Hey guys,
Im starting to think it might be a good idea to have a couple of fire extinguishers in the cabin of the minari just in case!

So what do you guys use? I dont know weather to go dry powder or CO2? Id like it (or at least one of them) to be able to deal with electrical fires in the cabin (should that ever happen).

Also, what size should I go for? 650G? 950G? What?

If you havent guessed, Im not particularly clued up on this

Your advice is much appreciated

Just to have an extinguisher is a plus,
the size, etc could not be answered, as its a personel choice

My extinguisher is a Guardian .8kg BC powder

I hope i NEVER have to use it, but just having it in the car does give me some peace of mind

Steve

If you have/ can get hold of the latest Rally Design catalogue- theres a nice feature about diferent types and diferent uses in there! Just had a quick search online and cant find it though..

I'd be dubious of a CO2 one in the cabin, you can't breathe that!

Then again a powder one probably isn't much better in that respect

Have you ever tried using a CO2 extinguisher? Unless it's a large one, the gas is gone in a few very short seconds. Unless you are very accurate with it you can end up with an empty extinguisher and the fire still going!

I've got a powder extinguisher under the passenger's footwell. That way it is out of sight and hopefully less likely to be activated by passers by for "fun" and is easy to get to in an emergency. The bracket is mounted such that in braking (or a forward impact) the extinguisher will be pushed firmly into the bracket. That way vertical bumps and acceleration won't cause it to fall out.

There really is no substitute for practising with the different types of extinguisher. I had a go at this in mandatory fire safety training when I worked at Lucas Automotive. The thing that scared me was how crap a water extinguisher was. You might as well wee on the fire! The CO2 was very difficult to use as it lasts such a short time and the fire (a paraffin fire) just "evaded" the gas. Foam was good and powder was good. You can't use foam on electrical fires though so powder is probably the most useful.

But there is nothing wrong in my mind with using a foam extinguisher on a car fire caused by electrical fault or not.

They recommend AFFF for MSA sports and that is foam, The water content and foam helps to cool and the foam smothers the fire by excluding oxygen.

As they suggest 2Kg then why not go for that size in the car or at least look at their regs and decide.

I only have a small dry powder, at present, better then nothing. It also depends on the build of the car, if plenty of fibreglass then a bigger extinguisher, if mostly ali or non combustible then perhaps a bit smaller, all down to your own risk assessment.

Adrian

Co2 is excellent at knocking down fires, not as good as Halon, but they dont last very long, unless you have a big one.


Powder is messy, you get more for your bang, and is probably the most suitable, best priced option for kit car users.



Ive got 2 x 1 kg powder jobbies in the garage, cost about £10 from Aldi.






NB - powder has no cooling effect on the fire, so not as effective as foam. Likewise cooling a fire seat with foam, will also reduce the likelihood of it starting again. The foam also produces a foam layer, sealing in any vapors. I work with jet-a1, and with biggish spills we are recomended to cover it with foam, to reduce it sparking up.

[Edited on 17/12/11 by T66]

Yes foam is fine on 12 volts but you'll get a shock if you squirt it on the HT leads and in general foam is not recommended for electrical fires so best not to confuse the issue in case someone uses it on mains voltage. Foam is also pretty messy too.

Foam is particularly good on fuel fires as you can squirt it over the fire like a blanket. During my fire training we used it on an established paraffin fire and it was much better than CO2 which was next to useless. If you get too close then the CO2 blasts burning paraffin all over the place and if you are not close enough then the fire just laughs at you as you run out of gas. You need to sweep across the fire in a progressive way to be successful and it takes practice. Most people were unable to put out a paraffin fire with CO2 on the course. Powder was pretty good and the only downside is that it is messy. It forms a crust over the fire to exclude oxygen.

On balance I'd say dry powder is the better general purpose material but just make sure you obey the use by date as it can settle and lose pressure which both result in malfunction. I know this from experience when my Dad's car went on fire when I was about 19 years old and I went for the extinguisher in my car and found that it was unusable despite having pressure. The compacted powder had presumably blocked the feed tube. It was way past its use by date to be fair. Ended up using the garden hose instead. That was an electrical fire in the read light cluster of a Rover SD1 but of course water is fine on what was essentially a carpet fire with low voltage electricity.

As I said before, I strongly recommend you practice with your chosen extinguisher if possible. Call in at your local fire station and see if they can give you some training. Worth asking.

Cheers,
Craig.

How fussy do you want to be about the mess of powder extinguishers when your pride and joy is about to burn to the ground? My car came with a small powder extinguisher tucked in front of the passenger seat but the warranty ran out in 1999, so it's just dead weight. My understanding is that powder is the best all-rounder and the main downside is the mess.

With all that grp bodywork, the only extinguishant that will work effectively is AFFF. The others will struggle with poly resin fires, except maybe for foam, which is AFFF in different form.

This is from experience, hard learned, and the following fire fighting training.

Cheers,
Nev.

Im sure ive read somewhere that powder extingushers effect aluminium? Im sure it was mentioned regarding Elise/VX220s that have been involved in fire damage having issues with structural deffects as the powder remants eventually eats the ally. Something like that anyway.