Fire Extinguisher

[fiatslug87]

 

I never considered that location, mainly because I didn't it would fit. Looks nice and snug in there. :thumbsup:

It will fit on the driver side but will slide forward easier, the passenger side has a more pronounced floor cross brace that keeps it in place.

 

And to Comanche County: the guy's truck I used mine on had a fuel leak in the engine bay with fire coming through the firewall. I shot some under the dash, some into the engine bay after just releasing the hood not opening it and then some from underneath the engine. All went out then we waited for the fire engine to show up. It would have been a total inferno if I did not have the extinguisher. Hitting a mine is a different thing all together.

[Comanche County]

I'm glad it worked out for you...

 

As to my Christmas tree analogy, I misspoke, a real wood Christmas tree will go up in about 5 seconds or less depending on the water saturation, and soon after a flashpoint (where nearby furniture and walls will get hot enough to immediately ignite) will occur in less than a minute or so.  A vehicle will be a bit slower, but once flames fully engulf the engine compartment or interior, then it will only be seconds till a flashpoint occurs and everything burns immediately. 

 

Your chance to put out a vehicle fire is in the first few precious seconds.  If you can't extinguish it out right away, then its best to just get away from the vehicle. 

[HOrnbrod]

Yeah Jay, I hear you brother. I've had my share of vehicle and marine fires in my time, and understand where you're coming from. We had plenty of ambushes with land mines in the Philippines in the 80's during the NPA Communist uprisings in the early 80's, once in an unarmored vehicle right in front of me. No fire extinguisher would have helped then. Remember Col Nick Rowe? He was one of many US casualties of this unpublised "skirmish". But stuff like that is a different thing that we're analyzing here.

 

Excluding collisions and land mines, 99.9% (my guesstimate) of fires in an MJ originate in the engine compartment, mostly due to leaking fuel quick connectors on a hot manifold. Of course my first pri is to exit the vehicle if possible, but pop the hood before I do. In-cab extinguishers are good in certain conditions, out-of-cab locations can also be good. Best to have both.

[DirtyComanche]

No comments on mounting location, other than I'd probably put it on the trans tunnel if there was nothing in the way (console).  Easily in reach, pop it out of it's mount as you're exiting the vehicle.

 

However, if you buy a typical ABC one, I recommend the Purple K dry chemical.  It's far more effective on flammable liquid fires than the bicarbonate or CO2 based extinguishers, and works decently on electrical fires.  The majority of fires that get bad in a hurry are fuel/oil fires, with electrical fires normally being a little slower to get going, so you want an extinguisher that will work effectively on the major trouble.

 

Halon is okay too, but it's silly expensive and getting hard to find.  Not to mention it can cause lots of trouble if used in a confined area/inhaled.

 

And lastly, if you have a dry chemical extinguisher of any sort, take it out and shake it every now and then.  It helps prevent the powder from clumping.  I don't know how big of a concern that really is, but we were told to do it when we did the monthly checks.

[freakjeep93]

halon is illegal to own in canada now i beliieve, wither illegal to own or to buy i can't remember

[DirtyComanche]

halon is illegal to own in canada now i beliieve, wither illegal to own or to buy i can't remember

 

 

Neither.  It's illegal to manufacture new halon.  That's pretty much universal around the world.  Conveniently there's a lot of it still kicking around, and it doesn't go bad.

[mjeff87]

MJ, is mounted in the stock jack location behind the driver seat....I figger I can be out of the seat and can access it in a couple seconds. If my junk is on. Fire, I'm gonna be out of it anyway.

 

TJ, I carry one beside the driver seat. Tried mounting it on the roll cage behind the seat but it was too clumsy to get to with the high back buckets.

[dave92cherokee]

https://www.pegasusautoracing.com/group.asp?GroupID=FIRESYSSFI

 

This thread got me thinking about the future as well and I think I might look into something like one of the FE-36 systems which is a Halon replacement. The AFFF stuff is the foamy crap that airports use but is said to be a b*%^h to clean up afterwords. Looking into the 10lb FE-36 pull system where I can mount 3 nozzles in the engine bay and have a pull handle to put it out if need be. Then can mount a standard extinguisher for other use if need be. It's an expensive system but fast acting and will save it if you need to use it.

[Comanche County]

Yeah Jay, I hear you brother. I've had my share of vehicle and marine fires in my time, and understand where you're coming from. We had plenty of ambushes with land mines in the Philippines in the 80's during the NPA Communist uprisings in the early 80's, once in an unarmored vehicle right in front of me. No fire extinguisher would have helped then. Remember Col Nick Rowe? He was one of many US casualties of this unpublised "skirmish". But stuff like that is a different thing that we're analyzing here.

 

Excluding collisions and land mines, 99.9% (my guesstimate) of fires in an MJ originate in the engine compartment, mostly due to leaking fuel quick connectors on a hot manifold. Of course my first pri is to exit the vehicle if possible, but pop the hood before I do. In-cab extinguishers are good in certain conditions, out-of-cab locations can also be good. Best to have both.

Funny you mention Nick Rowe, he was one of my heroes when I was a cadet/LT.  I have his POW memoir on my shelves somewhere.  I discovered his book when I did my thesis on Bataan and POWs in the Pacific Theater.  He's the father of SERE school and a fellow Texan.  :thumbsup:

[wurst]

For your extinguisher you'll want the highest "B" rating you can get in a small vessel.  B ratings are applied to flammable liquids.  The A rating is applied to wood fueled fires and is probably not what you're looking for in you truck.  You want a minimum of 10B for most vehicles, iirc (OSHA website is a PAIN!).  You probably have no need for the C rating which is for electrical fires... or maybe you do.

[Pete M]

hmmm, I wonder how important is it to get C rated if the electrical system only runs on 12 volts DC?

[DirtyComanche]

hmmm, I wonder how important is it to get C rated if the electrical system only runs on 12 volts DC?

 

An arc is an arc.

 

But like I said, the Purple K works wonders.  It will knock down any electrical fire that you're going to see in a vehicle, along with actually having a hope of putting out a fuel fire.

[freakjeep93]

Neither.  It's illegal to manufacture new halon.  That's pretty much universal around the world.  Conveniently there's a lot of it still kicking around, and it doesn't go bad.

okay thanks for clearin that up, i couldnt remember lol, youd think i should know that being a firefighter and all....