Fire Extinguishers

SixPapaCharlie

SixPapaCharlie

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My plane does not have a fire extinguisher in it.
I would like the idea of having one but I am not sure what factors to consider.

I am guessing that if I just pick up a $14 F.E. (Fire Extinguisher) From H.D. (Home Depot),
It will rupture at altitude or something or maybe something else really bad will happen which is why I see really expensive ones made for planes.

Is the only benefit to Halon that I don't make a mess everywhere? If I am on fire, I am not sure how concerned I am about getting white powdery substance that is not cocaine all over everything.

Ultimately my concerns in order by priority are:
1. Price.
2. I don't want to burn to death. This is a distant second though.

What do you use?
 
Halon Fire Extinguisher (2.5lb. gross weight, 2B:C rating)

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:yeahthat:

Another thought is mounting. Those thing hurt when they become airborne during an accident.

And I have seen a lot of Walmart fire extinguishers in an airplane.

Halons are low-toxicity, chemically stable compounds that have been used for fire and explosion protection from early in the last century. Halon has proven to be an extremely effective fire suppressant. Halon is clean (i.e., leaves no residue) and is remarkably safe for human exposure. Halon is a highly effective agent for firefighting in closed passenger carrying areas. Due to its effectiveness and relatively low toxicity, the FAA continues to recommend or require Halon extinguishers for use on commercial aircraft.

The production of Halon ceased on January 1, 1994, under the Clean Air Act, but is still available.
 
I wouldn't worry too much about altitude. I mean, I'm sure they sell them in Telluride CO.
 
The FAA recommends Halon and only Halon so most likely, anything else will end up in sudden death when your airplane crashes into a school for handicaped unwed mothers who's parents are personal injury attorneys. Of course, it's not the FAA that is paying for the extinguisher.

Dry chemical is nasty and could destroy your avionics, but it's cheap, works, and the chances you will need to use it are slim. Think of it as low cost insurance with a high deductible (bronze plan) while the Halon is the gold plan.

I carry dry chemical.
 
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I am shopping for a replacement for the 2.5 lb halon in my new-to-me plane. The current one has an initial hydrostatic text date of 1986 and has corrosion on the neck.

As to the halon vs dry chem, the dry chem is going to make it harder to see and breathe if you have to use it in the air and can't immediately bail out, but it's cheaper, and if price is a concern, better to carry something than nothing.

I'm going with a halon. I think the bracket you get with the aviation halon ext is stronger than the generic, but that's just a guess.
 
eman1200 said:
I wouldn't wait on this............in fact I would say the time to hesitate is through.
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I had to google it (because I suspect you are always up to something)
Then was disappointed right away that I had to google to get that reference.
 
I'd go with the halon.

The way I see it, if the plane is on fire and you can get out, then getting out is what you do. The fire extinguisher is for when the plane's on fire and you can't get out; and in that situation, halon is what you want. Dry chemical makes a mess, is corrosive, may obstruct your vision, and may be difficult to direct at the most likely causes of an inflight fire. If you can handle the rather steep cost, halon is the obvious cost.

CO2 is not a good option in an airplane or any other enclosed situation because the 34 percent concentration that's necessary to suppress fire is more than four times the concentration that will cause unconsciousness. CO2 extinguishers are also much heavier than comparably-rated halon extinguishers.

Rich
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
My plane does not have a fire extinguisher in it.
I would like the idea of having one but I am not sure what factors to consider.

I am guessing that if I just pick up a $14 F.E. (Fire Extinguisher) From H.D. (Home Depot),
It will rupture at altitude or something or maybe something else really bad will happen which is why I see really expensive ones made for planes.

Is the only benefit to Halon that I don't make a mess everywhere? If I am on fire, I am not sure how concerned I am about getting white powdery substance that is not cocaine all over everything.

Ultimately my concerns in order by priority are:
1. Price.
2. I don't want to burn to death. This is a distant second though.

What do you use?
Click to expand...
Halon for the cockpit.

For the hangar, avoid monoammonium phosphate (the general purpose HD extinguisher, Class A:B:C), and go for sodium bicarb (found in extinguishers labeled "kitchen", or Class B:C). In some parts of the country where freezing isn't a problem, a foaming agent is a good choice. Also, pay close attention to the location of the fuel island or closest fuel truck. They will usually have an extinguisher with potassium bicarb, trade name Purple-K. If you are in a community hangar, there may already be some extinguishers nearby.

In the hangar, if you have a fuel or oil related fire, you have a couple things to consider: If that fire starts, will your aircraft be totaled? Your basic dry chemical extinguisher can put out the fire, but the chemical is extremely corrosive to aluminum. You can put out the fire, and total the aircraft. A sodium bicarb, Purple-K, or foaming agent will put out the fire and can be hosed off afterward - you put out the fire, and prevented additional damage from the agent. I think the B:C agents are not necessarily "good" for aluminum, but nowhere near as bad as the A:B:C agent.

http://amerex-fire.com/upl/download...ical-in-the-vicinity-of-aircraft-0141461c.pdf

edit: By the way, I'm no expert on any of this!
 
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455 Bravo Uniform said:
I am shopping for a replacement for the 2.5 lb halon in my new-to-me plane. The current one has an initial hydrostatic text date of 1986 and has corrosion on the neck.
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Turn in the old one to a halon recycler. The only halon available going forward is what they can get from recycling.
 
The reason you don't want to use dry chemical is that you would fill your cockpit with the stuff and it isn't all that good for your lungs.

Many moons ago I had a chance to play with fuel pool fires and different extinguishers. Halon is freaking magic. We had a stack of 5kg Halon units and a 2x2m gasoline pool (oh the good old days). The pool could be well off and boiling and one sweep with the Halon bottle would put it out. Took much longer ans more agent with the standard ABC dry chemical extinguishers. With the CO2 bottle you could blow the flame out but it tended to re-ignite on the edges of the metal basin.
 
l glad you brought this up. I also feel the need to install a new extinguisher. Had on inflight fire years ago (electrical) and is went out once I disconnected the master and alt....:) Halon is what the air taxi I us to work for had installed in their planes. That is what I would recommend.
 
Clark1961 said:
Well by all means let me google that for you because you are sooooooooo interested.
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We'll aren't you a helpful little soldier.

You call out a safety item that is actively being sold today as a hazard, and the only references I could find via google point back to a conversation here on POA between you and Henning.

If that's all you've got, fine. I'll file that tidbit away appropriately. If you have actual knowledge of a study, I'm interested, and will improve my Google skills.
 
All halon is not the same, as I recently found out in a Grumman Gang discussion in April (really, no joke) but was also expounded on here by none other than Ron Levy, here dba POAdeleted20,:
https://www.pilotsofamerica.com/community/threads/do-you-carry-a-fire-extinguisher.66139/
As in many things, Ron seems to have some expertise in this matter, having researched it in his past.

You can also conveniently zip tie the mount to the tubular spar that runs under the front seats (much preferred to I-beams)
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
Is the only benefit to Halon that I don't make a mess everywhere? If I am on fire, I am not sure how concerned I am about getting white powdery substance that is not cocaine all over everything.
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How well do you think you can fly with a cabin full of powder flying everywhere impeding your ability to see and to breath?
 
IMG_0096.JPG I screwed a sheet metal scrap across my seat pedestal and attached a Halotron extinguisher to that. Make sure the bottle releases easy from the mount. This is my third one. I used the first two. One for a preheat fire and one for a starting fire.
 
Halon all the way.

I had an electrical fire on the ground - some internal wiring was wonky and a jump starting attempt went bad. Anyway, I blasted it with the halon fire extinguisher. It put the fire out, and a couple hundred bucks later with a new diode and wire, I was good to go. Had it been a dry chemical extinguisher, the bill would have probably been a lot higher.
 
One other thing about some if not most dry chemical extinguishers, once you press the button it doesn't stop spraying until all the stuff is out of it which could be a good two minutes or so. You may put a fire out but you aren't going to be able to see anything at all.
 
Timbeck2 said:
One other thing about some if not most dry chemical extinguishers, once you press the button it doesn't stop spraying until all the stuff is out of it which could be a good two minutes or so.
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I have used a couple dry chems on real world fires and have not seen this behavior. Both shut down when the lever was released and held pressure overnight. The valve is simple and can get jammed by the chemical agent I suppose.
 
I'll rephrase: If one goes the dry chemical extinguisher route, make sure the handle can be pressed intermittently because there are some that will expel all their contents from one activation.
 
Stewartb said:
View attachment 55094 I screwed a sheet metal scrap across my seat pedestal and attached a Halotron extinguisher to that. Make sure the bottle releases easy from the mount. This is my third one. I used the first two. One for a preheat fire and one for a starting fire.
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Wood screws, seriously?
 
Truss head sheet metal screws. Like that's important to anything. Show us your extinguisher mount.
 
I used wood screws for my mount, because it is mounted between the rear seats on a platform...which is wood.
 
weilke said:
Turn in the old one to a halon recycler. The only halon available going forward is what they can get from recycling.
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Is there a list of recyclers somewhere? I need a new one too...halon I mean

Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk
 
Stewartb said:
Truss head sheet metal screws. Like that's important to anything. Show us your extinguisher mount.
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Which would you like to see, 777, 767, 757, A300 or A310? I guarantee, there are no fire extinguishers located between the pilots seat and pedals, with only screws holding a flimsy aluminum strap supporting the weight of a fire extinguisher. You have to be insane to think that's ok.
 
WannFly said:
Is there a list of recyclers somewhere? I need a new one too...halon I mean
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I believe ours went back to the retailer we bought the new one from. For the little 2.5lb bottles the shipping is as much as what you get for the agent (makes more sense with a big flood system). It's not so much for the money, just the principle.
 
GlennAB1 said:
Which would you like to see, 777, 767, 757, A300 or A310? I guarantee, there are no fire extinguishers located between the pilots seat and pedals, with only screws holding a flimsy aluminum strap supporting the weight of a fire extinguisher. You have to be insane to think that's ok.
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Insane is not having one within quick and easy reach. I couldn't care less about big iron. I use extinguishers in airplanes that I own and they've saved me from total losses twice. From that mount. That sounds very sane to me.
 
Stewartb said:
Insane is not having one within quick and easy reach. I couldn't care less about big iron. I use extinguishers in airplanes that I own and they've saved me from total losses twice. From that mount. That sounds very sane to me.
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Alright, you have the "what if I have a fire" covered (for the most part). Consider the "what if I'm in an upset or something" and the fire extinguisher bracket you attached with screws comes loose, or off. That's all I'm going to say.
 
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