no doubt

Fits perfectly into the driver-side armrest compartment, as shown in this pic.

$9.28 at Wal-Mart (no affiliation) and comes with 2 light sticks. Extinguishes Class B and C fires (electrical and chemical/fuel). If you put one into each armrest you'll have 5 pounds of retardant in sum.


Better to have one and not need it (just $9!) than to need it and not have it (most drivers will never own an extinguisher).

hacker-pschorr

It's a nice idea, but an extinguisher that size would be good for putting out a cigarette that set the carpet on fire - assuming you caught it early.

I have a full size (5 pound I think) on the floor behind the drivers seat.

I'm thinking about a remote system that goes under the hood of my cars.

no doubt

Ahhh, grasshopper...never downplay a safety improvement. Far better to have 2.5 pounds of fire retardant than to have none!

Randy V

Not necessarily.

An undersized extinguisher gives you a false sense of being prepared.

In the event of an engine fire, your risk of being injured far outweighs the benefit of trying to use such a small extinguisher.

hacker-pschorr

Sharks In Hell 2007 we watched as a truck was on fire, someone walked up with a 1lb extinguisher.
It looked like a 16 year old losing his virginity. About a 2 second PFFFFT and it was over, fire still blazing.

That extinguisher should work great for small electrical fires like we've seen happen in the fuse panel.

no doubt

I stand corrected. It's got a 2.5 pound charge! Wal-mart's got Amazon.com beat on this one...$26 at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Kidde-466310-A...002789&sr=1-18

no doubt

I've ordered this underhood unit for my shark: http://www.firefight1.com/prod_ss-30.html

Very cheap! It's also automatic...so even if you are knocked unconscious in a wreck (or have simply parked your 928 for the day), it's still going to discharge into an engine compartment fire.

Charley B

So is that a joke or a sign from god?

no doubt

LOL!

toofast928

I used 1 pound Dry Chem on a engine fire once. Managed to put the fire out.
I should have let it burn because dry chem is like pouring sand down the intake.

no doubt

I see fire extinguishers as more of a device for giving you a little extra time to escape a wrecked car (e.g. door jammed) than as a tool for saving an engine.

Save yourself and your passengers...cars can be replaced.

That being said, if you do put out an engine fire with dry chem, break out your Shop Vac on your intake before restarting her!

Alan

This is for sure an interesting idea - and I do have a manual halon exinguisher and remote engine compartment deployment system.

However consider this... if you have an engine fire while you are moving & this auto deploys... where do you think the halon will be...? It for sure won't be in the engine compartment for long. You can also **** away a lot of money on halon if you get false alarms with this...

For my deployment system I wan't to be the one that pulls the trigger.... I also want an underhood fire/smoke/heat detection system (I don't have it yet) - I want this to also shut down the cooling fans when it alarms so when I stop the car I'm not still feeding a fire & I can deploy the halon and have it stay where it is needed.

There is a lot to consider here.... I have the extinguisher in the car on a quick release mount with a flex hose/nozzle so I can also use it to put out CE Fires and protect myself in the cabin too.

Alan

no doubt

All good ideas, I just like to keep safety simple and cheap. For instance, if I park my car and walk away just as leaking fuel hits a header or cat...I wouldn't be around to put out the resulting fire.

However, a simple and cheap automatic fire extinguisher would.

Ditto for letting a valet park my car. Will a valet really put out a fire if the car lights up on him? Well, an automatic fire extinguisher will go off even if the valet doesn't manually press a fire extinguisher button.

Likewise, if some minivan driver talking on a cell phone blasts through a red light and side swipes me, that automatic fire extnguisher is going to discharge into the resultant fireball even if I'm unable (e.g. pinned in by a crushed door or knocked unconscious) to hit a manual fire extinguisher discharge button.

That particular fire extinguisher just takes 5 minutes to C-Clamp in for an underhood installation...which is important because most drivers aren't wrenchers. Gotta keep installations simple. No electronics to wire, it's all self-contained.


As for false-alarms, it's got a 286F temperature-trigger. Won't see that under your hood if you mount it anywhere near your fuel line cooler.

Alan

OK - but just understand the limitations... & have backups in place - sounds like you already do.

BTW - I don't let valets drive my car - ever, I also don't consider the risk of fire to be particularly high once the fuel pump and electrical system is off but 'YMMV'.

Have you considered how you are going to mount it - I know it looks small - but there isn't much room in a 928 engine bay... I know because I have tried to mount all kinds of things in there - not so easy as you'd think...

Alan

Bus

Monday, I drive my truck. As I'm backing it into the driveway, all the sudden the cab fills with smoke, and I look forward and see smoke billowing out the sides of the hood. Slam brakes, shut off engine, pop hood, as I raise it I feed it some oxygen and get a nice flash up of fire. I run and grab the hose from the side of the house and blast it... but most of the flame was gone by then.

Diagnosis, failed Power steering pressure hose squirt high pressure aerated fluid directly on the exhaust manifold, and it caught fire.... all of this in an instant. Damage tally: Luckily.... the worst thing burned where the ignition wires... the engine harness right above that side had some melted harness wrap, but the wires inside looked good.

Then, Tuesday we have a fatality of a 928 owner here in Chatt Town... in an unimaginable situation where he has accident, gets pinned in the car, the car engulfs and he's burned to death while helpless onlookers watch... Sorry for the graphics, but it's really affected me, even though I didn't know the guy.

So, last night, I fixed the truck. But, I'm adding an extinguisher immediately. I have a small one in the 928, but it's not very accessible now... I'll get one more accessible... then, one in the wife's car too.

We have good ones on every floor of the house. My wife used all three to stop a fire on our rear deck 3 years ago.

Hope this helps