One for the experts

[Peter Laidler]

Just putting a largish capacity fire extinguisher into my garage pit. Choice of two...... Which one do I fit. CO2 foam or a dry powder. Got two of each.

[smp]

It depends if you are in the pit at the time they go off !

[Peter Laidler]

Yes, very probably...... Next.......

[smp]

next...

Foam is best for petrol, but powder can be used, so can CO2. However CO2 is heavier than air so will sink into the pit. You don't want to be unconscious in a pit filled with CO2.

[Exminiman]

I know this isn’t an extinguisher on your list but what about a water mist extinguisher ?

https://www.safelincs.co.uk/water-mist- ... nguishers/

As it’s a confined space,, maybe it would be easier or less dangerous to use ?

Hopefully some one who knows their stuff on this will also comment, don’t want or be responsible for Peter drowning in his pit

[Rolandino]

Ask your local Fire Station but if they come round to check the garage and if they find you have an un-licensed pit they may force you to fill it in. A friend of mine had that happen to him ! I would use powder, messy but very effective

[Bob46320]

I seem to remember that we had to use Halon in confined spaces. Oops, just seen that it is banned as it depletes the ozone layer.

[roger mcnab]

hi
maybe a good idea to use it on some of our climate change experts might do them some good who knows co2 is effective and tidy as dry powder is very messy good house keeping is also effective as also fire blankets
cheers roger mcnab

[Peter Laidler]

Fire-blankets. Good idea too. Got one in the kitchen. We did have HALON in our tank turrets for obvious reason.

I'll take out the Pyrene carbon tetrachloride - CTC - extinguishers this morning and mount a couple CO2's. It's a difficult decision and being fit and well and having already got to my 70's the ozone layer and global warning/climate change are all worrying me to death (just joking...). Makes my 60's service in the steaming jungles of Johore seem like childs play!

Thanks for all the advice chaps

[360gts]

I seem to remember that we had to use Halon in confined spaces. Oops, just seen that it is banned as it depletes the ozone layer.

Bob, Halon was the favorite in the 70's/80's in large mainframe computer rooms. Deadly stuff....if you were unfortunate to be caught in the computer room when the system was triggered you would be dead within seconds.....nasty stuff!

[DAM2961]

Peter, Fire Safety Stick, might be an option. I’ll definitely carry one in resto when finished.

[Tim]

...I'll take out the Pyrene carbon tetrachloride - CTC - extinguishers this morning ..

Probably a good idea. Carbon Tetrachloride decomposes to phosgene when it is heated in air (say like in a fire) and phosgene in your pit would be unwelcome.

Tim

[Peter Laidler]

I realise that about CTC Tim. We did have CTC in our early Centurions and used to laugh that the CTC/Phosgene was a better incentive to evacuate the turret than the exploding ammo! I've done the best of both worlds. A dry powder at one end and a foam at the other.

Got them from a shop in nearby Oxford that was being gutted for conversion to yet ANOTHER Turkish Barbers or a sweet and candy shop. (As if there weren't enough already!) Saw them lined up, all covered in dust and still in date and in pressure and asked for them. A tenner - compliment of Steve of this parish - did the deal!

[Tim]

Dry powder is pretty effective- makes a bloody mess - but not as much as flames do.

Tim

[Thorp]

“Got them from a shop in nearby Oxford that was being gutted for conversion to yet ANOTHER Turkish Barbers or a sweet and candy shop.”


Rather off topic, this seems to be a feature of high streets everywhere, even in small villages…most if not all of these Turkish Barbers/Sweet shops are just front of house for criminal drug gangs to launder their money through. I don’t know why the police don’t reconcile the number of hair cuts vs. the takings of these businesses; it’s pretty obvious! The other popular one for washing (money) being the hand car wash.

[Alex]

It depends on the fire and the location of the fire as to the ideal extinguisher to use. I have one of each in the workshop and garage to hand.

If you can only have one, make it a dry powder one.

It's as messy as heck and will turn you inside out if you ingest the dust, but it is effective on all fire types. We tested one on a bath of burning kerosene and found that it could extinguish a fire from over 10' away if you squirted upwind and allowed the powder to fall onto the fire. Can't do that with CO2 which is liable to spray & spread a burning liquid, though CO2 is great on electrical fires.