--- title: How to Use Burp Drafting When Your Primer Fails description: Learn how to use burp drafting to create suction when your primer fails on a rural fire scene. This mechanical workaround can save your operation. image: https://blog.tft.com/hubfs/Burp%20Drafting%20Reel%202%20ENHANCED.00_00_05_00.Still001%20copy.jpg --- [![Task Force Tips - Fire Fighting Equipment - Logo](https://blog.tft.com/hs-fs/hubfs/lettermark-HUBSPOT-LARGE.png?width=150&height=56&name=lettermark-HUBSPOT-LARGE.png "Task Force Tips - Fire Fighting Equipment - Logo")](https://tft.com/) Search toggle - [Home](https://tft.com/) - [Blog](https://blog.tft.com/posts) [Follow us on Facebook](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC147gP-lbmbVCmfKdg6VaEQ) [Follow us on Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/125437127512874) [Follow us on Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/taskforcetips) [Follow us on Facebook](https://www.linkedin.com/company/1414962) [![Task Force Tips - Fire Fighting Equipment - Logo](https://blog.tft.com/hs-fs/hubfs/lettermark-HUBSPOT-LARGE.png?width=150&height=56&name=lettermark-HUBSPOT-LARGE.png "Task Force Tips - Fire Fighting Equipment - Logo")](https://tft.com/) - [Home](https://tft.com/) - [Blog](https://blog.tft.com/posts) Search toggle [![Task Force Tips - Fire Fighting Equipment - Logo](https://blog.tft.com/hs-fs/hubfs/lettermark-HUBSPOT-LARGE.png?width=150&height=56&name=lettermark-HUBSPOT-LARGE.png "Task Force Tips - Fire Fighting Equipment - Logo")](https://tft.com/) - [Home](https://tft.com/) - [Blog](https://blog.tft.com/posts) [Follow us on Facebook](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC147gP-lbmbVCmfKdg6VaEQ) [Follow us on Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/125437127512874) [Follow us on Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/taskforcetips) [Follow us on Facebook](https://www.linkedin.com/company/1414962) Search toggle What are you looking for? Search # How to Use Burp Drafting When Your Primer Fails 9 Jul 2025 ![Picture of Task Force Tips](https://blog.tft.com/hs-fs/hubfs/TFT%20Logo%20-%20Blue%20Square%20No%20Bottom%20Text.png?width=40&name=TFT%20Logo%20-%20Blue%20Square%20No%20Bottom%20Text.png) [Task Force Tips](https://blog.tft.com/posts/author/tft) ![primer dies rural water supply burp draft solution](https://blog.tft.com/hubfs/Burp%20Drafting%20Reel%202%20ENHANCED.00_00_05_00.Still001%20copy.jpg) **Summary:** When a primer fails on a rural fire scene, you can still establish draft by using the burp drafting method. By fully opening both your tank-to-pump and tank-fill valves and recirculating water at a high rate, you create negative pressure at the impeller, allowing atmospheric pressure to push water into the pump. It’s a simple, mechanical workaround that can save your operation when modern systems fail. [![Download the Burp Draft Checklist](https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/46942026/interactive-192407794307.png)](https://blog.tft.com/hs/cta/wi/redirect?encryptedPayload=AVxigLLvhmNfcmRggQbRk25F%2FIiJBuNVK%2FzWq4PkVp39kVggGTOiZT0iTwWFgn71lEq6VGk4Qnsca4tXbAl3ofn47breRyjn%2BfCQVwHPES5MGsTq%2F7TOQmUVFuqlbwjmpXftEYSICfqMjHlyFpGiLQYJca0PuJ34j1hgjqGYAh2ea2aRyNT8Pu%2B9gu%2Fn5zzzPmnBDPwLIH5h3sGyREitxw%3D%3D&webInteractiveContentId=192407794307&portalId=46942026) [Leave a Comment](https://blog.tft.com/posts/primer-failure-burp-draft#comments) # How to Use Burp Drafting When Your Primer Fails ## The Problem: Primer Failure in the Middle of Nowhere There’s nothing quite like the gut punch of a dead primer during a rural fire. No hydrants. No help. Just you, a dry pump, and a growing fire. If you’ve been there, you know the stress. But there’s a time-tested move that might save your tail: burp drafting. ## What Is Burp Drafting? Burp drafting is a manual method of creating suction when your primer system fails. It uses your apparatus’s own onboard tank and pump recirculation system to generate the vacuum needed to establish draft. The key? Let the water flow hard and fast. ## Step-by-Step: How to Set Up a Burp Draft ### 1. Open Tank to Pump and Tank Fill Start by fully opening both your **tank-to-pump** and **tank-fill** valves. This sets up a loop from your booster tank, through the pump, and right back into the tank. ### 2. Recirculate at High RPM Now throttle up. By spinning the pump’s impeller faster, you’re ejecting more water out of the pump and into the tank fill line. This creates a low-pressure zone—basically a vacuum—at the eye of the impeller. ### 3. Let the Physics Do the Work As water leaves the impeller, something has to replace it. The system naturally pulls in more water from the booster tank, and as this recirculation intensifies, it helps “burp” any air out of the lines, encouraging water to be drawn in from your draft source. ## Why It Works This isn’t magic. It’s just hydraulics and basic physics. Faster impeller = faster water ejection = greater vacuum = more suction at the intake. When you’ve got no primer, this is your Hail Mary—and it works because it’s built into every pumper with a tank-to-pump and tank-fill loop. ## Keep This Trick in Your Back Pocket This technique won’t replace a functioning primer long term, but when you’re stuck on a country lane with no hydrants, it could be the difference between flowing water and falling short. Burp drafting is old-school, mechanical, and brutally effective. Train on it. Teach it. Because when the primer dies, burp drafting might be what keeps your crew in the fight. 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