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Fire extinguisher recommendation/source

LettersFromFlyoverCountry

Well Known Member
I'm about to fire up the avionics in the RV-12iS project but mindful of the wisdom of Vic Syracuse in one of his recent articles, I want to replace the 10 pound ABC fire extinguisher in my hangar with an equal sized Halon extinguisher.

I could use a recommendation for a source of a Halon extinguisher with these specs. Aircraft Spruce has only 5 pound and 15 pounders, as near as I can tell.

And thank you.
 
You may be able to find local fire bottle companies that do commercial installs/support that can get what you are looking for. I have one here locally that does pretty much all the varieties. Otherwise the National suppliers like Uline and aircraft spruce are the only ones I know.
 
I didn't think you could buy a new Halon fire extinguisher anymore. I believe the way the law is written you can't use Halon for new sales or installations, but you're allowed to keep Halon that's already there. You can buy Halotron extinguishers from spruce, sportys, or Amazon. Slightly less effective compared to Halon, but it's what you're looking for to use around your airplane. When you say 10lb bottle, do you mean 10 lb of net reactant weight or 10lb gross weight of the bottle?
 
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Element fire extinguisher

I'm about to fire up the avionics in the RV-12iS project but mindful of the wisdom of Vic Syracuse in one of his recent articles, I want to replace the 10 pound ABC fire extinguisher in my hangar with an equal sized Halon extinguisher.

I could use a recommendation for a source of a Halon extinguisher with these specs. Aircraft Spruce has only 5 pound and 15 pounders, as near as I can tell.

And thank you.

Just replaced my hangar ABC fire extinguisher with an Element E100 fire extinguisher based on that same article by Vic. No residue, no expiration date, no recharging. Somewhere on here there was a discussion about these and I liked what I saw. In the aircraft I have a Halon H3R fire extinguisher but as you can see on AS, the price of these is substantially more. Even their largest bottle will only discharge for 14 seconds and it's over $1600. The E100 has a 100 second discharge.
 
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If memory serves, the airport manager doesn’t allow any type A extinguishers. Destroys electronics and aluminum and totals an airplane if used.

Of course I could be wrong but something in the back of my mind i think this is right. Perhaps a more knowledgeable person will speak up.
 
Does anyone know much about "purple K"? The company that services our fire extinguishers recommended it for the hangar, so we installed them a couple of years ago. Price was reasonable.

I looked into it a little, and they seem better than ABC. Not sure how safe they are for aircraft. I'm hoping I never have to use it on the plane. They are a BC extinguisher, so we also have water cans for A.
 
Does anyone know much about "purple K"? The company that services our fire extinguishers recommended it for the hangar, so we installed them a couple of years ago. Price was reasonable.

I looked into it a little, and they seem better than ABC. Not sure how safe they are for aircraft. I'm hoping I never have to use it on the plane. They are a BC extinguisher, so we also have water cans for A.

I remember we used to have PKP (purple K) fire extinguishers on the carrier back in my day, not sure if they still have those. During fire fighting school we got to use them and they seemed very effective. No idea if the residue is corrosive or not.

"Cleanup of spent agent can be difficult, as it forms a residue when discharged. If the spent agent is dry it can be removed by suction, but when combined with water, hydrocarbons and other liquids, it forms a thick crusty scum that can be challenging to remove."
 
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Does anyone know much about "purple K"? The company that services our fire extinguishers recommended it for the hangar, so we installed them a couple of years ago. Price was reasonable.

I looked into it a little, and they seem better than ABC. Not sure how safe they are for aircraft. I'm hoping I never have to use it on the plane. They are a BC extinguisher, so we also have water cans for A.

When I was hangared in SoCAL at Cable Airport (KCCB), we were required to have a fire extinguisher. A lot of people had Purple K extinguishers.

I do not know if Purple K is corrosive to aluminum but I know it is a good fire extinguisher agent and would be what I most likely would buy if I could not get CO2.
 
Purple K is BC and dry chemical, also more or less destroys aircraft like ABC dry chemical. CO2 is less effective but doesn't damage aircraft.
 
Purple K is BC and dry chemical, also more or less destroys aircraft like ABC dry chemical. CO2 is less effective but doesn't damage aircraft.

Good to know. Might have to look into the CO2 extinguishers. Thanks.
 
Purple K is BC and dry chemical, also more or less destroys aircraft like ABC dry chemical. CO2 is less effective but doesn't damage aircraft.
ABC dry chemical contains ammonium phosphate and ammonium sulfate, both very corrosive to aluminum. From the Purple K SDS the primary extinguishing agent is potassium bicarbonate which I expect to be much less corrosive to aluminum. May have other issues such as going everywhere and difficult to clean but very different than the ABC dry chemical.
 
ABC is the bad one.

Class A is ordinary combustibles like paper, wood etc. Water is a class A extinguishing agent.

I checked with the airport manager and anything with a category “C” is taboo such as ABC. Extremely caustic to aluminum and avionics.

Thanks for keeping me straight from earlier. It’s been a long time since putting an extinguisher in the hangar.
 
I checked with the airport manager and anything with a category “C” is taboo such as ABC. Extremely caustic to aluminum and avionics.

Thanks for keeping me straight from earlier. It’s been a long time since putting an extinguisher in the hangar.

There must be a misunderstanding here. Both Halon and CO2 extinguishers will have a "C" on them and are the best for aircraft. And just a clarification ammonium phosphate and ammonium sulfate are corrosive because they are acidic not caustic.
 
https://www.faa.gov/documentLibrary/media/Advisory_Circular/AC_20-42D.pdf

c. Dry Chemicals. Class A, B, or C fires are best control1ed by dry chemicals. The only "all purpose" (Class A, B, Crating) dry chemical powder extinguishers contain monoamrnonium phosphate. All other dry chemical powders have a Class B. C U.S - UL fire rating only.

Note 1: In general, dry chemicals are not recommended for hand
extinguishers for internal aircraft use, due to the potential for
corrosion damage to electronic equipment, the possib1Jity of visual
obscuration if the agent were discharged into the flight deck area,
and the cleanup problems from their use
 
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Air Transport Newsletter, by Ronald Horn, Nov./Dec. 1983, “Class A-B-C Extinguishers Damage Aircraft”
“The A-B-C extinguishers have excellent fire-fighting capability, but the mono-ammonium-phosphate chemical agent melts and flows when it comes into contact with heat. This is how it gets its Class A rating. This chemical is highly corrosive to aluminum, and once it contacts hot aluminum and flows down into the structural cracks and crevices it cannot be washed out as the B-C dry chemical agents can.
“Once an A-B-C extinguisher is used on an airplane, it is necessary to disassemble the aircraft piece by piece and rivet by rivet to accomplish cleanup. Failure to do so will result in destruction of the aircraft by corrosion.”
 
I keep Element fire sticks around the garage and in the cars. Supposed to not ruin electronics and leave no residue.

Don't know about in-flight use, but should be a good option on the ground in the hangar.

https://elementfire.com/

Really neat. Compact, reasonable price, never has to be serviced. Runs for 30, 50 or 100 seconds compared to 10(?) seconds for bottle?

I thought a traditional unit would be better because you could stop pulling the trigger and have something left, but apparently once you've pulled the trigger the seals are compromised and unit has to be serviced?

One video mentions the disadvantage of needing two hands: remove cap and striker motion. I guess one could mount it so striker end stays stationary when removing the Element for use.

Finn
 
One video mentions the disadvantage of needing two hands: remove cap and striker motion. I guess one could mount it so striker end stays stationary when removing the Element for use.
Not sure how you operate a conventional fire extinguisher without two hands when you need to get the pin out...

I bought two of the Element E50's last year when I found my Halon extinguisher had emptied itself.
 
Not sure how you operate a conventional fire extinguisher without two hands when you need to get the pin out...

The video critiquing the Element for its required two-handed use shows the guy pulling out the pin using his thumb. He even mentions leaving it in place, pulling the pin and pushing the trigger -- in the event his other hand is disabled. However, in in my mind the Element wins: cost, unlimited service life, run time, size and weight. Claims it's safe to breathe, leaves no residue and biodegrades in a few minutes (but hangs around long enough prevent re-ignition of fire).

Finn
 
There is no perfect universal fire extinguisher. The Elements size, weight and harmlessness to person and property are ideal features. Effectiveness in wind with its low ejection force seems very suspect and its one-shot use is not as helpful, perhaps, as being able to pulse the extinguisher. It is also fairly expensive.
I don't know, but I'm beginning to think that the Kidde Tundra aerosol can for 12 bucks is looking pretty good. I think its not supposed to harm electronics or be corrosive.
Please don't flame me!
 
Anyone used an extinguisher in flight?

I am curious, has anyone ever had to use an extinguisher in flight? I have not, so my thoughts are not based on a personal experience. However, I have been trained as a firefighter.

So... my thought process is that if I have a fire in the cockpit and need to use an extinguisher... I think I could care less about the long term damage due to corrosion. I would just want the fire out as quickly as possible and get back on the ground safely. Nothing else would matter. Am I the only one thinking like this?
 
Cockpit fire

I am curious, has anyone ever had to use an extinguisher in flight? I have not, so my thoughts are not based on a personal experience. However, I have been trained as a firefighter.

So... my thought process is that if I have a fire in the cockpit and need to use an extinguisher... I think I could care less about the long term damage due to corrosion. I would just want the fire out as quickly as possible and get back on the ground safely. Nothing else would matter. Am I the only one thinking like this?

I was wondering about using one in flight inside the cockpit. Seems like a Catch 22. No extinguisher, fire burns. Extinguisher used, cockpit is IFR and probably toxic. Even Halon or FM200 can be a problem. I ran data centers. Halon casues asphyxiation. We weren't allowed to install Halon systems. The latter was not toxic but it displaced O² so you had another problem. No air.
Maybe I'm missing something. Sure hope it doesn't happen to anyone.
 
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