Let's talk about fire extinguishers in vehicles

Seen this discussion and being a company that does motorsports fire suppression systems thought we might add some info that maybe helpful.

For motorsports systems, powder is not used for different reason but we have used it for an armored car/military application for under the vehicle protection and can be very effective for the cost.

AFFF (aqueous film forming foam) as mentioned can freeze as there is a percentage of water in most. Some manufactures of AFFF offer some different ones to lower that freezing point. We will shortly be offering a new SFI 17.1 system that is AFFF and good to -40F. We are using a product from FireAde that is specially formulated by them without water. Some motorsports safety teams are switching from Cold Fire to FireAde but it would be their standard AFFF that is mixed with water.

We also do systems with a Halon replacement by 3M™called Novec™1230. It is very safe when compared to Halon and other Halon replacements. Novec 1230 works primarily by cooling. Does not affect electronics and leaves no residue.

Clean up, powders are a pain, AFFF just rinse it off with some water and Novec there is no clean up.

Hand held’s we do in AFFF and Novec and our plan is to work on some using the FireAde -40. They do a 16oz can, but you have to be realistic of what that can put out.

The plumbed systems there are a wide variety of ways to activate them from us and other manufactures. But most all require someone doing something to activate them. We recently came out with a 3-way activation head. One of those 3 ways, is automatic. So if you GTFO, the system can activate on its own. With some new things along this line possibly coming soon from us. There is also a SFI 17.1 spec for an automatic nozzle. The activation is at the nozzle and everything comes out that one nozzle (the 3-way head would come out all plumbed nozzles) and the line from the cylinder to the nozzle is pressurized.

We do have a YouTube page where we show some of these systems in action.

Anyway I hope some of this info is helpful

That's definitely some good info. Out of curiosity, how does Novec 1230 compare to Halotron I and FE-36?

rslifkin wrote: That's definitely some good info. Out of curiosity, how does Novec 1230 compare to Halotron I and FE-36?

Since we have not used Halotron or FE-36 can’t give a good answer. Novec should be comparable. Application of whatever agent can make more of a difference then many would think.

Because in Europe FE-36 is being phased out/pushed out by government regulations. SPA Design doing systems used around the world they have stayed away from it for that reason. One thing we found when we started working with Novec. Though it is grouped under the Halon/gas agent umbrella. What was used, such as nozzles, with Halon was not as effective as one would have thought. SPA Design spent some time working on a good nozzle design to make the Novec work as affectively as possible. Since it works a lot differently than Halon the design has to optimize how it works to put out the fire. It may seem like it should not make a difference but it is supprising how much it can make a difference.

Novec since it works by cooling is safe to breath. Breaks down in 5days and has little to no effect on the environment.