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Sun Nov 24, 2013 6:45 pm

bluebus86 wrote: ...A manual activated extinguisher is a wiser choice. It can be activated after vehicle is stopped and shut down...

I'd be interested in seeing your set-up for this. Or are you just day-dreaming?

Sun Nov 24, 2013 7:04 pm

Ahwahnee wrote: bluebus86 wrote: ...A manual activated extinguisher is a wiser choice. It can be activated after vehicle is stopped and shut down...

I'd be interested in seeing your set-up for this. Or are you just day-dreaming?

Day dreaming, but well researched. Many kits are available from automotive or marine distributors. These are of metal construction, refillable, will last far more than ten years, and of much larger capacity. They are ABC rated, with rating listed as required, some are Coast Guard Approved too.
No hype in their marketing either. Just the facts, as it should be with safety equipment.

Sun Nov 24, 2013 8:42 pm

:bay_blue: This may be fine, you can't have to many fire extinguishers . I for one like 6 LBS of FE-36 to stop a fire! These can also be manual activated . http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5...er+install

Sun Nov 24, 2013 9:49 pm

After 3 years of top down bottom up rebuild on m 80 barn find Westy. I began to look for a little "insurance"...
I just bought 2 of these...great insurance..after ALL the hazards have been dealt with..my basic plan is to do everything that can be done for safety, then, convience, then, comfort. And it's nice when I can enjoy all three.
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/htr-hg250b/overview/
put one behind the driver's seat, 'cause that's where 'l be jumping out first if I'm driving, and it's easy to access from inside, too. The tiny battery box there is my front storage bin, all my aux system is in the previously useless utility box in the rear floor corner. The "front bin" is lined with the same heavy vinyl floor material I used in the cargo/rear floor area so things don't rattle around. The other one goes??.. has not been discovered, probably under the rear seat for now.. :roll:

Sun Nov 24, 2013 11:19 pm

Here's a little story for the neverbelievers.

One of my aircooled vans once sprung a leak while I was working on it. It was in front of my house idling. I looked in the side mirror and noticed liquid squirting out the side on to the ground. Gas leak, spraying right on to the exhaust. Somehow the fuel didn't catch fire, but if it did I sure would have been glad for any line of defense while I grabbed the extinguisher.

The fact is this product does no harm. Every single person here has been meticulous to point out that this is only a supplement to extinguishers and proper maintenance.

Please don't badger the seller for posting a video of how the product works. Please don't insinuate that he's avoiding your questions. There has been no hype advertising, and no reason for false claims. The video shows a fire being put out in the exact conditions where I nearly had a fire. That's enough for me.

Mon Nov 25, 2013 8:59 am

Irony: Talking about wasting money in a forum dedicated to Vanagons.

Mon Nov 25, 2013 10:03 am

noganav wrote: Here's a little story for the neverbelievers.

One of my aircooled vans once sprung a leak while I was working on it. It was in front of my house idling. I looked in the side mirror and noticed liquid squirting out the side on to the ground. Gas leak, spraying right on to the exhaust. Somehow the fuel didn't catch fire, but if it did I sure would have been glad for any line of defense while I grabbed the extinguisher.

The fact is this product does no harm. Every single person here has been meticulous to point out that this is only a supplement to extinguishers and proper maintenance.

Please don't badger the seller for posting a video of how the product works. Please don't insinuate that he's avoiding your questions. There has been no hype advertising, and no reason for false claims. The video shows a fire being put out in the exact conditions where I nearly had a fire. That's enough for me.

The video test van fire was not put out on a motor at idle as your van was when you had the leak. not exactly the same conditions. There was no ignition source in the test van to re-ignite the fuel after the small capacity Blazecut is depleted. The test van's aircooled motor fan was not sucking out the fire extinguishing media, and drawing in fresh air thru the grills. I am glad you did not have a fire in your van.

It was not until the 11th post in this thread that someone (not one of the promoters) suggested that the Blazecut demonstration is lacking real world concerns (no power shut off, extra extinguisher recommended, issues with moving vehicle etc... ) On the 12th post the hype started again, someone said "any system is a good one" and "you cant go wrong".

There has been a lot of hype in promoting this thing, very few hard facts given, like the ABC rating.

Only when posters questioned the Blazecut's shortcomings was there any admission by seller/maker/promoters that it has faults in a real world fire of a van at speed, engine on.

Of course it was recently claimed by a promoter that the Blazecut "cannot slowly leak down or loose pressure like a conventional fire extinguisher". I'd sure like to see how they do that, them pesky conventional extinguishers always leak, don't they???? :shock: (A little more sales hype here maybe???)

The question of ABC rating came up in Sept., after two months the seller says it is ABC rated, yet seller has not provided the ABC rating. Where are the figures? If the thing is rated ABC, tell us what it is rated.

Note.... A 5 lbs halon extinguisher usually is a 10B-C rated unit. It will cost you about $200 and last a life time, it is refillable. $200 will also get you a 20 lb dry chemical extinguisher (refillable) rated at 10A-120B-C that is 12 times the gasoline fire capacity of the 5 lbs halon. Either of these will have much more fire fighting ability than the Blazecut, unless of course its ABC rating is really crazy high (Will we ever see them numbers from the seller?????) Judging by the volume of media the Blazecut holds, I'd be surprised if it rates much higher than a 2B-C.

It would take five blazecuts ($1000 worth) to equal one small 5 lb halon unit, or 60 Blazecuts ($12,000 worth) to equal one 20 lb dry unit, using these figures. That is as much as a sixty times fire fighting ability for the same money

Sure you may agree that "any system is a good one" but fact is some systems are much better than others, even for the same money!

signed

The Neverbeliever Badger with Bees in His Bonnet.

Mon Nov 25, 2013 12:56 pm

Obviously I turned my van off when I saw gas spraying out of it! :lol:

Please post back when you've developed and tested your manual switch alternative and I'll be first in line to buy one. Until then, I think your concerns have been made perfectly clear. Thanks for your input.

Mon Nov 25, 2013 1:51 pm

noganav wrote: Obviously I turned my van off when I saw gas spraying out of it! :lol:

Please post back when you've developed and tested your manual switch alternative and I'll be first in line to buy one. Until then, I think your concerns have been made perfectly clear. Thanks for your input.

What to do with these "Believers", what to do? :? :?

Ok, so that I may have permission to post back. Here are my test findings. I have used maybe 12 extinguishers on vehicle fires. (Halon, CO2, Chemical) These have been tested by me in real use. They can do the job if big enough, AND if sources of re-ignition are removed.

Believers in Blazecut: Please post back when you've developed and tested your Blazecut in a real world test and /or when you come up with some ABC rating numbers and I'll be first in line to buy one. Until then, I think your concerns have been made perfectly clear. Thanks for your input

Mon Nov 25, 2013 2:47 pm

I would be interested in seeing a video of the product putting out a high pressure fuel injection fire in a vanagon, they are different and much more violent.

Tue Nov 26, 2013 7:28 am

I've given serious thought to a 'trip wire' fuel cut off switch.
say a length of quality fishing line hooked to a spring and a switch that cuts off the fuel pump, stretched acros the engine compartment.
1st sign of fire and pop, off goes the fuel pump..

and I am a believer for this Blazecut system.. but wouldn't be w/o a portable extinguisher either. that's for ground fires or other people's van fires.

at this price there is nearly zero harm/risk in the added insurance. some on the bay bus forum have gone so far to install a pressurized tank fire suppression system (ala Boats & race cars) at a much greater cost factor.

I'd recommend Balzecut & a portable fire extinguisher to any of my VW camper friends.. ESPECIALLY those who run the WBX motor with it's 10ft of fuel line..

Tue Nov 26, 2013 7:30 am

noganav wrote:

Please post back when you've developed and tested your manual switch alternative and I'll be first in line to buy one. Until then, I think your concerns have been made perfectly clear. Thanks for your input.

for the same money I would go for this set-up:

manually triggered via pulling 1 of the 2 cables
you can put the nozzles where ever you want :D

Tue Nov 26, 2013 7:34 am

also electronical triggered available:

so you could always rig it to a temperature-switch to trigger it automatically 8)

Tue Nov 26, 2013 12:24 pm

Very cool, thanks Leipo. Do you have a link to this product or other details?

Tue Nov 26, 2013 2:28 pm

Leipo wrote: ...for the same money I would go for this set-up:

For the same money I would too -- but looking at the site that possibly came from it is listed at 12 830 rubles.

If there is a source for this that is easier to order from it would be interesting to see it.

Wed Nov 27, 2013 1:00 am

I'm located in Europe and I only found European sources:

France:
http://www.grandprixracewear.fr/en/fire-extinguish...-afff.html

Holland:
http://www.sparcoshop.nl/shop/detail/268

England:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Sparco-AFFF-Mechanical-4...53fa87a75d

Belgium:
http://www.alltec-seys.be/?p=webshop&d=artikel&detail=230&cat=1

Denmark:
http://www.racingudstyr.dk/shop/sparco-ildslukker-4-226p.html

Finland:
http://kauppa.completos.fi/PublishedService?file=page&pageID=9&itemcode=0146MS4011

Spain:
http://www.racingsport.es/kit-acero-425l-mecanica

etc. :D

Wed Nov 27, 2013 1:14 am

other (slightly more expensive) brand that should be available in the US:

http://www.hardmotorsport.com/OMP-Fire-Extinguisher-Black-Collection-Mechanical-28-L-CMFST1-VR.htm

Wed Nov 27, 2013 4:16 pm

can we all just get along. i think this product or other automatic fire extinguish system out there plus a hand held extinguisher will be the trick.

Im think i will be nice to find a thermal/heat activate switch that is mounted inside the engine compartment and can cut-off power to the fuel pump when the interior temp is higher than specific #, it will be great. just like other comments, if the automatic extinguish put out the fire but your fuel pump still pumping out fuel, the fire might re-ignite again. i did a short google search but didnt find much.

Wed Nov 27, 2013 4:31 pm

I'd ideally like a manually activated one, but those red handles are just too tempting. I have WAY too many kids in and out of my van. 100% chance it would get deployed by "accident".

Wed Nov 27, 2013 4:36 pm

I ordered too early to get one, but JOGR are including a fuel cutoff solenoid with the kit now. I'll probably order one and wire it up to a manual switch in the empty foglight spot. That way it can do double duty as fire and theft suppressor. :)

I have also contacted Blazecut directly for the full specs on their product. Something that could have been easily accomplished by anyone reading this thread if they really were so intent to know about it.

I'll post back with those details when they arrive.