this might be a kinda dumb question...but what are the differences with halon? ive looked up halon and there appears to be different kinds? 1211, #5, and a few other numbers i believe..i was wondering what the differences were and which would be safe to use on a car without damaging it if a car were to ever catch on fire? thanks- edwin

 

There might be compounds that are newer than my knowledge (which is approaching 20 years old, now) but the two general types are 1211 and 1301.

1301 is intended for flooding enclosed areas like computer rooms. It comes out of the nozzles as a gas at room temperature.

1211 is "squirtable" because it comes out in a liquid form, in droplets, then boils off to gas at room temp. The advantage is that it uses up heat energy to make that state change, taking that much more poop out of a fire.

Both shouuld be completely harmess to a race car. I've been involved in demos, hand-held fire extinguishing, and accidental discharges of on-board systems of both, and never seen or suffered any ill effects.

Kirk (who still believes that Halon is the safest answer for racing fire danger, despite all of the hype of other options)

 

Kirk is right. Nothing puts out a fire as good as Halon. You will see Halon 1211 and 1301 available. DuPont has a new chemical called FE36 which they tout as being almost as good as halon but not as toxic. When you consider you are in a fire situation in an open (top or windows) race car and getting out within a few seconds, along with the burning materials like plastic and other things, your're not going to take in enough Halon to worry about.

Howard Bennett
Racer Wholesale

 

i was also wondering what would a good size be for a car?

 

SCCA and NASA both require at least a 2.5lb hand-held extinguisher for IT kind of cars.
An actual fire system with two nozzles should be at least 5lbs. If you use 3 nozzles, I would personaly go with a 10lb system.

nozzle locations are usually:
1- driver
2- engine bay
3- fuel cell

 

well im just really looking for somethin to keep in my car on the streets for anything that might occur...my buddies friend caught on fire and he just had to watch it burn and i dont wanna have to go through that haha...so i guess somethin that would be adequate for a situation like that?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by E dwinbon G &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">so i guess somethin that would be adequate for a situation like that?</TD></TR></TABLE>

Would be better just to eliminate any fire hazards in your car (worn out fuel lines/injector seals, wiring mess, etc)

 

the in car bottles are to help the driver survive a fire if they are stuck in the car.

They might put out a small under hood or brake line fire. The large #20 bottles that are at the corner worker stations are for putting out the really big fires.

 

then a 2.5lb Halon extinguisher would be what you're looking for. About $100. just note this:

DO NOT MOUNT IT ON YOUR A-PILLAR. You know, rice-style. it may look nice, but that's a good way to eat it in an accident. Mount the extinguisher SECURELY, preferably to the floor, within easy reach.

 

If you are looking for something in your street car for emergencies (a very smart idea), go with a 2.5# handheld. They are available as a dry chemical (about $30 with metal mounting bracket) or Halon 1211 (for about $125). Differences... after using the dry chemical, get it to a car wash really, really quickly. What is not destroyed by the fire will be damaged (discoloration) from the chemical. I went through this. With Halon, there is not much cleanup.

Howard Bennett
Racer Wholesale