Fire extinguishers

[Flyhound]

I finally added one of these to my plane. It is a LOT lighter than a 5 pound ABC compressed gas extinguisher. It also has no expiration date and doesn't leave a caustic residue behind that is corrosive to aluminum. These aren't worth beans on fires involving smoldering materials, but work great on avgas, oil or grease fires. They also operate much longer than 5 lb. ABC extinguishers.

Element Fire Extinguisher

Here's how effective they are on liquid fuel fires:
effectiveness on liquid fueled fire

And here's how ineffective they are on smoldering fires (like wood fires):
smoldering fire failure

 

[texasclouds]

How are you storing/securing it?

 

[camorton]

Interesting, but I'm a little concerned you can't control the flow or turn it off once it's started. Problematic in an enclosed space. Guess I could toss it out the window...

 

[Matthew]

I wasn’t able to find out what the extinguishing agent actually is. Maybe it’s on the website, but I didn’t see it.

When I was researching extinguishers for a club hangar years ago I remember seeing that PurpleK (potassium bicarbonate) and sodium bicarbonate are non-corrosive to aluminum and the dry powder can be washed out.

General purpose extinguishers use ammonium phosphate that forms a crust and can be very corrosive. That agent might put out the fire but still cause a total loss.

The Halon-like agents are, I think, still recommended for in-cockpit use.

I think PurpleK is a proprietary agent that’s used in extinguishers you would get through a safety company that regularly inspects them. I’ve seen them at fuel islands.

Edit: I did see that the agent is potassium based, so it may have similar characteristics of the potassium bicarbonate PurpleK.

 

[Brad W]

AND I'd be concerned that the extinguisher is driven by open flame.

 

[Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe]

How are you storing/securing it?

the one I got came with a plastic clip and I 3d printed a second clip to hold it horizontally to the wing root area over my left shoulder.