Gen 2 Fire Extinguisher Install

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oxfordraptor

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First post to the forum, new owner of a 2018 Raptor. Great place to get some new ideas...

25 years in the fire service, I keep an extinguisher in my vehicles. Already had to use it once, although it wasn't my vehicle.

Long story short (or maybe not) I pull in the DMV and notice people acting frantic running to their cars, moving them...and in the middle of all the excitement was a red 80's Camaro with the hood up, engine compartment on fire, some dude with his shirt off hitting at the top of the engine, and flames getting bigger each time.. I pulled up beside him, walked around and sprayed it with the extinguisher. Fire out. He was incredulous and extremely thankful. I just told him no problem man, put the spent extinguisher back in my truck then went on inside to renew my tags.

So it may not always be your vehicle but someone elses.

Fanning the flames always help lol. Same story a big rig and I both pulled over to save a Civic burning on the side of the freeway. Glad I had it.
 

smurfslayer

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My buddy had a carb backfire at MIR that almost turned into a mopar-b-que. He was sitting there, hood up, revving the engine via the linkage and the car spit gas out and it caught fire and kept burning. I never saw him move so fast ... he damn sure wasn’t that fast when I needed a hand. It was a 70’s Duster. Hard to believe we used to pay money for vehicles like that.
 

Johnkn

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While I have Halon extinguishers in all my toy cars I've just moved to Element extinguishers and keep 2 in my Raptor. A standard 5lb bottle has a discharge time of ~12 seconds. An Element 50 is about the size of a standard road flare and has a discharge time of 50 seconds (4x that of a 5lb bottle). No mess or cleanup, and proven. Times are changing.

 
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Colezone

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You guys should check out a quick disconnect extinguisher mount. Pull the pin and you're done.
 

MacK88DO

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This is the setup I went with. Bracketeer seat rail mount with a Drake off-road quick disconnect for an H3R extinguisher. It’s ok. I think I might scrap it and go with a seat mount that’s made out of canvas and hangs off the passenger head rest.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

desertspeed

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This was the first I had heard of the Element extinguishers- I have a desert race truck and it looked like a great alternative to the standard fire extinguishers we are required to carry. I had a flash transmission fire at our last race so this topic is very important to me. I posed the question on race-dezert and David from Motorsports Safety Solutions, who runs all of the medical and safety support for Best In the Desert, had the following comments:

I was presented with the Element Fire Extinguisher while in Pahrump in December 2018. I had been asked to demo it and give my impression of it.

My team and I set up a burn pan with 8 oz of a mix of fuel and oil at our shop with flames less than 12' high and what would be considered the fire incipient stage. We lit the extinguisher, and there was first an immediate flare up at least 24" high for 2-3 seconds and then the fire extinguished with the agent. The flare style extinguisher required close contact of less than 2 feet away for effective use.

Pro
It did put out the fire.

Con
I was less than impressed with the distance required to fight the fire
The flare up
The fact that it is single light use
The fact that it requires striking it with a spark like a road flare.

I was asked if I would endorse its use as a replacement for the required extinguishers on race vehicles. I will not in anyway for several reasons. It will not be allowed in Best in the Desert or any other series we are responsible for as a replacement. It can be carried as a supplemental but a car will not pass tech without the required standard fire extinguishers.

We only had one unit to demo and therefore were not able to check other fluids or amounts. In no way do we want people taking the choice to light an oxygen suppressing agent in a race vehicle. Get out and fight the fire from outside whenever possible. You are more important than any race car.

The other point to consider is in many cases those around you are the ones that may grab an extinguisher and use it as you are working on egress from a fire. It may be a random crew member, a race volunteer or random spectator. Having them not know its process vs a common extinguisher can play a very real role in a fire going past the incipient stage and unable to contain.


I still think the Element is useful in the right situations, but wanted to share this info.
 

bunkisland

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While I have Halon extinguishers in all my toy cars I've just moved to Element extinguishers and keep 2 in my Raptor. A standard 5lb bottle has a discharge time of ~12 seconds. An Element 50 is about the size of a standard road flare and has a discharge time of 50 seconds (4x that of a 5lb bottle). No mess or cleanup, and proven. Times are changing.

Agreed
 
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