Fire Extinguisher reccomendation

[Chix]

Hi team,
Do you roll with an extinguisher? What type? What size? Where mounted?

I want a nice shiny silver one, maybe a 2L foam?

Titan_Prestige_2Ltr_Foam_Fire_Extinguisher.png

[Bakdraft007]

I have three Fire Extinguishers on board... see at the bottom of the post ....

Two Fire safety sticks (one by each of the front seats) and the other in the boot. All 3 deigned to prevent a worse mess made by the extinguisher

Dave

[Niallcat]

Could I ask why you would want foam ? I would choose carefully which media to use, bearing in mind it will probably be used outdoors, powder can be corrosive and would be a nightmare to clear up, foam would also be difficult to clear up, and is more suited to liquid fires. CO2 would be my choice, safe on electrics although not ideal for outdoors as it’s gaseous, I would hope that as you would likely be with the car at the unfortunate time any fire would not be well developed, in which case a CO2 through the grille or bonnet just released but not lifted may well be sufficient. Consider a decent size to offer a reasonable chance of controlling any incident. I would also consider a quick way of disconnecting the battery without having to delve into the engine bay with tools, might get at tad warm ! Any small fire extinguisher is only a sticking plaster so always call for help promptly no matter if you think it’s out and don’t spend long trying to extinguish, if it’s not going out quickly it’s not going out at all ! I fitted mine in the boot as under bonnet and cabin both risk areas.
Niall

[dasadrew]

Must admit I've still got to plumb it in, but I'm going the AFFF route:

https://www.demon-tweeks.com/uk/omp-black-collection-mechanical-steel-bottle-fire-extinguisher-system-2-8-ltr-ompcmfst1/

[Niallcat]

These foam extinguishers are designed for motor racing incidents, personally not for me as I would not want it operating on the relay board on the inside or behind the dash. Each to their own. AFFF is Aqueous Film Forming Foam for those not aware.
Niall

[barkerwilliams]

The biggest problem is where to stow the extinguisher there is no available space to hand that is large enough and does not look appalling. The boot is the obvious choice but too far away and if it is locked when you need to get it and time is ticking away.

There are two obvious scenarios to use an extinguisher, a simple car fire when you have access and time to fight the fire, and the worst case a fire after an accident when perhaps someone in the car is trapped or unconscious.
Would you necessarily use the same extinguisher type and same capacity for both types of incident?
If you were the one trapped unconscious how would your passenger know there was an extinguisher in the boot?

I am not suggesting you build for a doomsday scenario, just consider what you are trying to achieve then you can take effective steps for that particular eventuality, same as most things in life really.

Alan

[Niallcat]

Alan, in my opinion you are over thinking the possibilities, the boot is the obvious place as in any incident you want to be out of the vehicle first, should the worst happen there may not even be a passenger, do any of us brief a passenger?? Would a passenger be able to use the extinguisher?? Not poo pooing your suggestion but as previously this equipment is only a sticking plaster and professional or help from others carrying extinguisher is more likely to help at the worst moment. As always try and keep it simple.
Niall

[NeilR]

2kg CO2 in the boot for me.

[DJT]

Way back in the early 70s I, and a few other guys at college, carried small Simoniz extinguishers in our cars. I believe they were BCF or Halon. One was used to extinguish a carburettor fire when one of the students was working on his Ford Anglia whilst smoking a pipe . Very effective, but this type of extinguisher is no longer available.

Despite having been trained to firefight throughout my working career (Merchant Navy and offshore oil production platforms), I do not bother to carry an extinguisher. My concern would be to evacuate the vehicle to a safe place and call the professionals. If I were to carry one, it would be a CO2 extinguisher, but wherever it was carried in the car, removing it from its securing bracket could delay escape.

I do keep a dry powder extinguisher on a bracket just inside the garage door for use should something go wrong whilst working on the car, or welding, but it would be deployed after I had ensured a safe exit.

[RobinLegin]

I have a 2 litre dry power extinguisher in the boot alongside a box of tools and basic spares. Yes dry powder makes a mess when used, but it is effective. And the powder can be vacuumed up and treated area then washed down later. But as DJT says the main thing is to get the occupants out of the car and clear first, then consider if the fire can be attacked before the professionals arrive. Human life is more important than our beautiful Stags.

In my yachting days, I once had to use a dry extinguisher when my crew allowed cooking spirit to catch fire and started to spread rather quickly. It was most effective if messy. After I was able to sweep up the powder and carry on sailing that weekend. When I got to the home berth, what was left was vacuumed.

[Niallcat]

A word of caution on powder, very effective but corrosive and in the auto environment is incredibly hard to clear up, it gets in terminals cables in fact everywhere and can cause long term problems such as cables seizing overnight. I have secondhand experience of this and it almost killed the driver when the throttle stuck.
Niall

[bullstarz]

Seems like some are putting too much thought into this question. When the answer is obvious, “YES” , it is a good idea to carry a fire Extinguisher in the car. The more the better. As to which one do you wanna carry, that is your own preference but again anything is better than nothing.

As to not tackling the fire yourself, again personal preference. There’s them that do, and them that don’t.

When using foam or dry powder extinguisher they will make a mess, but is far better than your car bursting into flames.

I’ve had a few vehicle fires from, a Range Rover where all I had was some shopping so it was tomato ketchup and a couple of tins of beer, right the way to ammunition an truck where we had everything and then some.

The Stag had a fuel hose go as I brought it into the work shop and that took a few dry powders and foam to stop it. Messy, yes, but better than loosing the car and building.

The systems that are permanently plumbed in are obviously the best, and these can be operated from inside the car if there is an engine fire, just pull and forget. There again some can operate automatically when a fire is detected. But it’s sods law that if you have one of these then you’ll have a fire in the boot.

[Rod1883]

Just bought two of these - https://www.screwfix.com/p/firechief...questid=237930

Hopefully will never need to use them.....

[dasadrew]

I guess you know that they will empty in around 4 seconds? Good if you can specfically identify the source of the fire exactly and point it directly at it quickly.

[Rod1883]

Yes I'm aware they're small - one of the reasons for getting two. I would hope that they could knock something down quickly if caught early/small enough. A large conflagration would be beyond anything that sensibly could be carried in the car anyway I imagine. I'm tempted to get one or two of the small foam ones too as further backup. Perhaps then carry one of each type in the cabin and a similar pair in the boot.....