Date:         Sat, 11 Nov 2000 01:55:15 -0500
Reply-To:     "James S. Cohen" <jscohen@SPRYNET.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         "James S. Cohen" <jscohen@SPRYNET.COM>
Subject:      Halon Extinguishers, etc.
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" ; format="flowed"

Okay,

Good thread, nice and heated. Now for my 2¢.

I've ALWAYS read that Halon is the fastest and best way to smother a
fire. And it is still sold for racing cars whose engines are NOT an
enclosed area
and whose fuel is VERY flammable. I also always heard that it's a
form of Freon and is "mostly" harmless. It also does no damage to the
unburned parts of the car.


They have stopped being used as a standard fire fighting tool because
of the damage to the Ozone layer (which is why Freon is no longer
used in new A/Cs and refrigerators). MANY organizations have decried
their phase-out as losing the best and least damaging way to fight a
fire.


But the key here is SMOTHERING a fire. Bill could be right about
flare-ups since Halon doesn't actually COAT the flammables with
anything (which is PRECISELY why it will do less damage to your
Vanagon). If you have a Westy and your curtains catch on fire, do you
really want to coat the whole car with gook when you could put it out
without it?

I would love to carry both kinds, and depending on the type of fire,
would use them accordingly.

So let me know where I can get a Halon.

When my '86 burned up it was atypical as the fire started under the
dash from an electrical spark. The single most important factor was
that when I grabbed my extinguisher, NOTHING CAME OUT!!!  It didn't
have a dial gauge but the stupid button that sticks out and you're
supposed to push in monthly to test. Well that only works if it
doesn't lose it's gas between TESTS!!

The carpeting and all the plastic in the Vanagon is VERY flammable,
and my Westy was a ball of flames in minutes. I got to sit there
helplessly and watch the whole thing burn up...... it was
heartbreaking.

A conventional extinguisher would have worked, but would've been
messy. A Halon would've put the fire out with no mess and with no
additional damage.

But the gas tank DID not explode. And the FULL propane tank blew it's
seals and flamed out for about 15 secs but it didn't explode either.

I would carry both, and I think the heat activated fire alarm is a GREAT idea.

The fuel pump cut-off is less useful since the FP cuts out when you
turn off the ignition.

And, it would be hard to OVER protect yourself by carrying several
extinguishers. I carry two bigger ones and a little one for a kitchen
fire.

James