In a message dated 01/16/2000 10:32:08 AM Pacific Standard Time,
tmfu@home.com writes:
<< Halon is good for enclosed spaces/electrical fires. For an engine bay use
drychem. Say for example your belt decides to fall apart and cuts your
tranny lines to the cooler, you'll have ATF spaying all over the inside of
your bay hitting those nice hot headers and such, Halon will snuff it out
momentarily, but once it is gone the fire will rekindle due the high temps
and flashover. Drychem by nature is messy, but will keep the fire out. >>
i talked to my roomate(works for Grinnell fire protection) and he said that
if you used drychem to put out the fire you should pull the rims, seats, and
cd player out of the truck and tow it to the dump. drychem is mildly
corrosive gets everywhere and would have to be removed from the engine with a
toothbrush. the electrical system would be completely toast after the dry
chem finished eating all the connections. 1211 halon is the way to go. he
suggested a two shot system with both an automatic and manual release system.
1211 halon is slightly lighter than air and would stay under the hood once
pulled. the first shot would snuff the fire and allow you to stop. the fire
might reignite if you were going fast enough and all the halon was pulled out
of the engine bay but once you stop and the second shot is discharged you
just have to sit and wait for everything to cool off before opening the hood.
the halon will just sit there waiting. his further recommendation was a
10lb bottle of co2. you could spray it up and under the front bumper and it
would reach everywhere under the hood.
1211 halon is hard to come by these days(enviromental concerns due to its
eating of ozone) and really expensive. but almost all dragsters and american
military vehicles have it. 1301 halon is easier to come by but not quite as
efficient. it is less damaging to the ozone layer(eats only one molecule
instead of thousands).
his strongest recommendation went to a properly engineered water mist system.
it would be pricey but it is the best system for this application and what
the military is swapping over to now that halon is not allowed to be made.
apparently you can engineer a water mist system that will not freeze up in
the antarctic so for a regular winter it shouldn't be a huge deal.
sorry about the length of this. be thankful i managed to condense it down
from the conversation i ended up having. personally if my dak catches fire i
am going to stand back and watch it go then collect the insurance money and
get another.
derek
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