Hand held extinguisher qustion, powder or foam?

[kartman24]

I am looking for a hand held fire extinguisher to mount in my car for track days and the odd sprint/ hillclimb. There seem to be several types on the market with foam or powder, which is the preferred option and what size does it need to be (obviously the bigger the better) to satisfy the MSA rules for Sprints etc............Martin

[Justaredbadge]

Foam.

because powder is a complete to clean.

[BritishRacinGrin]

Read the regs, it'll all be in there.

It will indeed be AFFF foam... but what volume bottle is required? and how do the regs stipulate it should be mounted and activated?

[thechosenfamily]

Not sure of the regs but I would go foam all day

Powder should not be used in confined spaces in any event but inside a car!!! To be fair its a true multi purpose but the cons outweigh the pluses.

[lord summerisle]

Weslake-Monza said:

Foam (AFFF)

Dry powder used <snip> bad to breath

It goes right through you.... very quickly.

[papahet]

Interesting, Australian regs (that are regulated by CAMS under the FIA and largely follow the same wording as MSA regs) call for a minimum of 1kg dry powder and in fact for circuit racing you don't need an extinguisher at all.

There is a standard of extinguisher to buy (AS something or other here) which are available from pretty much any car parts or diy shop. Extinguishers to that standard have a pressure gauge, inspection tags and a metal carrier with over centre strap.

Whatever you buy must have a decent metal carrier and you need to be able to mount it so it is within easy reach, preferably without undoing your seatbelt. You need to think the mounting of it through, a minor crash can be 25G so the mounting needs to be tough, last thing you want is to catch the extinguisher with your head.

[McSatan]

Foam. I'm a track marshal, and I've seen drivers on their knees weeping, begging us not to use powder extinguishers on their cars when they're burning

[Willhire89]

MSA regs are for a minimum 1.75 litre AFFF when a hand held fitted - don't skimp and go smaller as it is marginal on performance and relies on throwing a blanket of foam over the fire to smother it.

Powder extinguishers have problems if not regularly shaken hard upside down - the powder settles and actually compacts with the gentle movement of a car.

Other problems with powder are also that it is very corrosive and must be fully removed asap - it is in fact baking powder

[Slidingpillar]

McSatan said:

Foam. I'm a track marshal, and I've seen drivers on their knees weeping, begging us not to use powder extinguishers on their cars when they're burning

Absolutely. If an engine ingests dry powder, it's rebuild time.

[marshal_alan]

at least if it gets a dousing with powder and it kills the fire the drivers still have a car to rebuild. i know on sunday we were faced with a car that was leaking fuel onto hot surfaces, had that gone up at all it would have been hit hard with powder

[Squiggs]

I'm sure I'm not alone in having been through an H&S course and tried an extinguisher.
In my view the little baby hand helds would only just last long enough to put out a burning match stick.
Regs are regs I know but if my car caught actually caught fire and I had a small extinguisher in the car I wouldn't even bother trying to reach it - I'd simply get out of there!