What Fire Extinguisher to buy?

[Phacade]

I'm not sure of the brand or size really, but alot of old boat extinguishers fit great in the back cubby holes.

[cremmenga]

When my old 72 VW beetle started on fire in the carbs, i just pulled my shirt off and covered it with that and it worked fine!

[beandip]

Doesn't use of Halon require breathing apparatus? My understanding of Halon is that it displaces breathable air. When I worked in an electronics manuacturing company we were told that if the Halon system was activated we were to leave the room immediately or risk death by asphyxiation.

I was a fireman in Los Angles for 22 yrs and a Inspector as well . As an inspecter one of my specialties was special extuishing systimes. My self and 4 other inspecters were responsible for the Halon systems being installed in the whole city before the fact in plan check. Having said that , Halon is toxic BUT in the concentrations of 17% and less it is only going to give you a headake maby. The concentrations needed to snuff the fire will need to be at 16% or less. Vary expensive and not practicle for anything other that to protect electronics in a sealed room. For your garage the best is a regular dime a dozen A B C and IF you want more ,a water extinguisher . The A B C will work on wood and paper type fires but will not cool down the material and it will likely begin to burn again. On flammable liquid it works the best and will snuff the fire out . It is mostly Bakeing soda with additives to help the soda from caking up in the extinguisher. Electric , again it will stop the flames but if the power is not turned off it will start again to burn. I have two units in my garage a 10 B C rated Kidde . Rated 10 BC not lbs. look on the label it is about 4.5 pounds. the secound one is a 2 1/2 gal pressureised water . This one will handel paper and wood. These are ment to knock down the fire so you can get out and call the Fire Dept. If properly used a 10 bc rated dry chemical will extinguish 10 sq. ft. of burning liquid. MAX. Hope this helps Gary Placement is important next to the entrance and nex to an exit is best . Dont place the extinguisher near where you think the fire may occure because if it does the extinguisher will be involved and you wont be able to get to it . Especially important with flammable liquid.

[TomoHawk]

I have a Fireade fire extinguisher that I'm putting in the car. It's rated for AB use. Like Gary said, if you have an electrical fire, your best action is to cut the power. No extinguisher will do that for you. Then you probably have either an A- or B-type fire left to deal with( in your typical garage). Unless your exotic engine block catches fire.Usually no K-type fires in the garage.

http://www.fireadesource.com/faqs.html

I chose the FireAde unit because it's not a dry chemical, so there's no mess or corrosion, and not Halon, so you can use it in a confined space (like the car).

I just need to mount it. Who's got aftermarket mounts, like the halon ones.?

thx

[Walter Moore]

Make sure to mount it as solidly as possible. In my last "Sports Car" I had an ABC dry chemical fire extinguisher that I had mounted by just tye-wrapping the stock home wall mount attachment to the spare tire...

One day in a hard corner I found myself driving in a fog... :stupid:

[GunnerRob]

One day in a hard corner I found myself driving in a fog... :stupid:

I don't mean to make light of your experience Walter, but I had to laugh at that one. It reminds me of when my heater core sprung a leak and turned my Z into a steamy sauna!