In previous writings...
> > a thread on fire protection?
> > any sort of passive fire extinguishing device I could
> > hang from the rafters which would work even if I'm not around.
>
> Halon comes to mind.
> been looking for Halon fire extinguishers for my own garage for some time
> now with no luck. I've cleaned up after fires which were put out by
> conventional chemical extinguishers, and I'd rather not go through that again.
>
Couple of thoughts.
1) Good 'ole water sprinklers on the rafters might be in the realm of
do-it-yourself installations. Not good at all for oil/gas fires, but
might save things if the building itself were the fire problem. Cleaning
up the flood would be a pain, but it beats burning down!
2) For garage extinguishers, I'd advise getting one or more reasonable
size CO2 extinguisher. Halon's claim to fame is around electronics,
where it doesn't have the chilling shock of CO2. Not as much concern
in a garage situation, and much less expensive to refill. Having a
dry powder type there as a backup/alternative wouldn't be a bad
idea either.
3) I suspect that any automatic discharge of halon or CO2 are well beyond
the budget of do-it-yourselfers. The volume of a two car garage/shop is
pretty large and would take a large gas supply.
(slightly humorous aside -- many years ago at the installation of
a halon system in the computer room where I worked, they gave the
"how it works, how to shut it off, etc" presentation. During the
walkaround, the technician pointed to the valves at the top of
the halon tanks, and referred to the "Jesus nuts". Huh? What was
that? Yep, he said, that's what we call them. Everytime the
system goes off, somebody is sure to say "Jeeeeeesus!".)
4) An alternate "passive fire extinguishing device I could hang from
the rafters which would work even if I'm not around" system is to
install heat/smoke sensors to feed into an alarm system. The alarm
system in our house includes these (but not in MY garage, hmmm) and
will trigger a call to the alarm company who calls the fire department.
It may take some investigation to figure out how to NOT react to
the heat of a recently driven car or the fumes of a badly smoking
lbc.
5) I too have had the pleasure (?) of cleaning up after a dry chemical
extinguisher was put to work. I was cleaning and then FOOLISHLY
decided to light a Coleman stove in my kitchen. Minor flame, quick
burst from the extingusher, white powder EVERYWHERE. Still powder
is beter than charcoal!
Cheers,
Joe
flake@d311510.atl.hp.com
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