Fire suppression...

in-car fire suppression... thoughts, experiences?

Small engine bay fire on a car I was going to sell is making me think about fire suppression in the car I'm building. It isn't a requirement for CARS though.

I decided to put and on-board fire system in my car after a conversation I had about car fires.
I figured that you can roll the car several times and destroy the shell, but still salvage most stuff to transfer to another car - re-shell it.
An uncontrollable fire can result in losing EVERYTHING in the car.
I bought a SPA fire system for $570ish and consider it an insurance investment.

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Nick Taylor.
Knobhead.
Los Angeles, CA.

Nick... electronic trigger, or manual pull? 5 or 10lb tank?

My rally car will be getting a fire system. Make sure to also carry some hand helds with you. In car systems can't help your buddies or anything outside the car or out of reach of nozzle.
I convinced Checkpoint Racing to carry the SPA systems. They seem quite good. I like manual pull personally. Less likely to malfunction or accidently get triggered.

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Grant Hughes

I bought the 4 Litre electrical unit. (MFE400-A)

http://www.spa-uk.co.uk/design/firesuppressionsystems.asp

It comes with one push-button trigger that we mounted in the dash, 3 nozzles in the dash (drivers lap, co-drivers lap and one in the center between us), 3 nozzles in the engine bay (1 directed fuel rail on each side of the engine (2) and 1 at the turbo).

I thought about another button mounted outside the car in the raintray but never did it. We have the little control box mounted on the trans tunnel where it meets the back seat area. Just out of reach so it isn't turned off accidentally, but within reach to switch it on when we need it.


And as Grant pointed out you will need some handhelds also. The sanctioning bodies require handhelds, but not on-boards.

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Nick Taylor.
Knobhead.
Los Angeles, CA.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/14/2007 04:06PM by nick the brit.