It looks more like an emergency road flare (remember them?) than a fire extinguisher, but I'm pretty excited about the technology of my new pair of fire extinguishers.
I've carried a fire extinguisher in all my Minis since I was in college because I witnessed some serious events. Over the course of a single week back then I encountered two different cars fully ablaze on the side of the road - one a beautiful Porsche 356. That was all the convincing I needed to get some fire protection for my car and I've had extinguishers on board my Minis ever since then. Back in the 1980s I even spent big bucks to on several halon gas fire extinguishers because they don't leave any residue when used.
Fortunately I've never needed to use a fire extinguisher, so basically I've been replacing them over the years with new units when they get old and lose their charges. Cheaper and easier to buy a new one then try to get one recharged.
But I just got a pair of Element fire extinguishers and they remain operational indefinitely. And they have several other significant advantages over a traditional fire extinguisher:
- 50 second duration, about 5 times longer discharge time than typical extinguishers
- non-pressurized so no concerns about leakage or high-temp storage such as in a car
- non-corrosive and with no discharge residue
- much smaller form factor so easy to store in a vehicle or shop
- maintenance-free
- non-toxic
- effective for classes A, B, C, and K fires
They are made in Italy and have European and German TUV certification, but they are not yet UL approved here. Also, these fire extinguishers are not cheap. They cost $70-$80 depending on the seller.
I bought mine directly from Element but it looks like Pelican Parts has them on sale now if you are interested:
https://www.pelicanparts.com/catalog/shopcart/MISC/POR_MISC_ELEMEN-detail.htm
If you follow that link there are videos available that show the fire extinguishers in use.
They are available from other retailers as well.
Looks good. Probably time to replace mine in the mini and truck.
Brad, for a couple of bucks they will sell you a second mounting bracket. Because they are so portable it's easy to move the Element fire extinguisher from one vehicle to another. After all we are only driving one vehicle at a time. Or, take the fire extinguisher from a wall mount in the shop to a mount in your vehicle when you drive it.
Wow, I like that!
I can't imagine needing it for anything other than a Mini! :D
What do you do about fires D-J?
May have to grab one for mine. Hate to ruin that paint cause I put it back together wrong.
Little OT but my dad had this type glass bottle extinguisher on the firewall of his 1942 Ford Sedan . It had a bimetal trigger that broke the bottle when fire started. He put it in after a neighbors car caught on fire and they put it out with scoop shovels of snow.
Quote from: MiniDave on April 15, 2020, 04:26:16 PM
I can't imagine needing it for anything other than a Mini! :D
Here, let me help your imagination.
(there's a certain theme going on here... see if you can spot it) ;D
(https://cdn.newsapi.com.au/image/v1/c151eb33916963d164678fc2ffbda345?width=650)
(https://cdn.filestackcontent.com/resize=w:800,h:600,f:clip,a:center/output=format:pjpg,q:75/rotate=deg:exif/8J4e3j29QgK2ZS4xqGvz)
(https://images.cdn.circlesix.co/image/1/700/0/uploads/posts/2016/03/8fd4128d9d0d71619e39b74d83bea04c.jpg)
(https://images.cdn.circlesix.co/image/1/700/0/uploads/posts/2015/12/dcd43a7a5107656fb723e0fd1ce31423.jpeg)
(https://cdn.acidcow.com/pics/20120802/ferrari_02.jpg)
(http://www.wreckedexotics.com/articles/images/599_20070421_002.jpg)
(https://cdn.acidcow.com//pics/20110510/other/9/bunring_ferrari_04.jpg)
(https://a57.foxnews.com/a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2018/10/640/320/1862/1048/ferrari-1.jpg?ve=1&tl=1?ve=1&tl=1)
(http://www.ausmotive.com/pics/2013/Ferrari-F430-fire-Boca-Raton-01.jpg)
(https://www.portsmouth.co.uk/jp-ct.co.uk/image/onecms:df3d4bda-7943-408c-b443-8c56700a63fc:11d68824-95e4-4a31-be4d-ab6a441e335d/image.jpg?width=640)
Just passing this along in case anyone is interested: received an email today from Element saying that they are offering a 15% discount on their fire extinguishers with coupon code EFHS20 and also free shipping too. Plus a 2nd mounting clip free too (to easily move it between vehicles).
I never paid a lot of attention to fire extinguishers for the shop, even tho I have three of them - till they did the recall. After that I made sure all three were easily reachable and in good working shape - but I don't carry one in the car.
I know if I did it would promptly catch fire! ;D ;D ;D But these have so many advantages over a regular extinguisher that they make so much more sense to buy. Is the offer of 15% off for one or if you buy three?
I keep the ones in the shop right next to the doors - one at the back door near the solvent tank, one at the door to the upstairs, and one next to the garage doors, I figure it's more important to get me out of harms way then try and fight the fire. I don't know if that's the right idea or not? That's how we had them set up at the plant......
Not sure if it applies to multiple units. Here's the gist of the email.
On Pelican Parts is says 5% off for one, 10% off for two and 15% for three....just FYI. But that could be a different deal thru them.
This is neat. I looked up some videos on YT to see them in action and it looks like you have to get pretty close to the flames when using it. I think if I were to make the switch from traditional FEs to these, I'd want to buy an extra one so I could give it a try. I'd really want to get a feel of what it needed to get it started. I've gone through probably 25+ FE training sessions in my life the "pull the pin, squeeze, sweep the base" is all I know! LOL