944 BURNED OUT

[frankydoom]

http://www.getreading.co.uk/news/s/2106037_firefighters_called_to_car_blaze

ANOTHER BITES THE DUST ...

 

[pauljmcnulty]

Think I know that car, hasn't it been to a few events? Possibly the Reading winter meets at Heckfield? [&o]

 

[andy watson]

What a horrible sight, at least the driver is safe.
If it someone on here then I am sorry for you

 

[Copperman05]

Def a good idea to carry your own fire extinguisher, I do now for that very reason.


Edd

 

[GlennS]

Boo! Poor little 944 []

 

[colin944]

Shame to see another go. Who got the salvage? I would have bought it back and rebuilt it.

 

[Mike_Pollock]

Everyone safe, but another one gone[:-]

Engine bay is nice and clean now though........

 

[944 man]

If anyone is going to buy an extinguisher, particularly to put out a buring car, then Id recommend a 4kg powder type. Powder has a far greater knock down than foam even though AFFF discharges for longer. AFFF is used for motorsport, but both plumbed-in and hand-held motorsport extinguishers are intended for a different job; not simply putting out fire, and powder is better for that.

If you then extend the hose so that you can stand the bottle on the floor bu still direct the extinguishant up under the sills, itll be a lot more useful. The bottle can be secured in the car using a plumbed-in bottle mounting, in the load area and a pair of cheap welders gloves will make it twice as useful for a further £2:50.

An even better preventitive measure would be to fit an electrical cutout, as close t the batter as possible. Dont be tempted to fit a plumbed-in extinguisher though and then rely on that. I saw one on a TVR not too long ago, where the fellow knew far too much to be told anything, and he had directed one of the AFFF nozzles onto the bare fuse/relaybox - thatll turn it froma smoulder to an inferno in short order...


Simon

 

[Mike_Pollock]

Powder is ok for cars, it has good knock down performance, but does nothing to prevent reignition and when carried in vehicles can settle into a solid block, unless regularly inverted and shaken.

Doesn't taste very nice either!

AFFF has slower knock down, but smoothers and coats whats burning preventing reignition, also doesn't settle.

Also doesn't taste very nice, but taste (and smells!) a whole lot better than the old protien foams!

 

[944 man]

AFFF is pretty unpleasant stuff.

 

[JamesO]

Odd, I've been living in Reading for many years and I don't think I've ever seen that car. Suppose I never will now. Its a real shame, glad nobody was hurt though.

Mike and Simon, are you in the Fire trade? I sometimes get to play with foam monitors. Great fun testing them, give the trainee a bucket, send them halfway up the hanger to 'catch' a foam sample.

 

[944 man]

Im not no. I come from a racing family so Im very interested in prep (my grandfather used to build racing Aston Martins) and Ive seen a few vehicles go up in flames, so Ive tried to find out as much as I can about extinguisher types, ratings, rating testing methods, uses for extinguishant types and such.

 

[SUSIT]

Halon still the best

shame they banned it


car fires take a large amout of effort to put out, my mate had a Chevette HS burn out despite using 5 extinguishers on it, prevention is better than cure

would be gutted for my car to end its days like that

 

[Mike_Pollock]

25 years with Chubb Fire. Started on extinguishers, do hosereels, wet / dry risers and other bits.

Halon is great - Montreal Protocol is a real pain!

I've used 2 on car fires (not my vehicles!) very effective, but also no reignition prevention, so you dont open the bonnet!

Must say my car ext. is green[]

James - On my induction course I loved covering a Welsh hillside with foam!

 

[944 man]

I had a beautiful red and green extinguisher stolen a few years ago. Definitely the most effective extinguishant Ive used but illegal now, like heroin.

You can still buy them new of course, for use in aircraft, but youre looking at £150 for a 567g Halon 1211 - far from cheap.

 

[JamesO]

ORIGINAL: 944 man

I had a beautiful red and green extinguisher stolen a few years ago. Definitely the most effective extinguishant Ive used but illegal now, like heroin.

You can still buy them new of course, for use in aircraft, but youre looking at £150 for a 567g Halon 1211 - far from cheap.

I de-commissioned a system that a council had 'forgotten' about a couple of years ago, it was piped up to the gym which used to be the server room. The cylinder had around 70kg of Halon in, maybe I should have kept it!

 

[colin944]

I'm not sure but I don't think using a Heroin filled extinguisher would work.I also think it would be very expensive to buy.I've seen the police programs on the tele and that stuff is very expensive. But the big advantage would be that after you had tried to put the fire out with it and breathed the fumes a bit you probably wouldn't care if it put the fire out or not. LOL

 

[Mike_Pollock]

That system would have been Halon 1303 (I think) rather than the Halon 1211 the hand helds use. Due to the pressure required (25 Bar?) to liquefy 1303 the cylinders are too heavy to hold, 1211 works fine at
8 Bar or so. Long time since I thought about this lot!

 

[JamesO]

ORIGINAL: A9XXC

That system would have been Halon 1303 (I think) rather than the Halon 1211 the hand helds use. Due to the pressure required (25 Bar?) to liquefy 1303 the cylinders are too heavy to hold, 1211 works fine at
8 Bar or so. Long time since I thought about this lot!

Probably, I mostly deal with the electrical side, integrity testing and the odd Ansul job.