best fire extinguisher carried

[rich 36]

Want to renew the old one
carried in car as its passed its best by now,

what size and (colour coded) type is most useful

what do colours signify again BTW

[agent006]

Extinguishers are all red these days. You want a powder one, and the biggest you can practically fit.

[GreenV8S]

You want an AFFF one, at least 2 liters, mounted securely somewhere you can get at it from outside the car

[rich 36]

if not larger than present, one will fit in the door step alongside seat base

AFF ?

[agent006]

rich 36 said:

AFF ?

Foam. Puts out less stuff than powder does, hence why you want a powder one despite the mess it makes.

[rich 36]

So what does the pale brown colour signify anyway

(sandy colour)

[GreenV8S]

If you let off powder inside a car you effectively destroy the interior, because the powder gets into every nook and cranny and will be blowing around inside the car for the rest of time. That's assuming the powder hasn't compacted and the thing does actually go off. Powder is something that you can only really use outside, or in an enclosed space if you have your back to the door and are prepared to step outside the moment you trigger it. Once you trigger it in an enclosed space, you'll be completely blind. In some situations I think this could be very dangerous, and I undersand this is why powder is never used on public transport.

[SilverS2]

Hmmm, have to disagree with using foam extinguishers in cars, dry powder is by far the best IMHO.
AFFF foam, is 99% water and will ruin most fabrics wheras dry powder can be hoovered up and cleaned without too much problem.
The powder has a much better 'knock down' on some classes of fire, but does'nt give anything in the way of cooling, basically its more of an air bourne extinguisher wheras foam is better for fabric fires/ oil spill fires etc where it forms a blanket (not much good if the fire is under the dashboard).
I would'nt like to be in a car when a dry powder extinguisher went off, but if there was a fire in there I can bet most of us would be out pretty quick anyway, the best move would to be get out and set the extinguisher off by leaving the door/ bonnet open a crack, and then shutting it again to starve the fire of oxygen.

Not sure what the regs are in the USA but now in the UK we have to abide by the EU rules so no more coloured extinguishers, they have to be all red (5% colour is allowed).

I always carry a dry powder extinguisher, never had to use it on my own car yet, but you never know.
Andy.

Oh, forgot to say AFFF is 'Aqueous Film Forming Foam'

Edited by SilverS2 on Sunday 13th August 15:41

Edited by SilverS2 on Sunday 13th August 15:43

[rich 36]

very interesting cheers

often wondered why bonnets were left down by the fire boys sometimes

[SilverS2]

Rich, Looking back at the original post, Red is for water, Black CO2, blue dry powder and cream foam, the daddy was the green ones, BCF, superp extinguishing medium but banned as it's an ozone depleter, pity. (blame it on the dolphins).
You will still see either a coulured band around most extinguishers or the top part of the info label will be coloured.
by (EU)law now there has to be info for people who have to use an extinguisher on the type of fires it's suitable for, when it was manufactured, use by date and instructions for use etc.

I would'nt worry too much about caking of the powder as a car gets jiggled about all the time, but it's a good idea to try to get one with a little gauge on it to let you know it still has pressure in it.
Andy.

[rich 36]

mines a brown one and the gauge when i looked last month appeared at least useable,
its been in there for some time though, so might be time to go
down a new route one