small fire extinguishers

Nissan Navara Forum

Help Support Nissan Navara Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
As stated earlier the dry powder extinguishers do need to be shaken and "thumped" free every so often (monthly or more often in some cases) as the vibration in a vehicle does settle and compact the powder enough for it not to discharge effectively or sometimes not at all. I serviced and inspected extinguishers for a few years so have some experience with them. This discharge rate of a (quality)1kg dcp is around 8-10 seconds so not long but when used properly pretty effective. They are the best type to have in a vehicle as the cover a range of fires but do have limitations. They work by interrupting the flame chain reaction of a fire (displace oxygen in a way) rather than cooling or removing fuel so if a fire has an extremely high amount of heat then they don't generally put the fire out and prevent it reigniting, more just slow the process a little. Often though the slowing down is enough to prevent more heat developing and the fire will be extinguished. A note worth mentioning too is that once a dry powder extinguisher of any size has been discharged by even the tiniest amount they need servicing and recharging. The fine powder gets in between the sealing oring and head which allows the charging gas (nitrogen) to escape over a few minutes which renders the unit useless until it's serviced. Well worth having in the car and can prevent a major fire is used early enough. Cheers.
 
Last edited:
As stated earlier the dry powder extinguishers do need to be shaken and "thumped" free every so often (monthly or more often in some cases) as the vibration in a vehicle does settle and compact the powder enough for it not to discharge effectively or sometimes not at all. I serviced and inspected extinguishers for a few years so have some experience with them. This discharge rate of a (quality)1kg dcp is around 8-10 seconds so not long but when used properly pretty effective. They are the best type to have in a vehicle as the cover a range of fires but do have limitations. They work by interrupting the flame chain reaction of a fire (displace oxygen in a way) rather than cooling or removing fuel so if a fire has an extremely high amount of heat then they don't generally put the fire out and prevent it reigniting, more just slow the process a little. Often though the slowing down is enough to prevent more heat developing and the fire will be extinguished. A note worth mentioning too is that once a dry powder extinguisher of any size has been discharged by even the tiniest amount they need servicing and recharging. The fine powder gets in between the sealing oring and head which allows the charging gas (nitrogen) to escape over a few minutes which renders the unit useless until it's serviced. Well worth having in the car and can prevent a major fire is used early enough. Cheers.

HEYPRESTO,

Good write up,
I am now going with 2 Extinguishers myself, have one in the CAB already, now buying a second one to put in the tub.

Unfortunate news with what happened...

Cheers
Geoff

"GO THE NAV V6's"
 
As stated earlier the dry powder extinguishers do need to be shaken and "thumped" free every so often (monthly or more often in some cases) as the vibration in a vehicle does settle and compact the powder enough for it not to discharge effectively or sometimes not at all. I serviced and inspected extinguishers for a few years so have some experience with them. This discharge rate of a (quality)1kg dcp is around 8-10 seconds so not long but when used properly pretty effective. They are the best type to have in a vehicle as the cover a range of fires but do have limitations. They work by interrupting the flame chain reaction of a fire (displace oxygen in a way) rather than cooling or removing fuel so if a fire has an extremely high amount of heat then they don't generally put the fire out and prevent it reigniting, more just slow the process a little. Often though the slowing down is enough to prevent more heat developing and the fire will be extinguished. A note worth mentioning too is that once a dry powder extinguisher of any size has been discharged by even the tiniest amount they need servicing and recharging. The fine powder gets in between the sealing oring and head which allows the charging gas (nitrogen) to escape over a few minutes which renders the unit useless until it's serviced. Well worth having in the car and can prevent a major fire is used early enough. Cheers.

As stated above, dry powder is a great firefighting agent, the only agent you can use on most types of fires - Fuel, Electrical, LPG/Natural Gases, plastic, Rubber and textiles, it is a very versatile agent in the right conditions.

Down side - as stated above, a correctly maintained 0.9kg DPE will only last you 5-10sec max, and as it only interrupts the chemical reaction, if you have running fuel involved you may be pushing the per-verbal up hill.

Another downside, Copper wiring hates one of the Dry Powder Types/Bland's, in that when one type of powder comes into contact with copper wiring or circuit boards using copper, it kills the copper and renders it non-conductive over a period of time.

Most Insurance Companies will not cover Electrical Item Damage that are contaminated following an accidental Discharged Dry Powder Extinguisher.
 
Oh wow :( my Dad and I tried to put a fire out with one of the smaller extinguishers, definitely need a bigger one but at the time its all we had. This was the aftermath. Only had 62,000 kms and he had just finished polishing it. uploadfromtaptalk1409670251562.jpguploadfromtaptalk1409670285128.jpg
 
just remember dry chem is a bastard to get out of everywhere, but it is and can be very effective, back in the day we saved a mates car with one, his for started in the aircon vents, it took years for it to stop blowing the powder out though, but we laughed none the less

and halon is now considered illegal in most places unless its on an Aircraft, its bad shit, it displaces oxygen and works really well, but can inadvertently suffocate you and its bad for the ozone,
 
The best thing is get a small one with a hose nozzle rather than fixed one. Have seen them in 2kg so still small, but better off in engine bay fires to leave bonnet down as much as possible and stick hose in to squirt it out.
 
just remember dry chem is a bastard to get out of everywhere, but it is and can be very effective, back in the day we saved a mates car with one, his for started in the aircon vents, it took years for it to stop blowing the powder out though, but we laughed none the less

and halon is now considered illegal in most places unless its on an Aircraft, its bad shit, it displaces oxygen and works really well, but can inadvertently suffocate you and its bad for the ozone,
Or on Navy ships. When halon reacts it releases hydrogen sulfide. Bad shit that is.

Maybe a plumbed in co2 drench to the engine bay?

the rhibs we have have an engine compartment fire suppression system too. Can't remember what it is though.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top