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Best Fire Extinguisher Location

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If the car has a back seat, I like to have an extinguisher behind the front seat. On a two seater, on the floor in the passenger side of the car works. Not having it fastened down makes it easy to transfer from car to car.
 
blueskies said:
If the car has a back seat, I like to have an extinguisher behind the front seat. On a two seater, on the floor in the passenger side of the car works. Not having it fastened down makes it easy to transfer from car to car.
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Be careful, not having it fastend down makes it a projectile in a sudden stop or accident.
 
I know this tread is about placement of a fire extinguisher, and just wanted to point out one more thing just as important should a fire occure.
Make sure the very first thing you do before going for the extinguisher - turn the ignition off. Don't what the fuel pump running.
 
AUSMHLY said:
Be careful, not having it fastend down makes it a projectile in a sudden stop or accident.
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Of course, you are correct. I will have to give some thought to how they can be fastened down and still easily moved from car to car. (I'm sure that many people have more cars than fire extinguishers.) One could put a fire extinguisher in the trunk, but that would slow response time in case of a fire.
 
AUSMHLY said:
I know this tread is about placement of a fire extinguisher, and just wanted to point out one more thing just as important should a fire occure.
Make sure the very first thing you do before going for the extinguisher - turn the ignition off. Don't what the fuel pump running.
Click to expand...

Next, one might want to turn off the master switch in the trunk; a lot of fires are electrical fires and disconnecting the power can help a lot. Hmmm - For that type of fire, having the fire extinguisher in the trunk might be OK, as one will be in there anyway. A fuel related fire under the hood might be a different story.
 
Keoke said:
blueskies:


Most of the extinguishers come with snap in clips, this imobilizes the extinguisher but allows easy hand retrieval.
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Yes, that is the type that I have, with mounting brackets. The brackets don't always get fastened to anything as I don't have enough fresh fire extinguishers around the place to have one in each car - overcautious probably, seeing as I have never had to discharge one in decades of driving classics. What is the greater risk - being hit on the head by a fire extinguisher or having a car start on fire? I do have some properly fastened in place - on equipment and in buildings. Whether to install seat belts in a roadster like a Healey also is a trade off; in a roll over, one might prefer ejection from the car over remaining in the car.

That brings up another issue. Of course everyone replaces or services all extinguishers every few years. And everyone vigorously shakes the extinguishers regularly to prevent them from clumping up, I'm sure. So many things to remember . . .
 
Thanks everyone for the input. This is where I decided to put it:
ExtingLocation.JPG
 
Is a fire extinguisher really necessary? I didn't think that Healeys were prone to catch on fire. Am I missing something?
 
BoyRacer said:
Is a fire extinguisher really necessary? I didn't think that Healeys were prone to catch on fire. Am I missing something?
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The Healey wiring design, even with new wiring harnesses in place, is rather primitive. How many fuses does a Healey have, and how many circuits are left unprotected by fuses? I found that out the hard way when the overdrive throttle switch, located on the firewall, shorted out and the overdrive wiring harness went up in smoke. No fuse had blown by the time I turned off the key and the master switch. Fortunately, the rest of the wiring escaped without damage, and I installed an inline fuse for the overdrive circuit.

Also, placing the carburetors/fuel system directly above the exhaust manifolds adds potential for disaster.
 
BoyRacer said:
Is a fire extinguisher really necessary? I didn't think that Healeys were prone to catch on fire. Am I missing something?
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A word to the wise here is sufficient.

It is a wonder that you do not hear of catostrophic electrical fires and failures in the Healey more often.
 
John Turney said:
Is that because so many have burned up?
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NO it is because so few fuses were included in the initial design and yet so few cars actually burned up'

I have only seen one car that failed this way.

Years ago when the Austin Healey store was located in Sanfernando Valley, out in the storage area behind the store was a big Healey that had burned up and was literally a pile of molten metal.
 
DerekJ said:
I have a fixed position Cobra sport seat and my extinguisher is bolted to the floor right in front of it, under my legs.
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Hi Steve
As usual I agree the DerekJ opinion,
I also have my DUST extinguisher under my leg,
fuel and electrical fires are so fast, that few seconds of retard, can be decisive for our car.
this position aren't obstructing for the driver accessibility
 
DerekJ said:
I have a fixed position Cobra sport seat and my extinguisher is bolted to the floor right in front of it, under my legs.
Click to expand...
Hi Steve
As usual I agree the DerekJ opinion,
I also have my POWDER extinguisher under my leg,
fuel and electrical fires are so fast, that few seconds of retard, can be decisive for our car.
this position aren't obstructing for the driver accessibility
My opinion :
your decision can be improved
if you place the ext....on the rear of the passenger side, where it is easy accessible to you
"ergonomic"!!
 
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