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Having seen two bad car fires in the past week, I think it's time I started carrying an extinguisher in my '72. What are everyone's thoughts and recommendations? Please give the size, brand, approx. price you paid, where purchased, and the material in the extinguisher, if you don't mind. I'd like to get something that won't ruin everything under the hood if I have to use it. Thanks in advance for your help.
Duane
Duane- I have seen a couple car fires, too, including a Corvette that was completely destroyed. If you do not have an extinguisher to use in about 10-15 seconds, the fire will get out of control. A 5 lb dry chemical (usually monoammonium phosphate) extinguisher with a UL rating of 2A10BC will fit in a Vette without too much trouble. A 10 lb will have more chemical and spray longer, but the case is a lot bigger. Get one with a steel (not plastic) case and decide how much room you want it to take up. The chemical will make a mess, but the CO2 and halon extinguishers require more skill to put out the fire. You can always use a pressure washer to get rid of the powder. I got a 5 lb extinguisher at Autozone for about $40.
I have always carried fire extinguishers in my vehicles after seeing several vehicle fires that could have been put out before serious damage was done. Instead, the vehicles were total losses.
If you don't like the 10lb, bulky size....get two 5 lb. extinguishers....they are worth their weight in Corvettes.
i made a bracket and mounted it in front of the drivers seat in my '72.
riverracer au: What size extinguisher is that one? Looks like a decent spot to secure one to me! Might have to source some material and get out the MIG.
This is what I have... I bought the bracket and extinguisher from VetteWorks. I also have a small one I got from Home Depot that will fit in the rear jack compartment.
I fabricated an ABS piece and attached it to my Vette Works Sharkbar anti submarine 5 point mount. I have a back up unit in the jack storage compartment. The placement is no bother to my passengers.
Last edited by 74_stingray; 06-11-2019 at 08:48 AM.
While I was safety officer at a pharmaceutical company a few years ago, I had the local fire company come in once a year to conduct real life fire extinguisher training for the lab employees. In our parking lot the firemen set up a 55 gallon steel drum cut in half with an additional cut-out on the front. They added about one gallon of a mixture of kerosene and gasoline to simulate a car fire or fire in a fuel storage tank and set it on fire. After demonstrating how to put out this really large fire, the fireman had each employee take a 5 lb dry chemical extinguisher and put out the fire. Then he showed the difference with CO2 and halon extinguishers which work by displacing the oxygen needed for the fire. Most fires like this happen outside where there is wind. The wind can blow the CO2 gas and the halon gas so not all of it hits the fire and the fire still has oxygen. You also have to be closer to the fire to use CO2 and halon. If you cannot move around to compensate for wind direction, you will run out of CO2 and halon and then the fire takes off again. The advantage with dry chemical is 1) you can see where it is going and 2) it sticks and is more efficient breaking the air/fuel/heat cycle needed to have a fire and 3) you can aim at the fire from 10-15 feet away and then move closer while still aiming at the base of the fire.
While I was safety officer at a pharmaceutical company a few years ago, I had the local fire company come in once a year to conduct real life fire extinguisher training for the lab employees. In our parking lot the firemen set up a 55 gallon steel drum cut in half with an additional cut-out on the front. They added about one gallon of a mixture of kerosene and gasoline to simulate a car fire or fire in a fuel storage tank and set it on fire. After demonstrating how to put out this really large fire, the fireman had each employee take a 5 lb dry chemical extinguisher and put out the fire. Then he showed the difference with CO2 and halon extinguishers which work by displacing the oxygen needed for the fire. Most fires like this happen outside where there is wind. The wind can blow the CO2 gas and the halon gas so not all of it hits the fire and the fire still has oxygen. You also have to be closer to the fire to use CO2 and halon. If you cannot move around to compensate for wind direction, you will run out of CO2 and halon and then the fire takes off again. The advantage with dry chemical is 1) you can see where it is going and 2) it sticks and is more efficient breaking the air/fuel/heat cycle needed to have a fire and 3) you can aim at the fire from 10-15 feet away and then move closer while still aiming at the base of the fire.
Dry chemical also more or less totals the car. For sure it totals any airplane.
Dry chemical also more or less totals the car. For sure it totals any airplane.
Unfortunately, the fire will also total the car or plane. A pressure washer with a quaternary ammonium base solvent will remove the fire extinguisher residue from the large areas of the car. Wiring will probably need to be replaced, but at least the car will not be burned to a crisp. Fiberglass also melts. I would prefer to stop the fire and worry about cleanup later.
Very interesting. For the people that have mounted the bracket from VetteWorks; can you move the seat forward and backwards after it's installed?
My bracket is a 5 point anti submarine bracket from Vette Works that I fabricated a fire extinguisher mount to work with, the anti submarine bracket does not allow the seat to move forward of the bracket. I can’t speak to Vette Works FE bracket.
Eddy
Very interesting. For the people that have mounted the bracket from VetteWorks; can you move the seat forward and backwards after it's installed?
Per the VetteWorks website:
Vetteworks offers fire extinguisher mounting brackets for installation in front of either the driver seat ('68-'80) or passenger seat ('68 - '82 ) C3 Corvettes. All brackets fasten to the front two bolts of the seat mount. They must be installed with the seat adjusted fully back and there will be no seat adjustment once the bracket are installed. The C3 brackets will only mount on the passenger side for '81 and '82 Corvette because of the power seat.
Just bought a fire extinguisher from this company: https://elementfire.com (Check out the info and videos on their site.)
Seems like they beat traditional and halon type extinguishers in many ways. Has anyone purchased or used one?
I hope this post is alright as it seems my earlier post in some way failed to conform with forum rules and was deleted.
06-10-2019, 10:41 PM
Fire extinguisher recommendations
