Fire suppression system?

[Robert Lone]

I've always been scared of an engine fire that I couldn't put out. I.E., expend your small dry chem on it just to have the exhaust light it back up.

I was thinking about building a CO2 system w half a dozen nozzles. 1 to fog the engine from the top, 2 on each header to take most of the heat out of them, and at least 1 on the downpipe. I think plumbing it all on the bottom side of the hood would be the smartest way to do it so it won't get in the way.

What I don't know about is the "dump valve" or nozzles required for such a system.

Thoughts?

(Flash cooling red hot metal may destroy the parts. I say F#CK the parts! Save the truck.:tup: )

 

[Black Knight]

Re: Fire suppression system?

Why have you always been scared of an engine fire, bad childhood memory!!Personally that sond pretty extreme, which is nothing new for the pages of this web site, I would just carry afire extingwisher.getting late please mind the spelling.

 

[Robert Lone]

Re: Fire suppression system?

Why have you always been scared of an engine fire, bad childhood memory!!Personally that sond pretty extreme, which is nothing new for the pages of this web site, I would just carry a fire extingwisher.getting late please mind the spelling.

I kandt sphell ithur. :rotf:

My brother torched my '86 SS Monte Carlo because the headers kept reignighting the oil on the engine. He emptied both of the dry chemical extinguishers that I had in the car but they wouldn't take enough heat out of the headers.

Look at it from my point of view....

Having seen the end result as stated above I have 2 choices.
1, Extreme overkill and a $1,000 CO2 sytem just to have a better chance at saving the truck.

2, Carry a couple of small dry chems and hope for the best.

I just see myself standing on the side of the road smoking a cigarette waiting for the fire dept. thinking, "That looks expensive."

 

[Black Knight]

Re: Fire suppression system?

You are too funny, im lmao at that story not what happened but how you present it so humorisly. Man I love that 86 SS body style!! Go for for the big C03 set I now see your point

 

[jbone]

Re: Fire suppression system?

I would say maybe a small extinguisher in the truck. Try to find the smallest co2 you can find. I dont like the idea of dry chem in the engine bay.

 

[Robert Lone]

Re: Fire suppression system?

I try to find humor in bad situations. My brother called me in tears when the car burnt. I told him not to worry about it 'cause it was a hotrod. If you build hotrods long enough, eventually you'll burn one to the ground. It's like the price of admission or something. I told him the car was gone and it was time to suck it up and drive on.

Think about it, If I had gotten all pissed off and raised hell at him for using a plastic oil pressure line (cause of the fire after his install of new guage and my specific instructions to go buy the copper line kit) it would have made me miserable and would have hurt him even worse. It's jsut a car and there's nothing I can do to bring it back. However, there is something I can do to prevent it from happening again.

 

[Robert Lone]

Re: Fire suppression system?

I would say maybe a small extinguisher in the truck. Try to find the smallest co2 you can find. I dont like the idea of dry chem in the engine bay.

Dry chem on aluminum vs. smoking hull. I'll take the ruined aluminum.

As far as the CO2 goes, I want enough of it to get the heat out of the parts to keep the fire from reignighting.

(see reference to overkill above)

 

[12secondSY]

Re: Fire suppression system?

The new crown victoria cop cars have a fire supression system. When it goes off it almost lifts the car. Its sweet, look into their system and you might get some ideas.

 

[2kwik4u]

Re: Fire suppression system?

I helped a biddy of mine plumb a fire suppression system into an ITS mazda RX7 a few years back. It wasn't all that hard, and was worth the peace of mind (as well as being in the rule books for that class I believe).....

I do think it's overkill for a street driven vehicle. If you do quality installs, and pay attention to details it shouldn't be a big deal I wouldn't think. Carry a couple enxtinguishers in the truck, and keep an eye on things, and I think you'll be more than OK.

 

[jbone]

Re: Fire suppression system?

Dry chem on aluminum vs. smoking hull. I'll take the ruined aluminum.

As far as the CO2 goes, I want enough of it to get the heat out of the parts to keep the fire from reignighting.

(see reference to overkill above)

the benefit of using co2 is far greater than dry chem b/c theres no mess to clean up. I highly doubt there is any chance of the "parts" reigniting after extinguishment so long as you use the etinguisher correctly. also dry chem doesnt really reduce any temperatures from any of the components that were on fire.

 

[QUICK STORM]

Re: Fire suppression system?

your intake temps should be really low as well. i vote for T-56 to install a water tank and a fire hose in the bed of the truck with a ladder too, he's got everything else why not:dunno: :rotf: :drugs: :silly:

 

[jbone]

Re: Fire suppression system?

your intake temps should be really low as well. i vote for T-56 to install a water tank and a fire hose in the bed of the truck with a ladder too, he's got everything else why not:dunno: :rotf: :drugs: :silly:

:rotf: :rotf: :rotf: :rotf: :rotf:

 

[V895]

Re: Fire suppression system?

I am on a Fire deptment and I can say you can go 1 of 2 ways and have a great system.

1. get a 10lb extenqisure of what they cal Purple K. ( it will put out anything including magnusium)

2. Get a halog system installed :tup:

 

[sy538]

Re: Fire suppression system?

A 20 oz. CO2 tank with an on/off valve for a paintball gun would be a cheap ($40) way to go. But I would be nervous about leaving it in the truck all of the time, because I'm not sure hot they can safely get with out blowing the burst disk. Make sure you get a cover for it too, because you will get frostbite on you hands if you empty the whole thing at once while holding it.

 

[Robert Lone]

Re: Fire suppression system?

I am on a Fire deptment and I can say you can go 1 of 2 ways and have a great system.

1. get a 10lb extenqisure of what they cal Purple K. ( it will put out anything including magnusium)

2. Get a halog system installed :tup:

I thought HALON was outlawed by the EPA...

I've used it on God knows how many Top Fuel fires and I'll agree, it is awesome.

I thought 20lb of CO2 would be enough to turn the engine bay into a snowcone. Ever tried to light a snowcone?

Back on the subject, (I'll get reamed for typing that ) does anyone know anything about dump valves or nozzles that will work at these kinds of pressures? Something I can activate (trigger) from inside the cab to the bottle in the bed of the truck...

 

[jbone]

Re: Fire suppression system?

you are right halon is outlawed.

 

['JustDreamin']

Re: Fire suppression system?

So, the only question is this:

Do you do a permanent installation (with all the plumbing and such) or go with a portable unit?

One of the biggest pros to the permanent installation is that you don't have to pop the hood to deploy it. Just trigger it and be done. But what if you haven't put the nozzles in the right spot (like you shelled a rearend or tcase and its on fire?)

The second and easier option would be to put a portable 15lb C02 fire extinguisher in the truck, in place of one of those dry chems. They're significantly more $$ than a Kiddie 10ABC extinguisher that you'd find at Home Depot (last ones I bought were like $200 a piece), but they're also designed to do the job. You could also take that extra ballast out at the track (if you desired) whereas a permanent install would be tough to take out.

'JustDreamin'

 

[Robert Lone]

Re: Fire suppression system?

I would also be carrying hand held dry chem's onboard. When you have a fire (eng, trans, diff, etc...) there is no such thing as TOO many ways to out it out.:2cents:

I have tried to raise the hood on a burning car before and it sucks at best. The hard plumbed system would negate most of that chore.

 

[leroy]

Re: Fire suppression system?

There's a product called Cold Fire that's very effective. They make or supply systems for race cars.

http://coldfiresales.itcstore.com/default.aspx?p=45905

I tested this product and other firefighting foams a few years back. At the time, they claimed to extinguish magnesium fires. It wouldn't extinguish the magnesium fire, but worked very well in all other categories we tested.

Jim

 

[Robert Lone]

Re: Fire suppression system?

Sounds similar to this stuff.
Sorry about the HUGE pic but I figured someone would want to read the label.