Last week I had a Corvette darn near catch on fire on me on a test drive. He put a new carburetor on it the night before and the banjo fitting leaked on me, I freaked!!
After that the customer and his buddies had a few stories to share about car fires, and I got to thinking I/we should all carry one.
I would like to hear what you recommend or don't recommend so I can buy a couple for the Coronet's. One of the guy's story warned against the little fancy chrome one's since they are just too small. I have a big one in my truck, and have used it to save a car before. But not sure about carring this huge thing around in my car, or where to mount it.
Pic's of some mounted one's would be great.
I carry an ABC unit in my truck at all times. It came in handy twice over the years! I wouldn't want to mount one in my Coronet, but a plastic Tupperware type bin in the trunk with the extinguisher in it, along with some jumper cables, oil and etc. would go a long way. I strap the plastic storage bin down with bungie cords to stop it from bouncing around. Just my 2 cents worth....
I carry a aerosol can extinguisher that is under the driver seat. It does Class A and B. Never had to use it so far on a car, but it's worked ok when someone decided to throw starter fluid on a charcoal grille that had already been lit.
While I've never seen one in a smaller container, avoid ones that state they contain PKP or Purple K Powder. It's great for putting out liquid fires, but it tears the hell out of electrical stuff.
Fire story..
I had restored a 70 VW Beetle, and decided to sell it to finance my 66 LeMans rebuild. A lady had put a deposit on it, and was going to meet me at the shop on Saturday morning. Going down the road the car starts to stall, so I turn a corner and see smoke coming out of the vents on the trunk. Lift the hood, and it went up. Slammed the hood shut, and ran to the gas station across the street. Grabbed the extinguisher and put it out. Had it towed to the shop, the metal fitting for the fuel line backed itself out of the carb (on a VW it's a press fit).
Called the lady, told her what happened, and she said "can you fix it?". Sure, I can fix it. Friend of mine repainted the trunk area, I re-ran new wiring harness and new carb. She picked it up a week later, all I had to do was give her a 30 day warranty on the car. Next time I saw it was 3 yrs later when I was home on leave, she was still driving it.
Yea I got one in my R/T.I keep it beside the drivers seat and the floor hump(its a non console car).If I go to a show or cruise I put it on top of the floor hump like its mounted there (I dont know why I dont just screw it down but I haven't done it yet).
Very, very good topic Andy. In my business, fire extinguishers are a must. Remember big fires always start out as small fires, and small fires are easy to put out.
In my vans I carry big ones, I'll get the size towmorrow. They are about 2 ft tall and 6 or so inches in diameter. Way too big for our Mopars though. I actually carry 2 on every company vehicle.
For my pickup, it's about a foot tall, and 5 or so inches in diameter and fits nicely under the drivers seat not bolted in or anything. In the cars, I carry the same as the truck (I'll get the official size tomorrow). Problem is, they won't fit under the seat. So I have one of those 4 inch diameter ones that fits there too. My feeling is if I'm dirving, I want one within my reach if needed. The trunk one is just for backup.
I'd get one for Max and Morgan that fits under the seat nicely. That way it's out of the way and accessible at the same time. For test drives get one of the bigger ones, tie wrap a towel around it so it won't scratch anything and throw it in the pass side floor when ever you go.
I know, I know. The word is neurotic.
I'll give you a funny fire story too. I had my blue GTX on a lift at my cousins garage doing the brakes over. He had a POS Caddilac on the other lift trying to fix rusted out brake lines. Well, he melted the plastic gas line with the torch which created a rather small flame thrower under the car. As I'm working on the GTX, I hear Ri-Ri-Ri-Ri-Ri-Ri-Ri (doesn't stop). I turn around to see my Cousin in a trance holding the torch, running looking at his newly invented flame thrower. The gas pressure in the line fed a perfect fire about 6 inches from the line. It was clear, that it was not stopping. This is when thoughts are racing through my head faster than I can speak. First, I'm not nervous. OK, run outside and grab one of the big ones from my van. Go outside to realize I drove there in my GTX. Then I look over at my GTX to realize that all four tires AND drums are off. I just realized that I had to get the fire out to save my poor car. There was no way to get my GTX to saftey. As you can see I wasn't worried about anything else. Now it's time to panic. In my infinite wisdom, all I could muster was whe-whe-whe-whe-whe (while he was still saying Ri-Ri-Ri-Ri). I couldn't get out the words where is YOUR fire extinguisher. Finally my Cousin managed to point, still having running torch in had. At that point my little pea brain managed to actually put out the fire.
"avoid ones that state they contain PKP or Purple K Powder. It's great for putting out liquid fires, but it tears the hell out of electrical stuff"
So it work's fine with out this PKP ? sounds like some potent additive, wonder what it purpose is?
I notice all my shop ones(5) which I have serviced every year say A B C fire's
"I'd get one for Max and Morgan that fits under the seat nicely. That way it's out of the way and accessible at the same time. For test drives get one of the bigger ones, tie wrap a towel around it so it won't scratch anything and throw it in the pass side floor when ever you go".
Good idea, just dont see much room under the seat but will look.
"I keep it beside the drivers seat and the floor hump(its a non console car)"
Yeah my console take's up ALLOT of room LOL
67r/t4speeder Wrote:"avoid ones that state they contain PKP or Purple K Powder. It's great for putting out liquid fires, but it tears the hell out of electrical stuff"
So it work's fine with out this PKP ? sounds like some potent additive, wonder what it purpose is?
PKP is a smothering agent. Whereas CO2 extinguishers remove the oxygen, it doesn't prevent a liquid fire (like fuel or oil) from re-flashing from the heat that is present once the CO2 disperses. PKP not only removes the oxygen, it prevents more oxygen from getting to it. Think of it as a powdery version of AFFF (foam they use on airplanes when they crash and burn). The corrosiveness for electrical stuff is just a byproduct of it.
67440Dodge Wrote:PKP is a smothering agent. Whereas CO2 extinguishers remove the oxygen, it doesn't prevent a liquid fire (like fuel or oil) from re-flashing from the heat that is present once the CO2 disperses. PKP not only removes the oxygen, it prevents more oxygen from getting to it. Think of it as a powdery version of AFFF (foam they use on airplanes when they crash and burn). The corrosiveness for electrical stuff is just a byproduct of it.
thanks for the explanation
This is the set up i put together. The clasp and cable are from the local hardware store and the bracket is stuff I had laying around. I know the trunk isn't the best place to keep it but it's there if I need it.
That looks nice Mark, good idea with the heavy duty mounting since that would be horrible to have that come loose back there.
Thanks for the pics