Glad you are safe and it looks like the bus was saved. And thanks for reporting the size of the fire extinguishers that actually worked. A recent scare with an angle grinder and an old rag behind me in a pile of rubbish made me realise the smaller extinguishers can not put out even one t-shirt unless conditions are ideal .Stamping on it worked better.
Sorry to hear this Mabel, I'm glad your all okay and got out safely. I hope you get sorted quickly and back camping soon
Lucky escape, glad you're OK. Vans can be fixed or bought, humans and dogs are not so easily replaceable!
Powder needs agitating to free it up now and again, I'm not a fan of powder it's messy and corrosive, attf (foam) for me the fire service use foam on car fires too.
Are the firetec ones foam or powder? I'm guessing foam don't need agitating? If they do I'll go and talk to mine about the Grexit, immigrants and the price of prescriptions.
Glad all your family are safe, metal and stuff is easy to replace, skin not so easy! Had a similar scare two years ago when the main cable from alternator to starter had a short and burnt out (smoke was toxic) Now carry two extinguishers (one on under dash shelf, another by bed) and a fire blanket near the cooker behind the passenger seat, also a quick battery isolator. Hope you are back on the road soon.
Just in case of a cooking fire inside the van or on the bbq etc etc. For the price of £14 just a bit of emergency kit.
Hope you are all well,and hope the bus is salvageable,,that is my only fear when this kind of thing happens,and my bus isn't yet ready for the road,i am toying with the idea of getting one of those automatic extinguishers,just for peace of mind,i truly hope your insurance covers you,and hope this hasn't put you off owning a bus.
Any ideas yet where the fire caught light! Looks like it could have been a lot worse,hope you get it sorted soon.
I'm selfishly disappointed that you didn't have an automatic fire system. I would like to see for real whether they actually work or just damp the fire down for a few seconds before it gets going again.
Lots of them do in racing cars....though I guess racing cars don't have giant fans for engines. The theory and practice is tight...is the issue the magnesium engine cases?
We used to fit these fire extinguisher kit to the jcb js200 digger base with a tree harvesting head ,it was three big bottles with the lines weaved all around the engine bay and hydraulic pumps ,they used to still burn out ,think it's the luck of the draw if they burn through the pipe at the exact spot u need em ,the forestry commission lost a fair about of these machines due to fire . Clad u saved Ur bus pal and didn't injure urself .
The issues IMO are: 1) there's a sq m + air per second racing through your engine bay - would it detect a fire at all in this hurricane? 2) There's a sq m + air per second racing through the engine bay - if it did go off, would most of the contents be sucked through the fan instead of fire fighting. My personal theory is you'd have to know you were on fire and it wouldn't go off before you switched off the engine/it stalled due to fire. That might be ok, it might not. If it did go off at speed or with the engine running it simply wouldn't do anything other than contribute to the mess. Until it happens and someone reports back we'll never really know. For that reason I don't have one - I did, but I gve it to a friend who believed it was better than nothing and the fact that it might help was good enough reason to have one.
Sorry I should have been more specific, I've seen them work on race cars and in aero engines... But not a T2.
If you get one with a switch and fit dash lights, it will give you warning of the fire as well as a first hit of foam. I certainly wouldn't rely on it to do the whole job and have a 9kg AFFF extinguisher mounted in the cab as well.
Agree, how pressured is that area? As in I get there is in effect a vacuum...do the fans suck enough that the air vents form a complete vacuum for the engine and vents, or is the vacuum nearer the engine? But different with Subaru...
I have a firetec and wonder if I would realise I was on fire, the dash light does make a bit of sense. How big is a 9kg foam extinguisher? sounds large
