TD in DC

Earlier this year, I developed a rattle in the back of my race car. I finally traced it down to my fire suppression system, and discovered that the bracket for the triggering mechanism had come unglued from the bottle. I am not entirely sure why this happened, but I suspect that the contents may have frozen, which expanded the bottle at the area where the bracket was glued. The frightening thing is that there did not appear to be any liquid in the bottle when I opened it, despite the fact that there were no leaks or cracks in the system, and there was residue in the bottle, which shows that there had been liquid in the system at one time (not to mention the fact that it froze).

I found this to be very disturbing. Had I needed to use the system, I doubt that it would have worked. So my question is, how can you test a system like that without simply activating it and filling your car with foam?

Also, how do you deal with the freezing issue? Our first race of the season occurred early enough in the season that it is still freezing at night, and some days.

P.S. The company has been amazing, and they sent me a new bottle immediately. EDIT: The company has since sent me a bill for the new bottle and recharge kit that they had shipped out immediately. They said it was completely my fault for allowing the bottle to be exposed to freezing conditions.

hacker-pschorr

Is it safe to assume setting the car on fire and pulling the handle is not what you had in mind?

TD in DC

No, although under certain circumstances that could be fun. Where is Porsche Bob when you need him?

hacker-pschorr

I can picture myself in the driveway holding a blowtorch with my wife asking "What are you doing now?" as I'm yelling to my neighbor "Hey, watch this!!"

You might as well strap yourself in the car, have a buddie set the fire. That way you can also practice climbing out in a hurry, and rolling on the groud.

TD in DC

If my number 2 rod bearing spins again, I will do it. I will also tape it and post the video here. The problem is that the temptation not to pull the trigger of the fire suppression system might be too strong.

hacker-pschorr

Wow, small world. I told my mechanic if my latest attempt to fix the clutch in my 81 doesn't work, I'm going to ram the giant tree in my front yard with it.

Larry Herman

I know that commercial cooking hoods have an Ansul fire supression system, and that is tested using a "test charge" bottle with just a little bit of something in it. It allows them to activate the system, verify the equipment shutdown, and observe a small discharge out of all of the nozzles. Then they install the real fire bottle.

TD in DC

Thanks Larry. Have you tested your system?

A930Rocket

On mine it has a gauge to tell me it's charged. It electrically activated, so I hold the momemtary switch in the up position and if the light flickers, the battery is good.

Now hopefully when I need it, the wires are still connected and I remembered to turn it on......

GUMBALL

Here's a fire system test...........


http://www.micom.net/oops/BubbleBath1.jpg



.............. ..............OOOPS..!..!..!

Tom W

Mine is electrical - it has both battery test and system test built into it. I verify the charge is complete and the connections look good and use the two test procedures.

sww914

Your bottle should have been full of liquid when you removed it.
When I bought my system, it looks just like yours, they said to deploy it before the season starts every year. I would take it out of the car first, lay it on the ground outside, and let her rip.
I haven't done it yet, I don't want to spend $80.00 for the 8 ounce refill kit when I know that I can get 5 gallons of AFFF concentrate for $65.00 and a C02 canister for less than $5.00, but I'm not entirely sure that the AFFF formula is exacty the same yet.
Your bottle should have been full of liquid when you removed it.

kurt M

Damn TD you were right I bet it did freeze! BTW based on our conversation some time ago I have added this item to the Tech list for Potomac inspectors to check for. We visual inspect for charge and condition now but we will also be looking for freeze damage in the water based systems. I will include asking the owners if the systems have been exposed to sub freezing conditions.
One problem I have with the CO2 cartridge based systems in the cartridge. Is it full? You would need to remove and weigh it to tell. I have seen CO2 cartridges that were empty without being punctured. (I had a CO2 powered BB gun in my misspent youth and some of the cylinders would not have full fill and even had some that were dead empty. My bet is that the ones that are used for AFFF systems have better quality control) You would also have the full and empty weights to measure against. The manufacture should print this info right on the CO2 cartridges much as the Halon tanks have now.

For me it is Mechanical activation Halon system. Occam's Razor. If gauge reads good and tank is heavy it is full. No batteries or wires or little CO2 canisters to go missing or wrong or have to be tested or recharged. Mash big red button, fire suppressing stuff comes out. i could be wrong but i do spend my days fixing mechanical things that went wrong and seem to work less on the simple systems.

Larry Herman

That's what I'm putting back into my car.

mrbill_fl

I have this system!

FROZEN?, like the car was outside in less than 32 degrees?

(something I (hopefully) should not need to worry about in So Fla?)

FWIW, when I added fire systems to both my cars, I already had 5lb hand held bottles mounted. and I left them in place. I'd recommend having a handheld too.