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Fire suppression systems, worth it?
Does anyone use a fire suppression system in their RV? Planning on a 7 build that will be used for some entry level acro competition before we get a dedicated acro plane. Was planning on doing the Ti firewall and belly pans, but wasn't sure if a suppression system in the engine made sense. Bottle would be mounted behind the seat. A few questions:
There's a few Halon replacements out there, one is a cold gas type that I want to avoid because it will likely supercool the cylinders and cause engine damage. The other options are a gas or aqueous foam. Is Halon gas effective in an engine bay with as much airflow as the RV cowl? 3 nozzles come with the kit, plan was one on the battery and one on each side of the engine. Should the engine nozzles be under the engine aimed at the exhaust or on top of the motor so it gets sucked through the fins and dispersed as it flows down? Should they be on the front of the plenum faced towards the firewall or on the back of the motor facing forward? If anyone has worked an acro team or a reno team that used a suppression system, any details would be great. Can't find much info on Google. Thanks. |
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If I'm on FIRE, the very least of my concerns would be engine damage due to cooling from the fire suppression system. As a wiser man than me once said: "How much does a new engine cost? Not as much as a new behind." |
AFFF
I installed a fires suppression system in my (non-RV) plane. But I did it because it is a pusher configuration and it is much more difficult to know if you have a fire situation until it is probably too late to simply shut off fuel and master and hope it goes away. Realistically an AFFF system has little to no chance against a 200mph wind going through the cowl. On the ground I think it would be much better.
The race car suppliers all have good systems that are relatively inexpensive and lightweight. I hope to never find out if mine is effective. |
A desire that systems not needlessly damage your aircraft and recognizing your life takes a higher priority than a machine are not mutually exclusive...
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As far as damage vs. safety-of-life...BRS seems like a case in point one way :). |
In an engine fire you will likely turn the fuel off and have the nose poked down in a max rate descent. Your priority should be to get on the ground as soon as possible and exit the aircraft. Bleeding speed just to activate the suppression system is a bit of false economy. The beauty about the belly/firewall insulation found elsewhere on this site is that it will help buy you some time during the descent.
Alternatively, buy a parachute, insurance and put pull pins on your canopy to make it easily jettisonable. Tom. RV-7 |
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Halon replacements seem to require a concentration of 600 to 900 grams per cubic meter. I'll use 900 for this example. There are 35.315 cubic feet in a cubic meter, so the required concentration becomes 900/35.315 = 25.5 g/ft^3. At 1000 MSL, standard day, 2 lbs of air is about 27 cubic feet. So, to reach the necessary minimum concentration of fire suppressant, you would need to discharge about 700 grams per second, or roughly 1.6 lbs if I have not screwed up a term somewhere. It would be a little less at a higher altitude. So what is the required concentration, capacity, and discharge rate of the system you're considering? |
Alot
Thats a lot of stuff to discharge. And assume this has to stay around long enough to prevent re ignition, seems like it might not be practical unless source can be quickly eliminated.
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Ground Fire
This was the specific case I was thinking of when I bought my fire suppression system and installed it:
http://www.deford.com/cozy/fire.html Granted, I took other lessons from this, including making sure firewall pass throughs were either fused, connected to battery contactors before the energy source got to the firewall, etc. |
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