using simplified models — not a digital twin of any specific apparatus. See Safety & Disclaimer.