Australians love a Christmas break, especially after harvest. We know there are also negatives involved, apart from how much you spend, but we’re talking about the vagaries of climate and the possibilities of scorching temperatures, windy days and deadly fires.
One Australian company, Australian Pump Industries, has beefed up the production of both petrol and diesel drive fire pumps to keep up with the growing demand for their top quality product line.
“We’ve worked hard all year to build up component supply with our first world partners and to make sure the products we use are the highest standard”, said Aussie Pumps Chief Engineer, John Hales.
WORLD’S BEST FIRE PUMP
Australian Pump is proud their Aussie Fire Chief pump. It has won a reputation not just in Australia, but through the South Pacific, Indonesia, Canada and even the USA. The Fire Chief, launched just over 25 years ago in Australia by Aussie Pumps set new standards for performance and value for money.
“Frankly, we started with the ability to build a fire pump that was better than the old brands like Davey and Onga that were already on the market. Our plan was to study market requirements and work with government departments and volunteer firefighters to make sure we got feedback on what was required and what was needed for reliability and performance in the field”, said Hales.
Aussie believe that if you ask any farmer what they want in the form of a high pressure fire pump to protect their crop, livestock or farmstead, they will answer with the same response. It is to have a pump that starts first time, every time, primes first time every time and has enough performance to be able throw water at the fire and do more than just put out “spots”.
That’s where the Aussie Fire Chief comes into it’s own. With a big 7” impeller, bigger than competitors, the pump can throw water with 25% more pressure than competitive brands as well as more volume.
The Aussie design simply has a bigger inlet than competitor pumps. Aussie’s 2” flanged inlet, with a option of 3” flanged inlet as well, simply gets more water into the pump. If the water can’t get into the pump, ie if it’s restricted with say a 1 ½” inlet, then you can’t get the same volume of water, compared to the Chief to put out the fire.
Check out the comments from Greg Peebles in the video and you’ll see what this practical farmer, operating on the outskirts of Sydney thinks of the Aussie brand and the benefits in terms of more performance than competitors.
AUSSIE DOES IT! … HOW?
We interviewed Aussie’s Chief Engineer, John Hales, as to how they managed to come up with a pump that performs better than any other similar comparative pump in the world. His answer was simple.
“We have a very simple philosophy when it comes to product development and design. Our motto is, we design and build products as if we were going to use them ourselves”, says Hales.
Hales believes that putting yourself in the place of the user, something that the big corporations don’t seem to think of, is fundamental to design. “That’s why we have a 2” inlet, where key competitors have only 1 ½”. It’s also why our pumps prime better, faster and we spend more money on the components.
Take a look at the size of the body on our pump, compared to the others and you’ll see that’s how we are able to get a bigger impeller into the pump in the first place”, he said.
Davey and Onga are great companies and have been around for years but, our development program has pushed for giving users more performance and often at a substantially lower price.
NEW PRODUCTS
“Yes, it’s an Imposter. Our new single impeller pump does the performance equivalent to twin impeller pumps of other brands. How did we do it? That’s our secret!”, said Hales. “However, suffice to say that we couldn’t have done it without the great co-operation of the Honda engineering department. They are a great support to our engineering team”,
The Imposter is powered by a GX160 5.5 hp engine but offers a 90 metre vertical head!
AUSSIE’S DISTRIBUTOR NETWORK
When it comes to distribution, Aussie simply work with the very best dealers out there. They enlist them to sell top quality products. The dealers love the amount of effort that is put into product development and the way Aussie bring out new pumps every year that often change the pre-conceived ideas of even hardened professionals.
Aussie distributors are all part of the Gold network. “We call them Gold because that is what they are! They are the best pick of the bunch and we consider it a great privilege to be working with professionals who know about our pumps. They see clearly just how far we’ve come and the advantages of our designs and enhanced pump performance.
We give a great deal of credit to the distributors.
The showroom at Hughenden Motorcycles is fully stocked with our Fire Chiefs and Fire Captains to support the community as fire season approaches. Alongside the latest equipment and supplies the dealership offers our FREE Bushfire Survival Guide. Hard copies available from distributors throughout Queensland.
Merry Christmas to all and a big thank you for your recognition and acknowledgement of the work we have done in the last 30 years.
Aussie’s big full-page ad is loaded with bargains. Check the Gold Dealer listing at the bottom of the Ad to find a dealer near you or visit www.aussiepumps.com.au .
