• Hi Guest!
    You can help ensure that British Car Forum (BCF) continues to provide a great place to engage in the British car hobby! If you find BCF a beneficial community, please consider supporting our efforts with a subscription.
    There are some perks with a member upgrade!
    **Upgrade Now**
    (PS: Subscribers don't see this gawd-aweful banner
Tips
Tips

Fire Extinguisher

Share this page

healeyboz

healeyboz

Jedi Knight
Offline
Sparked, (no pun intended), from another post. What is the best type of fire extinguisher to carry in these cars. Obviously having one to put out a fire is the most important thing. What type would be the most effective and not cause more damage than necessary? I wonder where the best location for one would be? Any pics?
 
Down here in Johannesburg

Going to do my first rally in July, normal type timing thing on tarred roads, and in the instructions/regulations I have to have 1 * 1.5kg or 2 * 1kg and it has to be harnessed in the front. Having a look at the some on the spridget tour they were mounted upright in the passenger footwell.
 
Aye, and they will lay quite well between the front of the passanger seat and the cross member.
 
If you've actually used a dry powder extinguisher on a car, the mess it creates is horrible. Also if the powder gets wet it's very corrosive. It takes several days of disassembly & cleaning to "hopefully" get it all out. Nothing I want in my car.

They cost a lot more but a Halon or one of it's derivatives put out fires effectively & leaves no mess. Used extensively in computer or electronics rooms.

I keep the Halon handy for use on my car & a dry powder type for other peoples cars.

For location, the Halon is strapped to the floor just in front of the seat.
D
 
:iagree: Halon is the way to go! Good for just about any type of fire!! :wink: AND... NO mess to clean up other than fire damage!
 
I have one of the cheap household ones in my car. I was at a local show and one of the guys with a Jag came by and saw it and laughed. He said "You have insurance on it....get rid of it...you want it to burn real good."
 
Halon is best, but expensive. We use it in aviation, but always plan on wearing our masks if we have to use it because it displaces oxygen. Not really an issue in an open car, but I'd be prepared to find o2 fast and not use it in an enclosed area.
 
Dave is right, the powder in class ABC extinguishers accelerates rust and corrosion and is very, very difficult if not impossible to remove after it gets wet. Any metal surface this stuff touches will rust like heck.

A firefighter told me this, he's seen the result!

I wonder what a small Halon extinguisher costs??


Anyone priced one??
 
Well, it looks like Halon is the answer. Now to figure out where to mount the bad boy? I like the in front of the passenger seat idea, however, behind the driver's seat seems to be a good possibility also. Hmmm?
 
Have seen them mounted on a rear wheel arch.
 
I mount 'em between my (drivers' seat) legs in the Loti, passenger footwell, left side in MG's (and Alfas). Halon.

Haven't had to use one on MY cars (yet--fingers crossed) but have had occasion to do so on OP cars... shoulda used Dave's method. :wink:

Once a long time ago, First Wife put out a schoolbus engine fire with the one in her MGB. That was not a Halon unit, rather a B.C. (Before Computers) one. Messy. But the bus didn't burn to a crisp. School District happily paid for a replacement, too! :thumbsup:
 
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:]What is the best type of fire extinguisher to carry in these cars.[/QUOTE]
NONE!!

Years ago, I was on vacation when smoke started coming out the AC vents....pulled onto the edge of a filling station lot...told wife & daughter to get out & got luggage out of trunk.....walked around & opened hood.

VROOF!!! Flames!!

Station attendant came running over with a fire extinguisher.

<span style="font-style: italic">"What're you doing?"

"Putting out the fire."

"No you're not."

"But, its a Mercedes!!"

"No, its a <span style="font-weight: bold">BURNED</span> Mercedes!"</span>

When the fire died out & the wrecker towed us to the nearest Mercedes dealer about an hour away, we learned that the dealer who had serviced the AC right before our trip did something wrong....within a few hours, I drove out in a new Mercedes.

I'd never rebuild a burned car of any marque....it burns, its toast!
 
Fine if you are talking new car, Tony, only problem with that theory is I can't just go back to the dealer and buy another Bugeye :frown: !!!! (and I HAVE had some Lucas smoke-leakage issues with IT!!). :rolleyes:
 
bugimike said:
Fine if you are talking new car, Tony, only problem with that theory is I can't just go back to the dealer and buy another Bugeye :frown: !!!! (and I HAVE had some Lucas smoke-leakage issues with IT!!). :rolleyes:
Click to expand...
...& there's no way to ever repaint a burned fender or hood....it just won't take....plus, it rusts much more easily after its been burned!
 
All the more reason to squelch it FAST if you can't replace the car!!
 
Back
Top