fire siren

   / fire siren #1  

RobertN

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Joined
Apr 6, 2000
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Location
Shingle Springs California
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New Holland TC40D
I know there are other firefighters on this board...

I am looking for information on an old siren. Our firehouse was just torn down to make way for the new one. Behind the station was an old Federal siren, from back when our station was an all volunteer outfit; Our district is a mixed paid/volunteer now.

This thing has sat for years; I have been there 11, and it was sitting out behind the station before I started volunteering.

A "Google" search turns up only a little info. Looks like it may be a Federal "5" or "7".

The siren has a tag on it, Federal Electric Company, Model S-C-V. 7.5 amp 240V. It is marked as 3-phase, but to my knowledge our station never had 3-phase power.

The top cover is beat up. I have not tried to remove any covers or see if the motor turns yet.

I'd like to clean it up and try to see if it will spin up. Not sure what I would do with it after that; our district has no interest in putting it up after the station is rebuilt. And, I do not know if there would be an issue firing it up. None of the districts around here use a siren any more. Everyone has been on pagers for years.

Anyways, if anyone has any pointers, I'd appreciate it :D
 
   / fire siren #2  
Could you put a picture up somewhere. I rebuild old starters and generators and have rebuilt some of the motors on the sirens on fire trucks.
Larry
Westminster,Md.
 
   / fire siren #4  
Sounds like the sire we used to use in my town. No pun inteneded. See if you can get in touch withe a local electrician, and he should be able to figure out the actual phases.

If I remember corretly, you can run a three phase appliance with just two legs, but you won't get the full "power" of the appliance.

Good luck with it, and once you get it restored, make sure you donate it to the local fire department's association so the town can't sell it for surplus.

Marc
 
   / fire siren
  • Thread Starter
#5  
I'm in that Assoc. This thing was just going to get dumped.

I do not know what we'll do with it if I can get it to work; not sure of legallity of running it "for non-emergency". From what I understand, you can hear these things 5-6 miles away :D

Good luck with it, and once you get it restored, make sure you donate it to the local fire department's association so the town can't sell it for surplus.

Marc
 
   / fire siren #6  
This brings back memories before we got pagers. Our old fire house had a siren like you describe on a tower behind the building. It was a 3 phase/ 240Volt. The three phase power only went from the service to a contactor box on the wall then up to the siren. No other 3 phase equipment in the place. The lights in the building and the street lights in front of the fire house would dim when you started it up.

Before we got pagers there were 7 fire phones through out town that would ring when someone needed the Fire Dept. Even had one at the bar, Resturant and village hall as well as other homes. Who ever took the call on the phone would then go to the fire house and blow the siren.

After the pagers they removed the old siren because it was not needed any more and put up a new fancy civil defense siren. You could hear the old one 3 miles out of town and the new one could barly be heard in town. I guess that was progress.

Dan

You can't start a 3 phase motor off of two phases unless you use a phase converter.
 
   / fire siren
  • Thread Starter
#8  
Here are three pictures. The sheet metal took a beating. It had just been laying kinda on its side behind the station for ages.
 

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   / fire siren #9  
I just loggeded out when I saw this post.Keep it for yourself.No one seems to care about these old things any more so as a keepsake of the past keep it.It sounds like it was going to the landfill any way.I,,v got a few bricks from our old fire hall and look at them from time to time Thank you guys for your service!People just don,t understand the time and training that are involved but I look back at my time good and bad and woudn,t trade it for any thing.I,m trying to get more young folks to get involved.It,s heart breaking and rewarding all at the same time.Take care fellow smoke eaters:thumbsup:Dave
 
   / fire siren #10  
They might have a phase converter to power it or picked up from some were else going to use it and found it was 3 phase.

Straighten sheet metal out put a pipe through the middle paint her red and it would make a unique mail box post.

tom
 
 
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