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Will they sell the foam additive to the general public (I assume no)?
Not from SPA Technique but you can find FireAde concentrate or pre-mix AFFF solutions from a few different online sources. However, whether your bottles are suitable for the application is really outside of what I can comment on.
thanks for the link....Yes, Novec is certainly available in a handheld option. Even for a non-buggy off-road rig though, I would recommend their 2 liter (roughly 5 lb) 4Fire AFFF handheld: HH 4f-2 - Hand Held Fire Extinguisher - 2 Ltr
A Novec system is going to be more expensive to initially purchase and is also more expensive to service or refill after use than a foam option. The 4Fire foam has fire out performance that nearly matches that of Novec but also has the benefits of a foam being that it coats and smothers the fuel source. This particular 2L handheld is also their lowest priced of all the various sizes/agents available so I consider it to be the best bang for your buck. I keep two of these in my steering pump assembly/testing room close to my dyno.
Not an expiration date on the foam, but there are service and expiration dates for on-board and handheld systems which are related to FIA/SFI requirements and/or bottle service life. SFI approved and FIA homolated systems require service every 2 years and bottles have a service life of 5 or 10 years depending on which system/bottle is being used. For the past year I had been authorized to service all SPA Technique AFFF bottles which consisted of discharge, disassembly, inspection, refill/recharge, and a new label. Here's an example of the info found on each bottle:
The main reason for the regular service is not to replace the foam but to inspect everything to check that the siphon tube is still intact and not blocked, that the valve still operates, etc. This also brings me to some points that I see confusion about when it comes to racing organization rule makers time and time again relating to service date requirements.
For instance, I have seen a lot of talk recently about Ultra4's requirements that fire extinguishers have to be serviced within the past year which is illogical in my opinion since proper handheld extinguishers already have a 2 year service date laid out by third party approval agencies. The dry powder Kidde extinguishers from Home Depot are an entirely different story and in my mind, aren't suitable for racing.
I have also heard (granted, this is only hearsay) that the reason on-board systems haven't been made mandatory is that this brings liability upon the racing body. There has been similar debate/misconception among my regional hillclimb racing organization that I compete in. However if the rules are written to require a system be installed in accordance with one of the established standards, for example FIA Technical List 16 or SFI 17.1, then this should theoretically take the liability off of the organizers and also establish required service intervals in one fell swoop.
Understood, will look into that.
It's likely to be better than my current solution (dawn and water).
Halotron is another gaseous agent still used today. It replaced Halon but it is still a CFC, just a better one for the environment than the older halons. Halotron and Novec 1230 are often compared to each other and are very similar in terms of use and effectiveness but Halotron has a global warming potential of 3500 and Novec has a global warming potential of 1. All else being equal, Novec would be my choice for a gaseous agent.
Yes, I would consider that an ideal handheld for a tractor since like a buggy, you want something that will wet the hay rather than something like Novec that will extinguish the fire then drift away.
Yea don't get Halotron it will be getting expensive and hard to find as time goes on, it will also kill you if you fire it off in an enclosed space.
spatechnique.com
The Halotron displaces oxygen as well. We would have been using this stuff on equipment burning Infront of an aircraft door, and if you had someone in there handling bags or cargo you could potentially kill them, that's what was one of the big red flags of the stuff in the application we were evaluating for. The extinguishers used would have been big ass wheeled bottles, so imagine some airline employee pretending to be fire Marshall Bill just unloading that shit into an enclosed space spraying and praying.
I mounted mine with the factory wire mount using some hose clamps and a couple velcro straps to keep it tight. Hasn't moved or been a problem
This is a great post! Should be sticked (or this thread) imo.
Which one? Wasn’t there some concern with powder packing discussions earlier on ABCs
There is concern from other people but we mitigate that by replacing them every year. We’ve put out fires several times with ABC’s off the cars and up to this point they’ve always performed as intended. These will get removed and replaced again in January for KOH.
Should have lit the car on fire, to really test it out.
Should have lit the car on fire, to really test it out.
Thanks for testing this out for us.
After seeing Loren have one of these fail I decided I don’t want to trust them. So we lit mine off today just to see how it would work. Ours worked like it was supposed to and wasted $80 bucks. But I’m going to put an ABC back in its place.
