Mark.S

The reason I'm asking is a friend of mine works for a company that supplys fire safety equipment including extinguishers for cars.
I'm getting one from him in the next couple of weeks. Would anyone else be interested in getting one at a very good price? If I can get enough names together then I'll see what price he can do them for. This is for safety only not for me making a vast profit.
Cheers,
Mark.

NeilA

Mark,

Could well be interested in a couple - what sort of thing are you looking at and, of course, how much?

Neil.

Puff The Magic Wagon!

iTrader: (2)

I've got one but it's probably sh1te by now - quite old. Useful for chocking tyres when at track days - instead of welding handbrake...

Contemplating plumbed in system...

Dave T-S

Yeah - the accessory shop type ones are pretty useless - got a 2.5kg halon one in mine (yes I know halon is now banned but it works better than anything else!!).

Jerome

As Dave said, if you can get a halon one, it can be used on any type of fire and is more effective than anything else.

barge

All cars I have ever had have had an extinguisher in, currenly have a 5kg Halon.

Main reason for carrying is, if on fire I want out of the car with the family without getting burnt, putting the fire out after everyone is out is the last thing on my mind.

Dave T-S

Barge
When the feds stopped you the other night, did they also do you for carrying an illegal fire extinguisher in your car mate???

banshi

Haven't fixed mine to the new car, and don't have a clue what type it is.
It's years old painted blue & I guess it's about a kilo.

Adam M

I will be getting one as my roll cage from performance drivers? includes one and mountings fr it to be attached.

Tim Taylor

I also hace a Halon one in my car...hope I never have to use it.

Tim

HunterB

I keep a 2.5Kg Halon cylinder in my car too. Been in two cars that caught fire - one Reliant Scimitar V6 with an extinguisher that saved the car, the other a Capri V6 without one. Fortunately, a passing Chubb Fire van put the flames out, but it took him 11 extinguishers to do it! Hmmm, both Ford V6s, hadn't thought about that before ....

Brendan Hughes

Had something from Halfords (I think 1KG powder) fitted in my Terzo.

One important point for you powder-carrying eco-warriors out there; take it out and give it a good shake every month (the extinguisher, I'm talking about). Apparently over the long term the vibration just makes the powder solidify into a plug, and it becomes useless.

Of course, those of you who just have it rolling around in the back of the car (again, I mean the extinguisher) can disregard this advice!

BJH

ian_sadler

no

TURBO7379

I was told by a bloke who sells fire extinguishers that most of the car extinguishers on the market are useless for putting out a fire in a car as they don't have enough power . I you've ever seen a car go on fire you'll know what I mean - it flares up very quickly and you've got to put it out as soon as it starts which means using something powerful . You could get yourself in trouble trying to put it out with one of these small ones . The only ones that he recommended are the types specified for motorsport ( before you say anything no he doesn't sell them ! ) . The only problem is that they tend to be expensive and bulky for fitting in a road car .

Derek

Gizmo555

Halon extinguishers can no longer be bought. They are by far the most effective - if you've ever been on a fire fighting course the differance is amazing and they last alot longer.

Good luck if you can get a Halon one. If not >2 kg of powder is a min requirement for a powder extinguishers to be any sort of good. This has a life of something less than 10secs I think, not long I know but long enough if used properly to extinguish a car fire.

Stef

I have the Performance Drivers RTRS which comes with TWO extinguishers.

I'd quite like some chrome ones though.

Stef.

GM

Sorry Stef - good ol' EU will only let you buy red ones now - its so people who don't know how to use fire extinguishers know that its a fire extinguisher (of course, it also means that those who do know how to use 'em now have to check carefully so they know what type it is rather than being able to work it out from the colour!).

I have an ancient CO2 bottle in the car - I wouldn't have great hopes of it working! If I was replacing it ideally I'd choose Halon (in a green bottle!) but as has been mentioned you can't legally buy Halon extinguishers any more - the stuff does nasty things to the ozone layer). Only problem with Halon is that in an open space it will blow away but for engine bay fires etc that isn't a problem. Dry powder is fine - if you can get it to where the fire is. Scooshing it through a bonnet vent or grill will do a lot less good than doing the same with Halon, particularly when you are using the type of small fire bottles people carry in their cars. Dry powder is actually banned for on board use in motorsport - you can still use Halon if its still in date (at least in National permit events). Most new motorsport on board systems are using Aqueous Film Forming Foam (AFFF) instead of Halon. Its probably better for putting out under bonnet fires because it can be squirted through vents (you really don't want to lift the bonnet and let all that nasty air get to the fire!). It won't knock down a fire as well as powder but it is much better at preventing reignition - it forms a film over the fuel etc and prevents air getting to it and it also cools hot metal etc.

Worth bearing in mind that in a lot of countries it is legal requirement to carry a fire extinguisher.

Banshi - your blue extinguisher should be a dry powder one. I'd second Brendan's comment about giving dry powder bottles a shake from time to time - the stuff does tend to end up as a lump in the bottom of the bottle (if you're ever at a race meeting first thing in the morning you'll usually see the marshals turning their powder extinguishers upside down to let the powder move about for this very reason)

G

johnfelstead

Some pictures from yesterdays Dukeries rally i took. Says enough on its own doesnt it.

Oh Shiiiiitttttttt


Go Out you git!


Phew


Messy


Plumbed in extinguishers are not enough on there own, you need hand held units to kill most fires.

I was at the scene of where Brian Bell's Escort WRC car went up in flames on the Woodpecker rally in 1999. They used 10 hand helds and nothing would stop it burning. 2 fire tenders and 1 hour later it burned itself out, £300,000 up in smoke.
A lot depends on what started the fire and what is burning in the car. In brians case it was a fuel pipe failure like the above pictures. The diference was on brians car there was plenty of Magnesium and once that catches fire, forget it.

Modern Brake fluid is very flamable, most fires after acidents are started by the brake fluid spilling onto a hot exhaust system.

I carry an Extinguisher in my Westie, fire is my biggest fear, it destroys things so quickly and so perminantly.

Brendan Hughes

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:<HR>Originally posted by Stef:
<B>I'd quite like some chrome ones though. [/quote]

For heaven's sake Stef, what's wrong with wrapping Bacofoil around them?

johnfelstead - Westie's fibreglass, no? Had the same fear in my Dutton (if you'll permit such language on this board); you've more of a fire risk there than most, methinks!

BJH

Dave T-S

Stef
You can get polished ally extinguishers, seen em advertised recently, can't remember where though - i'll do a search around.

john banks

My Belgium import came with one fitted to the underside of the passenger seat. It seems to be fixed quite well and is labelled Subaru with loads of funny Euro-babble on it. I suppose they need to be fixed quite well as they can become quite impressive missiles in a crash - 5kg at 50g could be interesting.

Autoexpress quoted a while back that the rate of fire after an accident for all cars is 0.5%. I read this, along with instructions on how to safely get out of an upside down car the day before my Focus turned upside down on a country road after a tractor incident. It didn't set on fire, but it is the first thing you worry about. I suppose fuel cut outs help protect to some degree. A fire extinguisher could also be useful for smashing your way out of an upside down car with electric windows that don't work - I had to kick it with trainers - but it was already partly smashed. Mobile phone is handy, but if in your top pocket could be miles away by the time you've rolled over

And another thing - don't lift the bonnet with an engine fire - obvious to some, but some people have got some nasty burns.

Keep safe guys.

johnfelstead

Oh yes indeedy, and i know it!!!!

bren simpson

Stef,

Why not just get yours polished? Would only cost a tenner an extinguisher.

Bren

MorayMackenzie

Yes I have an extinguisher...
No, I don't expect it will do much good as it's only little.

Incidently, in case it hasn't already been said, if you ever try to use one of these extinguishers to put ouyt an engine fire, it's a very bad idea to open the bonnet... it just adds air to fan the fire. I think that the suggested approach (other than leave the car and wait for the experts ) would be to pop the bonnet catch to allow you to spray the fire through the small gap that opens. Don't lift the bonnet any further.

Joris

We have to have an extinguisher in every car over here (Belgium).
I think most cars are equipped with 1kg ones,
so not very helpfull

pat

Hi all!

I have been carrying a fire extinguisher in the car since the engine caught fire. Seeing flames come up through the bonnet vents is an interesting sensation and one quickly followed by an exclamation of "oh f*ck!" and a rapid dash for the nearest hose pipe or extinguisher. Fortunatley I was near a hose pipe at the time, but figured that if it ever happened again, I might not be so lucky, hence invested in a fire extinguisher.

Cheers,

Pat.