toohigh Heliman Location: Haarlem Netherlands
| Hi, had to chime in on this one. (I've been a Longtime Lurker)
A fire extinguisher is always a good thing to have around, no matter what you fly. Yes, even electrics catch fire occasionally; the likelihood of something going up fast is increasing with the higher power densities we are seeing in electrics.
So, what red bottle to get?
Halon is a big no as far as I am concerned. We are talking about holes in the ozone layer here, and I reckon we all ought to be taking our planet more seriously; it's not been banned for nothing.
Co2 is useful, but basically works the same as Halon, i.e.: killing the fire by displacing the Oxygen. (Remember the fire triangle? Heat/Fuel/Oxygen, removing any one of these kills the fire)
Using Halon or Co2 outside on a liquid fire will not always be effective. These types of extinguishers are intended to saturate a confined space with an inert gas.
As mentioned before on this thread, like any gas, Co2 gets cold when is decompresses. Shoot your hot OS90 with a gas extinguisher and things cool down pretty quick. You may not want to crack your block.
Baking soda is a good for putting out fires and is similar to what is used in many powder extinguishers, but the stuff gets in everywhere, and when it settles it soaks up the moisture from the air, becomes acidic and corrodes anything it comes into contact with. You may not want to kill your electronics.
What then is left?
The most modern foam extinguishers use foam which is both Ph neutral and non-conductive. Good for your gas heli, good for your electric heli, good for your buddy’s heli, and good to have in the car.
Foam is by far the most efficient, the fire is smothered almost instantly, both by the cooling effect and that oxygen can no longer reach the fuel.
A good 2 kilo foam bottle should be sufficient.
All extinguishers should be checked every 2 years, if not used. If you have an old extinguisher you will probably find it cheaper to buy a new one rather than fill an old one. Just empty it in a field somewhere and have a practice.
Sorry to go on, and about the ozone layer thing.
Please don't flame me. Absolutely no pun intended. |