Fitting a fire extinguisher.

Fitting a fire extinguisher.

Author
Discussion

Alan 2

Original Poster:

162 posts

278 months

Monday 14th October 2002
quotequote all
Stig. Have you thought of fitting your extinguisher on the rear bulkhead, between the seats? I used M5 rivnuts to secure the extinguisher cradle to the rear bulkhead so that the bottle sits just above the handbrake cables. It is out of the way of everything here and you don't lose luggage space. However, mine is electrically operated and also of slightly smaller capacity than yours, although it looks to be about the same diameter. Just a thought.

stig

11,823 posts

298 months

Monday 14th October 2002
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Alan - I did look at this first, but the bottle is a bit too wide. I could go for a lower capacity, which slims it down a bit, but I feel more comfortable with the bigger one.

drdrdrt

21 posts

272 months

Friday 25th October 2002
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My son and I put in a Halon fire system with a fire bottle in the right luggage compartment, facing toward the back of the car. The activation button is in the center of the dash, with three nozzles for the cockpit. We then made a bracket to mount a smaller portable fire extinguisher on the rear bulkhead and fits well between the seats, rather out of the way but readily accessible. It works well for us. David

james

1,362 posts

298 months

Friday 25th October 2002
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Halon inside the passenger compartment? You do know that you aren't supposed to breathe Halon, don't you? It can be lethal . Especially in a space as enclosed as the cockpit of a car.

That's why it's been banned from use in buildings

James

ultimapaul

3,949 posts

278 months

Friday 25th October 2002
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James is right. All computer rooms now have to have an alternative fire system. Inogen (sp?) is now used in most computer rooms. Not sure why, I thought Halon was inert? May be toxic os something?

james

1,362 posts

298 months

Friday 25th October 2002
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It's because it's toxic. Lethal in fact.

mkoch1

486 posts

273 months

Friday 25th October 2002
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I may be wrong but I believe Halon works by absorbing all the oxygen in the room, hence the fire goes out. I don't think breathing it is toxic, it's the lack of oxygen that will kill you. Maybe I'll go set of the halon system in one of the sever rooms at work and see what happens

drdrdrt

21 posts

272 months

Friday 25th October 2002
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It is my understanding that Halon 1301 is totally nontoxic. It is the best fire retatdant for this type of use and is required in all forms of racing, including vintage, where I have a similar system in my '62 Lotus 23B Sports Racer. There is a rumor it somehow depletes the ozone layer but on the other hand I do not intend to be using very much of it- hopefully never. My Ultima system is by Phoenix Fire Systems and there are several other systems available as well. David

davefiddes

846 posts

274 months

Friday 25th October 2002
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James is dead right. Halon is bad news. In certain concentrations it is toxic and it is also a known ozone eater. It has been banned in new competition car installations and from sale in the UK for years. The oldest RAC blue book I've got is from 96 and it is banned there but I think that it was 91 or 92 or thereabouts that it was actually KO'ed. I've not been in a computer room that has used it for a long time thankfully...

A quick google search revealed:

www.healthsafetyinfo.com/news/tip/autotip-arc.cfm?content_id=11890

The system I've been looking at is an electrical system from SPA design (www.spa-uk.co.uk/design/fire_ex.htm) which uses an aqueous film foam (or something like that ) to extinguish the fire. Much better than a CO2 or Halon dump. Their system should also comfortably fit in the footwell of my car...though it is quite a bit more expensive than the system Stig was specifying.

Goes without saying that I hope nobody ever has to find out how toxic or otherwise their fire extinguishant is!!!!

>> Edited by davefiddes on Friday 25th October 21:08

GTRCLIVE

4,193 posts

297 months

Friday 25th October 2002
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Surgest fitting ejector seats, that automaticaly go of if they smell Haylon