Topic: Fire Suppression: anyone gone with no linkage?

Looking at adding fire suppression to the Unicorn...  Probably the medium-sized AFFF kit in the Lemons store.

Has anyone mounted the bottle within reach of the driver so there's no linkage to worry about?  Just punch a knob right on the neck of the bottle?  (we'd probably also add a handle on the B or C pillar for the corner worker, but I'm worrying about the driver first)

If we can reduce potential wear items and the amount of crap inside the car, that seems like a win.

riding the space unicorn

Re: Fire Suppression: anyone gone with no linkage?

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Re: Fire Suppression: anyone gone with no linkage?

Interesting idea, less complexity is usually good. I did read somewhere of a team that had rust in their pull cable mechanism which kept them from firing the system. We installed a 4 liter Spa Technique bottle around 4 years ago (was required by cc at the time), fortunately haven't had to use it.

I'm assuming that you are talking about a mechanically actuated system? If so, you would have to install the bottle very close to the base of the seat, which would make it invisible to the helmeted driver, who would have to feel around to find the handles. Then you need to squeeze the handles with your fingertips at arms length, a position where you don't have much strength. Using the cable allows you to install the pull handle in a visible spot and also allows the driver to apply higher levels of force when actuating the system.

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Re: Fire Suppression: anyone gone with no linkage?

The cable pull also allows the driver to exit the car first and then and only then "fire" the system and hope to put out the fire.
In the case of a fire your first move should be to exit the car once  you get it stopped!
Also it allows someone outside of the car to "fire" the system if the driver can't!

Re: Fire Suppression: anyone gone with no linkage?

On my SPA system, the bottle is more or less a regular fire extinguisher where activation entails squeezing the 2 handles together.  All the cable/T handle pull does is squeeze those handles.  I would think it would be easier to find/pull the T handle than find/orient hand/squeeze the handles on the bottle.  Plus you can mount the T handle someplace very obvious but packaging/securing the fire bottle in such a way that it easily falls to hand may be difficult.  Lastly, you will have to be much more careful about setting the thing off accidentally since it will now be sticking up where god and country can bump into it.  What is your plan B if you set it off during a pit stop?

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6 (edited by VKZ24 2017-08-01 11:11 AM)

Re: Fire Suppression: anyone gone with no linkage?

jimbbski wrote:

The cable pull also allows the driver to exit the car first and then and only then "fire" the system and hope to put out the fire.
In the case of a fire your first move should be to exit the car once  you get it stopped!
Also it allows someone outside of the car to "fire" the system if the driver can't!

Ours system has two remote cable-pull handles.  One in close proximity to the driver in case he needs it to buy him enough time to GTFO.  The other is mounted onto the main hoop, right inside the passenger window, in case a corner worker or someone outside the cockpit needs to deploy the system.

Keep in mind it's designed to be a fire SUPPRESSION system, not a fire EXTINGUISHING system.  It's intended purpose is to hopefully allow the driver a little more time to GTFO in case of a fire.  If it doesn't extinguish the fire, I'm just fine with that, as long as my ass, or one of my teammate's isn't in the car while it burns to the ground.

Captain
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Re: Fire Suppression: anyone gone with no linkage?

On an Adam Carolla CarCast podcast, the guys from Safecraft made a very compelling argument for using an automatic system rather than a manual system:

http://carcastshow.com/podcast-914-safe … ason-cobb/

The essence of the argument is that if you have a manual system with two or three heads (engine, driver and fuel) when you pull the handle your entire capacity of fire deterrent material is split between how ever many nozzles you have in spite of the fact that the fire is likely contained to only one of those areas.

Rather, with an automatic system, the full capacity of your system is delivered to only the area that is actually on fire making it much more likely to be effective.  Also, the distribution lines are charged all the way to the nozzle so the system does not have to displace the volume of air between the fire bottle and the nozzle.

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Re: Fire Suppression: anyone gone with no linkage?

cheseroo wrote:

Lastly, you will have to be much more careful about setting the thing off accidentally since it will now be sticking up where god and country can bump into it.  What is your plan B if you set it off during a pit stop?


We were concerned about the same thing. Since the certified systems are not user-rechargeable, an accidental discharge (or purposeful discharge for a minor incident) will leave the car without a working fire suppression system. So, we installed a small hand-held bottle in the car as well. That will give us backup for a discharged main system as well as a second option for a small incident where we are not very much on fire.

We Audi Be Faster
'85 Audi Coupe G(in &) T(onic)

Re: Fire Suppression: anyone gone with no linkage?

Thanks for all the info.  As always, it doesn't sound as easy as I'd hoped.

I was thinking we'd get non-certified for exactly that problem.  An AFFF refill kit looks to be $60ish.  If you set 'er off in the pits, you rinse out your driver's suit and car, recharge the bottle, and keep racing.  (assuming your electrical isn't shorting all to hell...)

But, if you need certification, you're done for the day (assuming fire supp. is required) and shipping the bottle to the pros.

riding the space unicorn

Re: Fire Suppression: anyone gone with no linkage?

You can't have a second charged and certified bottle to plug in?

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Re: Fire Suppression: anyone gone with no linkage?

You can, given the money and attention span to make sure it comes to the track.  (neither of which I have in great supply)

riding the space unicorn

Re: Fire Suppression: anyone gone with no linkage?

I run both a co2 rechargeable with the handle for the driver on the dash and a small  one time usage  next to the shiftier they can grab to use in the car or outside the car for small camp fires.
DRVOLKS