Which Fire Extinguisher
Discussion
LordB said:
Not known as a pessimist but I think a FE is now in order.
Any views on which is the best VFM (cost, size, reliability, longlife, looks) etc.
And
Where would you put it (polite answers pls)
I got mine from screwfix and was about £10. Not used it yet so not sure about how good it is, but i would only tackle small fires myself anyways. Its not too bulky either and fits neatly on the back shelf. It also comes with a secure mount. On the side of the extinguisher it says to replace every 2 yearsAny views on which is the best VFM (cost, size, reliability, longlife, looks) etc.
And
Where would you put it (polite answers pls)
HTH
Edited by lewis s on Thursday 31st December 10:41
Thought about that mounting, but worried that in a collision it might end up bouncing around the cabin - with quite a lot of force. I had thought of under my knees, such that it was handy in case I was trapped in the car. I like the size of your for that reason - it should fit OK.
Tx
HNY
Tx
HNY
TVR Moneypit said:
Wasn't that The Kinks?
Comparisons of Julie Andrews and Iggy Pop spring to mind.. 
Actually a very interesting chap following in Thomas Cooks footsteps as an innovator
A local hero of mine alongside Fred Trueman when I was a lad ~ notice an arson theme developing from a young age 
lewis s said:
I got mine from screwfix and was about £10. Not used it yet so not sure about how good it is, but i would only tackle small fires myself anyways. Its not too bulky either and fits neatly on the back shelf. It also comes with a secure mount. On the side of the extinguisher it says to replace every 2 years
HTH
Not wanting to piss on anyone's fire (gettit?) but what sort of fire are you expecting to be able to put out with that? It might manage to supress a chip pan fire but in a Tiv isn't that more a placebo than anything useful?HTH
Certainly for any sort of engine fire I'd be looking at one of two scenarios:
1) No fire extinguisher, get car stopped as quickly as possible, get out and get the feck away as quickly as possible coz that bugger is going up.
2) Plumbed in fire extinguisher, get car stopped as quickly as possible, hit big'ol extinguisher to fill unopened engine bay with as much foam as possible, get out and get away as quickly as possible because there's still a damn good chance that bugger is still going up.
Basically if there's any sort of an engine bay fire I wouldn't want to be having to try to lift the bonet at all to get to it ... trying to lift any sort of bonet with an engine fire underneath has to be inviting a facefull of flames and burned hands/arms surely?
Phil
I have some experience with these types of systems.
Firstly powder handhelds are next to useless and so are really there as a feel good factor to keep in your car, believe me you put yourself at more risk by not knowing how to use one of these than calling the fire services and letting them sort it out.
Halon (green colour) extinguishers work, but are illegal - although I know what I'll be using in the event of a fire in my car.
The best bet is a plumbed in system.
Firetrace (.co.uk) make one which carries the extinguishant ( gas , powder etc) within the burn-through piping which takes the extinguishant to the hottest part of the fire - these work well- I had one fitted to my quattro ring car and they are also fitted to paris dakar cars too)
Fogmaker (.com) make a fog system which works very well, is easily rechargeable through recharging with pressurised water, and uses firetrace burn through tube to activate the system which then expels ectinguishant through the strategically located nozzles within the engine bay.
The fogmaker systems are fitted to the eurotunnel maintenance vehicles and also to the bendy buses (which until they fitted the fogmaker systems kept catching fire and burning out, it was traced to a fractured diesel pipe which was only un covered after they fitted the fogmaker systems which extinguished the fire and allowed them to discover the cause). These systems have slightly larger cylinders than standard though.
Gas systems (co2, novec etc) work in the short term but dont reduce the latent heat in the metal surfaces to prevent re-ignition (in some cases) and powder is messy as hell and not very effective.
For me its fog (which works very well on flammable liquid fires cotrary to what you might think) or halon.
I regularly fire test on these risks for my line of work.
Firstly powder handhelds are next to useless and so are really there as a feel good factor to keep in your car, believe me you put yourself at more risk by not knowing how to use one of these than calling the fire services and letting them sort it out.
Halon (green colour) extinguishers work, but are illegal - although I know what I'll be using in the event of a fire in my car.
The best bet is a plumbed in system.
Firetrace (.co.uk) make one which carries the extinguishant ( gas , powder etc) within the burn-through piping which takes the extinguishant to the hottest part of the fire - these work well- I had one fitted to my quattro ring car and they are also fitted to paris dakar cars too)
Fogmaker (.com) make a fog system which works very well, is easily rechargeable through recharging with pressurised water, and uses firetrace burn through tube to activate the system which then expels ectinguishant through the strategically located nozzles within the engine bay.
The fogmaker systems are fitted to the eurotunnel maintenance vehicles and also to the bendy buses (which until they fitted the fogmaker systems kept catching fire and burning out, it was traced to a fractured diesel pipe which was only un covered after they fitted the fogmaker systems which extinguished the fire and allowed them to discover the cause). These systems have slightly larger cylinders than standard though.
Gas systems (co2, novec etc) work in the short term but dont reduce the latent heat in the metal surfaces to prevent re-ignition (in some cases) and powder is messy as hell and not very effective.
For me its fog (which works very well on flammable liquid fires cotrary to what you might think) or halon.
I regularly fire test on these risks for my line of work.
hman said:
I have some experience with these types of systems.
Firstly powder handhelds are next to useless and so are really there as a feel good factor to keep in your car, believe me you put yourself at more risk by not knowing how to use one of these than calling the fire services and letting them sort it out.
Halon (green colour) extinguishers work, but are illegal - although I know what I'll be using in the event of a fire in my car.
The best bet is a plumbed in system.
Firetrace (.co.uk) make one which carries the extinguishant ( gas , powder etc) within the burn-through piping which takes the extinguishant to the hottest part of the fire - these work well- I had one fitted to my quattro ring car and they are also fitted to paris dakar cars too)
Fogmaker (.com) make a fog system which works very well, is easily rechargeable through recharging with pressurised water, and uses firetrace burn through tube to activate the system which then expels ectinguishant through the strategically located nozzles within the engine bay.
The fogmaker systems are fitted to the eurotunnel maintenance vehicles and also to the bendy buses (which until they fitted the fogmaker systems kept catching fire and burning out, it was traced to a fractured diesel pipe which was only un covered after they fitted the fogmaker systems which extinguished the fire and allowed them to discover the cause). These systems have slightly larger cylinders than standard though.
Gas systems (co2, novec etc) work in the short term but dont reduce the latent heat in the metal surfaces to prevent re-ignition (in some cases) and powder is messy as hell and not very effective.
For me its fog (which works very well on flammable liquid fires cotrary to what you might think) or halon.
I regularly fire test on these risks for my line of work.
Firstly powder handhelds are next to useless and so are really there as a feel good factor to keep in your car, believe me you put yourself at more risk by not knowing how to use one of these than calling the fire services and letting them sort it out.
Halon (green colour) extinguishers work, but are illegal - although I know what I'll be using in the event of a fire in my car.
The best bet is a plumbed in system.
Firetrace (.co.uk) make one which carries the extinguishant ( gas , powder etc) within the burn-through piping which takes the extinguishant to the hottest part of the fire - these work well- I had one fitted to my quattro ring car and they are also fitted to paris dakar cars too)
Fogmaker (.com) make a fog system which works very well, is easily rechargeable through recharging with pressurised water, and uses firetrace burn through tube to activate the system which then expels ectinguishant through the strategically located nozzles within the engine bay.
The fogmaker systems are fitted to the eurotunnel maintenance vehicles and also to the bendy buses (which until they fitted the fogmaker systems kept catching fire and burning out, it was traced to a fractured diesel pipe which was only un covered after they fitted the fogmaker systems which extinguished the fire and allowed them to discover the cause). These systems have slightly larger cylinders than standard though.
Gas systems (co2, novec etc) work in the short term but dont reduce the latent heat in the metal surfaces to prevent re-ignition (in some cases) and powder is messy as hell and not very effective.
For me its fog (which works very well on flammable liquid fires cotrary to what you might think) or halon.
I regularly fire test on these risks for my line of work.
oops !!
I suspect the best fire extinguisher on these cars, on the basis that prevention is better than cure is to regularly replace the two fuel lines where they come over the driver side rocker cover.
If you are going to sprint or hill climb then don’t get a dry powder unit as they are expressly prohibited, blue book section K 3.1. AFFF or ZERO 2000 are the preferred types.
If you are going to sprint or hill climb then don’t get a dry powder unit as they are expressly prohibited, blue book section K 3.1. AFFF or ZERO 2000 are the preferred types.
roysum said:
hman said:
I have some experience with these types of systems.
Firstly powder handhelds are next to useless and so are really there as a feel good factor to keep in your car, believe me you put yourself at more risk by not knowing how to use one of these than calling the fire services and letting them sort it out.
Halon (green colour) extinguishers work, but are illegal - although I know what I'll be using in the event of a fire in my car.
The best bet is a plumbed in system.
Firetrace (.co.uk) make one which carries the extinguishant ( gas , powder etc) within the burn-through piping which takes the extinguishant to the hottest part of the fire - these work well- I had one fitted to my quattro ring car and they are also fitted to paris dakar cars too)
Fogmaker (.com) make a fog system which works very well, is easily rechargeable through recharging with pressurised water, and uses firetrace burn through tube to activate the system which then expels ectinguishant through the strategically located nozzles within the engine bay.
The fogmaker systems are fitted to the eurotunnel maintenance vehicles and also to the bendy buses (which until they fitted the fogmaker systems kept catching fire and burning out, it was traced to a fractured diesel pipe which was only un covered after they fitted the fogmaker systems which extinguished the fire and allowed them to discover the cause). These systems have slightly larger cylinders than standard though.
Gas systems (co2, novec etc) work in the short term but dont reduce the latent heat in the metal surfaces to prevent re-ignition (in some cases) and powder is messy as hell and not very effective.
For me its fog (which works very well on flammable liquid fires cotrary to what you might think) or halon.
I regularly fire test on these risks for my line of work.
Firstly powder handhelds are next to useless and so are really there as a feel good factor to keep in your car, believe me you put yourself at more risk by not knowing how to use one of these than calling the fire services and letting them sort it out.
Halon (green colour) extinguishers work, but are illegal - although I know what I'll be using in the event of a fire in my car.
The best bet is a plumbed in system.
Firetrace (.co.uk) make one which carries the extinguishant ( gas , powder etc) within the burn-through piping which takes the extinguishant to the hottest part of the fire - these work well- I had one fitted to my quattro ring car and they are also fitted to paris dakar cars too)
Fogmaker (.com) make a fog system which works very well, is easily rechargeable through recharging with pressurised water, and uses firetrace burn through tube to activate the system which then expels ectinguishant through the strategically located nozzles within the engine bay.
The fogmaker systems are fitted to the eurotunnel maintenance vehicles and also to the bendy buses (which until they fitted the fogmaker systems kept catching fire and burning out, it was traced to a fractured diesel pipe which was only un covered after they fitted the fogmaker systems which extinguished the fire and allowed them to discover the cause). These systems have slightly larger cylinders than standard though.
Gas systems (co2, novec etc) work in the short term but dont reduce the latent heat in the metal surfaces to prevent re-ignition (in some cases) and powder is messy as hell and not very effective.
For me its fog (which works very well on flammable liquid fires cotrary to what you might think) or halon.
I regularly fire test on these risks for my line of work.
oops !!
Still legal in some very specific aplications but cars isnt one of them..
steve-V8s said:
I suspect the best fire extinguisher on these cars, on the basis that prevention is better than cure is to regularly replace the two fuel lines where they come over the driver side rocker cover.
Seems to be bit of a witch hunt on those... Generally ensuring the fuel system is in good nick is just as important?I still suspect there are more fires due to electrical problems and would advise an easily accessible battery cut off as being higher on the safety list than an extinguisher.
IMHO its still advisable to carry an extinguisher under the front of the seat, but considering this to be the first line of defense is certainly the wrong approach in my mind
TVR Moneypit said:
Please excuse me severe denseness, but what benefit would a battery cut off do in the event of your vehicle smoking, sparking, or flaming?
Instant solution if your loom is melting & arcing Far more effective to remove power in an electrical problem than try to stifle the oxygen....
There are three 'types' of fire extinguisher and people seem to confuse which is for what purpose.
Plumbed in systems are designed to save you - if the car is saved then thats just a bonus. This is why you (are supposed to) have an equal number of nozzles discharging into the cockpit as under the bonnet (pointing one at a fusebox is missing the point there). The second 'type' of extinguisher has a similar purpose: the 1.75-2.40 litre foam hand-held extinguisher which is mounted in such a manner as to be within the drivers reach with his belts fastened: this too is designed to save the driver, as opposed to tackling an engine bay fire - at which it will struggle.
The third 'type' of extinguisher is intended to save the vehicle. As others have said, small ABC powder extinguishers are of little use here and 'to-hand' brackets are the tinsel of preparation, rather than useful or functional. If you want to extinguish a car fire then you need a proper extinguisher. Halon's gone and 3M Novec (Zero360 etc) costs a fortune, so your options are AFFF or ABC powder. Both have advantages: foam cools and it discharges for longer, but ABC powder will usually have a higher A & B rating for a given size. A nine litre AFFF or a 9 kilo ABC powder would be ideal, but practically this is unlikely, given their size. In my opinion the best compromise will be a 4l. AFFF or a 4kg ABC mounted in the boot. If you look at the plumbed in picture above youll notice that the chubby bottle has a similar cylinder diameter to a conventional fire extinguisher (160mm). You can use a pair of these mounts to safely secure a four litre/kilo extinguisher in your boot. Id also keep a pair of welding gauntlets or aramid long sleeved gloves there too - they cost next to nothing but you cant open a bonnet without them and maybe some goggles too. This is what you need if you hope to put out an engine fire and an electrical isolator will be a great benefit too. For the first two 'types' the cut-out isnt of any real use - if the car is already alight and you need extinguishers to enable you to get out, then a cut-off isnt going to help, but if a fire is starting then theres a good chance that the cut-out will prevent it.
Plumbed in systems are designed to save you - if the car is saved then thats just a bonus. This is why you (are supposed to) have an equal number of nozzles discharging into the cockpit as under the bonnet (pointing one at a fusebox is missing the point there). The second 'type' of extinguisher has a similar purpose: the 1.75-2.40 litre foam hand-held extinguisher which is mounted in such a manner as to be within the drivers reach with his belts fastened: this too is designed to save the driver, as opposed to tackling an engine bay fire - at which it will struggle.
The third 'type' of extinguisher is intended to save the vehicle. As others have said, small ABC powder extinguishers are of little use here and 'to-hand' brackets are the tinsel of preparation, rather than useful or functional. If you want to extinguish a car fire then you need a proper extinguisher. Halon's gone and 3M Novec (Zero360 etc) costs a fortune, so your options are AFFF or ABC powder. Both have advantages: foam cools and it discharges for longer, but ABC powder will usually have a higher A & B rating for a given size. A nine litre AFFF or a 9 kilo ABC powder would be ideal, but practically this is unlikely, given their size. In my opinion the best compromise will be a 4l. AFFF or a 4kg ABC mounted in the boot. If you look at the plumbed in picture above youll notice that the chubby bottle has a similar cylinder diameter to a conventional fire extinguisher (160mm). You can use a pair of these mounts to safely secure a four litre/kilo extinguisher in your boot. Id also keep a pair of welding gauntlets or aramid long sleeved gloves there too - they cost next to nothing but you cant open a bonnet without them and maybe some goggles too. This is what you need if you hope to put out an engine fire and an electrical isolator will be a great benefit too. For the first two 'types' the cut-out isnt of any real use - if the car is already alight and you need extinguishers to enable you to get out, then a cut-off isnt going to help, but if a fire is starting then theres a good chance that the cut-out will prevent it.
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