outline

anyone got any input on fire system contents?
about to update a system and wondering whether to stick with a foam based setup or change out to gas.
i like the idea of gas but specifically wonder about re-ignition.

M758

I saw a racer with an oil fire under his car just last month. Front engine car and the motor popped putting oil all over the exhaust. Lit up pretty good and then almost as fast as it started it stopped. I talked to the driver and saw the car after and other than mechanical damage from the engine letting go there was no trace of fire or foam. He was using Halon in the engine bay. In that case it seems to have worked perfectly.

I run AFFF and have done so for years. Happy to say I have never used it.

ProCoach

I love Halon, if I can find it.

outline

Yeah halon isn't an option. Zero have two options for gas though.

fatbillybob

For fire you need heat oxygen and fuel. AFFF kills 2/3 of the fire triangle halon only one. Halon is also not real good in preventing re-ignition. You also can't get easy refills and it is a hazard to ship it. OTOH there are AFFF systems like the ESS system that are user serviceable and refillable in the field so if you fire it off on saturday you can be legal to race on sunday after a refill. Additionally these user refillable systems allow you to remove and inspect the floptube. A hardened plastic floptube will act like a straw outside your glass of coke if you need your system when upsiedown. These ESS systems also are charged by a CO2 canister that does not leak. Some AFF ssytems not user serviceable have failed gages that make you think your system is charged. If you use one of these systems make sure you see the pressure change as it gets hot during the day so that you have confidence that you have charge. That's one reason why halon and AFFF sealed systems have a 5 year re-cert window. While I am a huge fan of ESS that have the cheapest looking nozzles. Switching those out to nozzles by Diest will give you a more warm and fuzzy German quality feel.

claykos

Went through the same thing a few months ago and srttled in foam. I talked to some vendors and they said in a car without a sealed cockpit the gas (new stuff, halon no longer available) will just blow out the window.

I think its a matter of taste though. Most of the euro/fia stuff seems to be foam and nascar usea the fe36 gas. I figure if the foam is good enough for the factory cars I'll stick with it.

kurt M

Who said Halon is NLA? you can get it but you need to check the rules to see if the groups you are runing with OKs its use. It is not SFI any longer.

simple systems are most likely to work when needed. Gas systems are far more simple than foam systems. Gas is not damaged by freezing does nt have flop tubes or get upset if the car gets flopped. Gas is simple to inspect for condition. foam not so much. How do you know if the charger has gas in it or the system? I inspected a system for someone and found that it was empty. Seems it froze, cracked the tank on the bottom, thawed out and drained itself running out onto the ground via a hole in the floorboard. From the top it looked just fine. Clue was a thin trail of dried soap water.

Any system you pick be sure to put the safety pin in a place where you can reach it while strapped into the drivers seat!

Nordschleife

errrmm....... Halon is really really bad for the Ozone layer (so now NZ has the highest risk of skin cancer in the world (worse than Queensland)), in fact I rather thought it was illegal for most applications.

Years ago we had to give horrendous warnings(flashing lights, sirens, evacuation orders, locking and unlocking access ways etc) before flooding a space with Halon. If a halon system was triggered in an enclosed space like a garage, it might be very unpleasant for those in the immediate vicinity. I know the theory of this, but I did once watch a petrol head pass out as a result of standing over the exhaust pipes of Stirling Moss' Mercedes 300 SLR and it was out doors.

R+C

analogmike

Whatever the factory uses in the GT3 cup systems, is what you DON'T want. It's like an 80 year old's urine stream but not quite that strong.

KaiB

Dang Mike, could you not have chosen "puppy pee" or perhaps something like "garden sprinkler on a leaky hose"...

...it's lunch time here.