Saintrey

I just installed one in my S4. Thoughts?

Shark2626

Most are not going to understand this, they may think that hose is full of water. It's really all about confidence and whatever you need to use to develop that. I think it's a novel design and product. Seems to be mandatory equipment for old VW buses. Is it the same brand as the one in this video?

Saintrey

Like they say you don't need it until it happens. 😀
I think it's a cool idea and inexpensive insurance. Of course, in addition to a handheld one and definitely does not take the place of proper maintenance.

Yes, it's same one in the video. Thanks for your thoughts.

Alan

Did you already have a fire? looks like your oil filler cap is quite singed - assuming yes what was the source?

I'd have the doubled up area at the front based on risk areas. Or widen the circle forwards above the fan area (to cover PS & fuel hoses at the front.

The biggest issue with any auto deployment system is that if you are on the move you may not know you have a problem and all the suppression material will end up blown away behind you in no time at all.

Critical things are: fuel leak/temp-rise-rate/combustion fumes/smoke detection/warning then after an emergency stop a means to deploy suppression while stationary (and with cooling fans off). To me an auto detection system combined with manual but remote under-hood suppression deployment provides optimal benefits.

Alan

GregBBRD

Reading your questions about repairing your car, after two fires, makes me think this might not be adequate.
A 55 gallon drum, filled with Phos-Chek, with holes in the bottom, and a giant slide valve might be more appropriate....

Saintrey

😀
Well it's a relatively inexpensive solution. Very easy install. Took no more than 5 minutes. I can't think of a reason why not?

Just to clarify, the 2 fires I experienced was with 2 different S4s. The first one was when I didn't tightened enough one of the fuel line metal connection after I replaced the fuel injectors. (Not the fuel rubber hoses.) It was a gotcha moment for me as a newby as it was the first time Ive worked on injectors and fuel lines. Learned my lesson and charged it to experience.

The second time was with the overheating cat converter with a barn find project I recently acquired.

Saintrey

Yes I've experienced a fire with both of the two (2) S4s I own. One was caused by not enough tightening of one of the fuel lines. The other was from an overheating cat converter.

Thanks for your insight. But where do you find those remote under the hood suppression fire system?

cringely

A humorous aside.
When I was running SCCA C production (1966), I also was a Pit Marshall at Riverside. I was talking to the McLaren team about fire extinguisher systems. They told me that their cars had them and they included optical sensors that were automatically triggered when the sensors saw flame colors. They soon discovered that they had to replace their car covers as their bright orange car covers (color choice to match the car colors), filtered enough light that, on a bright day, enough orange light got through the cover to trigger the automatic fire suppression system if it had been left on when they covered the car on a sunny day.
Solution was to use different color car covers.

Alan

Well unfortunately you have to make one. Best suppression medium is still Halon (only recycled is available now), you need a plumbed method to get it to the engine bay and deploy from above (its heavier than air). I believe a good method is 2 jets at the bulkhead jetting forward along the fuel rail on each side - this directly covers the high risk areas first and will blanket the whole under-hood area quite quickly.

The detection side is more difficult and I don't have that fully resolved yet. I think a combination of 3 things in some combination is the best information/warning system: 1)Volatile chemical detection 2) Smoke (particulates) detection 3) Rate of temperature rise detection,

Note that 1) allows detection of a fuel leak before a fire. 2) can detect smoldering before a serious fire. Both 1) & 2) are subject to environmental false detection while 3) if implemented correctly should be quite infallible - but it will always be later in the fire development cycle.

I posted on the deployment system part years ago: https://rennlist.com/forums/showthre...eferrerid=6055

Alan

jorj7

I looked into it in 2017. I bought one and was ready to install it:



But after reading the manual (probably should have done that before drilling holes...) I had to rethink it.



With an operating temp of -40 to 80 C and a burst temp of 110 to 120 C, that's too low for the temps I've experienced under the hood. I've boiled the water in the intercooler and have measured up to 300 degrees F at the supercharger outlet. Maybe for a non-boosted car it'll work fine.
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