well, i think i found the perfect place to mount them.. because i have a vert, the last thing i want is some joker to spray it in the car, or steal it... so it needs to be out of site. but i needs to be accessed quickly if needed, so i cant put it in the trunk. my solution seems to work perfectly.. i put it on the passenger slide floor, against the firewall. its tucked up so tight on the pass side bottom dash panel (is it called hush panel?) that you cant see it easily. someone walking by the car wouldnt even notice... its high enough that it doesnt interfear with the passengers feet either.. yet when its needed, leaning over from the drivers seat and a tug on the latch releases it.... i can also bend over from the pass side and get at it quickly.. so there ya go.. perfect spot... out of site, no loss of space, yet easily accessed. now heres a thought i had... as i was in the checkout line at the hardware store where i got the screws to mount it, i started thinking about fire extinguishers for everyone. i believe everyone should have one in their car, but where to put them, and just remembering to go get one poses a problem for alot of us here... i was thinking about calling around and seeing if i could get a bulk amount of fire extinguishers for our "nation wide thirdgen organization"... goal will be to have cheap fire extingushers for all of us in our cars... cost should be nice and low then.. but thats only if enough people are intrested... is anyone intrested?

Having one is deffinately good safety. As for mouting I would think that you don't want it to far away where you can't reach it if you are in an accident. Is stealing a fire extinguisher a real threat? Now a'days I geuss you can't be to carefull though. Your idea seems to be a good one unless someone kicks it while riding in the passenger seat.

I'm a licensed fire extinguisher tech and thats my paying job while im in college.

There's a lot variety in the combustibles in your car, and some of the extinguishing agents you choose can be very harmful and corrosive to your car.

The chemical used for 'ABC" extinguishers is amazing. It is also corrosive as all hell. I used to wear a silver bracelet with my grandfather's WWII flightwings untill the chemical started to corrode the solid sterling silver. That was in the first couple of days. Also, you want to destroy your air conditioner at home? discharge a ABC extinguisher and the chemical wil destroy the coils.

The short of a long, long explanation is to watch what the pro auto people use. They use CO2.

What about halon? well, what is halon. Its a chemical compound that is composed of highly reactive halogens (F,Cl,Br,I). So if you have halon 1121, every molecule has 1 florine,1 clorine, 2 bromine, and one iodine.

Now, what to these do when they separate as ions? These are the most highly reactive ions you have in the periodic table and they aggressively react with the chemical reaction (read: Fire) taking place as well as everything around it.

Now, you (a human being) for example are comprised of approx. 70% water. You breathe this stuff in. F, CL, BR, and I all react with H2O to make some very nasty acids. You may of heard of Hydroflouric acid and hydrochloric acid. The other acids may not be as commercially known, but will put you in a world of chit if it is produced in your lungs.

Short: Halon is an awesome extinguishing agent because it is so reactive, but you need to watch what and how you use it for that same reason.

Plus. What do you want to know about mounting them? Ive mounted too many of those. There are brackets that are good and ones that are crap.
If I had one handy, id take a pic of the ones that I like, cause I dont know what to call it.

To describe it would be a metal holder that allows you to push in an extinguisher striaght on and it 'pop's' into place. No straps and its very strong. The screws and fastners you use to drill into metal should be a no brainer to mechanics. Just use ones you think will hold it in well.

Also, a 'BC' extinguisher will work for cars too. The chemical compound inside of it? -industrial grade baking soda.

- when buying one, get your yellow pages and call the local fire extinguisher places. Many of the extinguishers you get at the home depot are garbage and you cannot recharge them. The best extinguisher? Amerex. There's some others, but use your common sense. check the guage, dont plastic or cheap crap. Make sure it is rechargeable.

Plus. if you do get it recharged, make SURE you get your back. They often 'swap out' extinguishers. You do not want that. You want your good one back. Mark it.

9c1Caprice: ever hear of Brooks Equipment Corp?
i used to be a firefighter, guess who i now write software for?

hehe, i cant show you everything, but heres a lil bit of somthing im workin on.... imagine doing your job with a hand held computer... printing out everything without writing anything, easy inventory, directons to locations with maps if needed, on site maps and checklists, ect.. all kinds of stuff.



anyhoo back on subject..

the problem with most people is price.. and i agree 100% on the corrosive thing... but a fire causes MUCH MUCH more damage. even if you were to stop within one block of the fire dpt, theres a good chance your car is totaled before the firedepartment gets there. yes its corrosive, but you can wash it off ASAP with little worry.... atleast compared to not having one at all.

for a bracket, im using a nice one latch plastic one.. ive seen some really nice ones, and billet ones, ect.. but this bracket came with one of the ones i have in the house, and it works well for what im doing.... no chance of accidently having it come out, no matter how hard i turn, brake, or crash.... but a nice easy release if i pull up on the latch. (its sideways, if it was upright id be like pulling to the left)

and i dont have a Amerex in the car, but i have 3 in the house... one in the kitchen, one in the same room as the fireplace, and one in the garage

ShiftyCapone: noone can kick it, and the way its sitting, you cannot press the handle down without removing the it.

They do that at my university! I keep trying to get that job. it must be the easiest day of work on earth.

Im sitting in the lab and this guy hits the extinguisher with a supermarket scanner and swaps out a sticker and almost leaves before I get to talk to him.

Wow.

Firefighters. I always hooked you guys up. I always made sure everything was up to the most rigorous code, half knowing you were going to take that 10 lb abc off the wall and put it on a truck to use on a structural.

I've been wanting to get one too, just in case. However I have no idea how these things work. Where to get a good one (always figured Home Depot was crap)? Do they come charged or once you get it do you have to go somewhere (figure I want a CO2 or BC) to have it charged?

You know, half the time the LT around your area in in charge of surplus and has a ton of nice brackets. At least most of the ones I ran into did.

I always put in nice brackets. The ones pertinent here would be the ones that fit in the rescue units, right by the front part, where you guys usually cram the bio-hazard garbage can.

At any rate, brooks would have the wholesale prices of the good brackets. The ones that come with the amerex units are pretty good and not much $. Home depot sells at nearly wholesale anyway, its just that i sually dont like that stuff for fire supression.

Yellow pages - fire extinguishers.

Remember to watch your stuff. When I was on the job, Iwent out of my way to give the fire fighters back their original units, cause the companies usually dont work that way. These bids come, as you know, lowest bidder, and you are forced to streamline your work to be profitable. Firefighters get attached to some of their good stuff and want it back. I want to give it back to them. They are out there fighting fires every day and they should be out there with supreme confidence in their equiptment.

If you end up paying good money for a unit that should last you with recharges, 20 years plus, you will want that back too. Mark it with an identifiable scratch, name, etc. Dont stamp or engrave the bottle! Just do something so you can identify it when it gets back to you.

Plus! ive interviewed at one place that insisted i use WD40 on the o-rings in the neck. I hear thats not the only place. Short of it- if you buy a nice one like an amerex 5lb bc and make sure the pressure guage reads in the green, you can pretty much rest assured that than unit will be operable for a long time. Just occasionally pick it up and see if the chemical inside shakes around and moves freely and has good pressure by checking the guage. It will be good much much longer than the 6 years NFPA 10 requires you to tear it down and recharge it. You might want to do this because some lazy tech might spray WD40 all in the o-rings and ruin your good extinguisher.

You could check the recharge area to see if they have that wd-40 garbage there.

its not that the home depot ones are crap... its just that they're one time use only.

since you dont have to have it inspected and recharged every few years, and since you're only going to use it one time, the homedepot/lowes/walmart consumer grade ones are fine... better then nothing.

you can use a ABC, but you NEED to wash everything down after you use it.. even if you're getting a cheapie, be sure it has a gauge on it, and be sure the gauge is in the green. i have yet to EVER have someone talk to me about taking somthing out of the box in a store... take it out, and look at the gauge before you get it..



if you look up extinguishers in the phone book and call a place, you can get a reusable name brand one... for a JIC in a car thing, i think its a lil overkill, but they sure look nice... also if you paint the tank the same color as the car or somthing, you can reuse these... yuo would have to paint another one if it was a disposable..

I have been thinking about an extiguisher after my Z gets done being painted. About a year ago I saw some poor bastard standing behind his Z and watched it burn most of the way up before the fire dept. got there. I kind of put my self in his shoes for a sec and decided that it would be a good idea. I think the damage that the fire ext. would do would be trivial compared to what happened to that guys car.

That's what its all about, catching the fire in the incipient stages. For me, its just like insurance (flood, health, life) 99% of the time, you dont need it, but when you do, it will save your car. Might as well get something that will last and you can rely on.

I concur about at least getting one with a guage. Personally, I like the 5lb for the car. When ive put out fires with extinguishers, I always liked having extra chemical. When you get good at it like firefighters who do it every day, they need alot less chemical to do the same job.

My g/f got me one for my firebird when the engine blew the engine went up in flames im gonna mount it in the trunk. I was thinking it would be a cool idea to make a NOS bottle and disguise it as a fire estingusher bottle and when you get searhed and they say you have nos. You can say officer that is incase my engine catches fire i can put it out safely.

LOL

Officer: Why do you have the chemical plumbed to be injected into your a/f mixture then?

Hell, it even might work. (the fooling someone part)

My g/f got me one of those industrial sized ones with the braces and every time i look at it it looks like a nos bottle.

worth a shot.
See if you can get some official looking stickers on it, though I dont know the legality of all that.

I bet, hypothetically and just talking in thin air, you could get one to look dead on with a little work.

My origonal plan was to make the estingusher look like a NOS bottle since i will be mounting it in the trunk.

There was a topic on this a while back, as a fire fighter and someone who like his car I wouldn't drive w/o one. Usually by the time we get to the scene the car to gone, if you can suppress the fire at the very early on life will be better for ya' Also I recommend halon due to the fact it's easy on leather and electronics.



Here ya’ go:

http://www.thirdgen.org/techbb2/show...ighlight=halon

Its a good post.
Halon is great at extinguishing fires, but know the risks. It will be less problematic with a small incipient fire and outdoors, but these respiratory problems due to the acids will react with moisture on your car from humidity/fire extinguishing to eat at your car. A list of some of these acids can be found in the link below. heres an excerpt of the conclusions describing the acids.

3. When using Halon 121 1 t o extinguish a fire, the four acid
gases formed (HCI, HBr, HF, COF,) presented the greatest
hazard. Results of modeling indicate that all four gases are
near or above their respective IDLH limits a t breathing
height in the downwind plume at distances of up t o 30
meters from the fire. Conservative modeling calculations
show that the combined toxicity of all four gases may still
be hazardous up t o 80 meters downwind.

Airforce study
Excerpt:
In order to minimize the risks t o firefighters and other exposed
individuals, the following items of caution should be considered:

1.Because all known halocarbon extinguishing agents will
produce mixtures of toxic acid gases whenever they are
applied to a flame or high temperature source, their use
must be carefully evaluated in any situation where the
resulting plume may expose unprotected persons.

2.Halocarbon-based agents should not be used by untrained
personnel.

3. Discharging halocarbon-based extinguishers in such a
manner that the resulting plume may envelop unprotected
personnel, especially if such persons have no easy exit
available, is t o be avoided.

4. Because acid-gas concentrations are highest in the plume,
adjacent t o it, and downwind from it during the
extinguishing agent application and for a few minutes
afterwards, these toxic-hazard areas should be avoided by
personnel who do not have breathing protection.

5. When using halocarbon-based extinguishing agents,
personnel should note wind direction prior to use and attack
the fire from the upwind direction, where the least chance
of exposure t o the plume gases will occur.

6. Firefighters should be informed that the acid gas plume
from the application of PFH to a fire is much less visible but
just as toxic as Halon 121 1. Plume visibility using HCFC
123 is intermediate between the other t w o agents.

7. Whenever possible, personnel who may be exposed to the
extinguisher/smoke plume should wear a pressure-demand
supplied-air respirator.

8. Because all three agents tested are much denser than air
and concentrate near ground level, asphyxiation from the
neat agents is possible near ground level, especially in low-
lying areas.

Google search with Halon and Acid

By the way. The above picture is how they rate the extinguishers capability to fight fires. The above looks like a test for a 'B' rating.

The man above is wearing a heat resistant suit, and is also probably super skilled at using it. Amatuers have a much harder time putting out fires with the same amount of chemical. Also, you wouldn't be able to get that close to that fire without being suicidal.

Short; the ratings are exaggerated.