so whats the diff. on the HALON and HALOTRON well besides the price and what does each one do???

 

I hear you.

I've been driving for "only" 15 years, but I've never had the need for one and I'm not a one man rescue crew. My cars don't catch fire, at least they haven't yet. Most people don't have fire extinguishers on board.

If I drove some old vehicle, I might carry one. I don't think there is anything wrong with it on the surface, but someone buying a chrome one for a brand new Toyota and asking where to mount it?

Come on now, we all know that's rice dude. It will NEVER get used. I can't tell you how many Civic's Ive seen with a huge wings and sponsor stickers all over them and the fire extinguisher proudly mounted in a prominent position. It's a rice boy tactic to make you look like you're in a race car.

Maybe I'm too young (32) to appreciate the need for a fire extinguisher in the car, but then you are too old to know rice when you see it.

 

It's only rice if you make a shrine in your car for it. If you put it under your seat or in the rear tire compartment, it's safety.

 

Agreed.

 

First off, don't plan on getting any Halon or other flourocarbon-based extinguishers - the manufacture of them was outlawed a decade ago in the US and Canada.

Halon is an 'ozone depleting flurocarbon' that is strongly frowned upon these days. Originally it was 'the thing' for putting out fires in 'occupied spaces' because it was a breathable gas that reduced the availability of oxygen to a level low enough that a fire could not continue, but at the same time would not kill the people around it or knock them out. It also would not damage precision equipment or electronics.

There really aren't any viable substitutes for Halon for 'home use' and just about any other decent agent for fire suppression in the home can destroy computers, electric motors, and such, and damage other things. (One that doesn't do much of that is a CO2 extinguisher, but use in confined spaces causes health concerns.)

So, I still have a fairly good sized Halon unit (22 pound), never used, from the eighties. I hope never to use it. Thing is, until there is a viable home substitute, they'll have to pry it from my hands.

So, forget Halon. I never mentioned it.

(If one is really interested in Halon extinguishers, the US EPA contracted for a really excellent report available here in PDF format: http://www.epa.gov/ozone/snap/fire/status.pdf that discusses portable extinguishers starting about page 5, and again on about page 35.)

 

Yeah but even that small bit of caustic agent can cause surface corrosion on metal surfaces. Its better than letting your car burn, but you're gonna have one heck of a clean-up job to do even if you do get the fire out in time.

I can see why people think its kinda ricey for a brand new car. When I carried one it was in a 19 year old car. Even then it got comments... "Why do you have a fire extinguisher?" "In case I have another fire." "ANOTHER?!?!?"

The only thing about carrying it for other people's burning cars that you come across is that in my experience you have to get the extinguisher on the fire very early on to be able to fight it. If you're driving along and some guy is standing next to his flaming car waving at traffic for help you're already probably too late. Its really easy to get seriously burned opening the hood on a car fire if the fire is already pretty well going. A tiny extinguisher won't make much difference. Maybe carry it anyway to use on the PEOPLE, but I wouldn't count on saving someone else's car with it.

 

Yup ^^ and I bought mine about the same time I put my stereo system in ;-)

 

Hey, check out this thread if you're interested in fires in brand new Scions.

https://www.scionlife.com/forums/vie...289&highlight=

His windows were all closed so the fire starved for oxygen and put itself out, but it did a lot of damage to his interior in the process...

 

You are partially Correct here.
U.S. Navy Damage control handbook requires all spaces protected by Halon 1301 systems to have a 30-60 second delay (depending on size of space) to allow personnel to evacuate the space. Because Halon 1301 will cause unconciousness and even death.

After Halon activation only personnel equipped with SCBA or OBA's are authorized entrance to the space until the space has been "blownout' (High velocity fans that blow out air from a space) for 15-30 minutes (again depending on size of space)

Damage Control is a Serious issue onboard a ship. Every person onboard must be completely familiar with it.

I've actually seen someone passed out from Halon and they were flown off the ship almost as quickly as they got them out of the space.

 

Halon must come in different concentrations or something. M1A1 Abrams have them and they do not evacuate the crew when using it.

 

i'd mount it in the kitchen, thats where it would be most useful, but dont mind me... put it where u like.

 

Yup. The Navy runs their suppression systems at a higher concentration of Halon than is legitimate for most civilian systems.

In civilian commercial uses where an entire 'room' is flooded, if the space can be evacuated in under 60 seconds we were allowed to bring the oxy levels down to 10 percent - if the area could not be evacuated in that time, we were only allowed to bring it down to 12 percent (this is from memory, so I may be slightly off).

That 2 percent difference was the difference between people still moving and people laying on the floor... (These were in "equipment room" environments with millions of dollars of equipment installed, very limited flammables, and few people normally about.)

I am not familiar enough with the Navy stuff to know their expressed limits (I was USAF), but considering how serious a shipboard fire can be, and the number and types of flammables onboard, I suspect that the Navy brings the oxy levels in some spaces well below 'safe limits' to ensure that the fire is *OUT*.

(In the USAF some Halon is used on the flightline and aboard aircraft for instant fire suppression - the oxy levels there are allowed to reach near zero...)

Here at home, my 22 pound extinguisher is adequate for the space it's in, and should allow me enough time to kill the fire, get out of the room, close the door, and call 911.

 

you are right. the fire extinguisher will probably not put out a fire in someone's car, but it will stop a small brush fire from becoming a forest fire, and will also knock back flames far enough to rescue someone from a burning car.

hey some of us want to be extra cautious in our daily driving habits. leave us be. personally i carry, an extra change of clothes, a light jacket, small $5 fleece blanket, a fire extinguisher, small tool kit, flashlight, bungee cords, and soon will add to the mix my EMS Jump bag. A lot of it is stuff I started carrying when living at home in NY for snow season and my long 2 hour commute. But most of it doubles as emergency safety equipment. And with the rear tire well in the xA designed as it is, all but the jump bag will fit under the cargo deck cover.

Better safe than sorry

 

I've seen some of the cars around here with Nitrous that have a fixed CO2 System in the engine compartment "in case of a fire". I thought it was pretty silly myself.

 

Yup, xA RS ChickLA. It often won't save a car, but it can save a life.

Last one I used on another car was a few winters ago when a VW lost traction on a freeway entrance (142, Auburn - he hit some black ice) right in front of me, flipped when it hit the edge, rolled and landed down the hill on it's roof.

The driver was injured and unconcious (he was wearing his belts, but got his head slammed into the driver's door) and there was fire just starting to get into the passenger compartment from the engine compartment by the time I and two other guys got to the updside down VW. (The electric fuel pump appeared to be still pumping fuel out of the broken gas line.)

I knocked down the interior fire enough for us to cut his belts and drag him out onto my surplus Army blanket and away from the burning car.

By the time the fire department got there (and they were quick) the VW was a total loss with all four tires burning and the gas tank making a quiet "whump" as it went up. The fire folks had a heck of a time killing the fire.

The driver was airlifted to Madigan (military hospital) because of his head injuries where he spent a few days. He recovered fully.

Without the extinguisher from my 4X4 we may not have been able to get him out.

(I never did see that old Army blanket again...)

 

time for a new one go hit up your local surplus store

 

I got several 'new' ones after that, hornet. I usually kept two in each vehicle, along with a serious first aid kit, the usual flashlight and tools, and a car-powered rooftop amber strobe. (I'm one of the crazies that stops to help instead of gawking while driving by...)