Westy Fire Extinguisher

[E1]

[dobryan]

[E1]

Understood, I'd use a racing extinguisher or custom-fabbed mount that'd take a 200 mph shock without incident. Bus ain't that fast, even if plowing off Toroweap.

What I envision is the front edge of the extinguishers being at least an inch behind the front edge of the pop top cutout, with the extinguisher tops being barely below the closed pop top — nowhere close to a passenger's head.

I'm not wild about any Center-of-Gravity rise but would make other allotments to minimize that. But I'm also not wild having to open the sliding door to retrieve an extinguisher, nor in losing a single second to grab it. I've seen an enormous amount of racing fires, and every second is critical.
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‘84 Westy, 2.1L with Digijet, 5.43 R+P, GT Gears
"Adding power makes you faster on the straights.
Subtracting weight makes you faster everywhere."
— Colin Chapman

[MootPoint]

[mtnride1]

I have a blazecut in my engine compartment and I carry a small clean agent extinguisher in the cabinet behind the drivers seat. This extinguisher though a little pricey leaves no residue at all and can put out a lot of fire. The powder extinguishers are awful on electrical components and leave quite a mess.
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87 westy 2wd (NED)

[MootPoint]

[Ahwahnee]

[E1]

[Steve M.]

I would like to put my Halotron mounted on the drivers door so that it would fit between the seat and the door. My thinking is that it is right there at hand when I open the door.
However, I have yet to find a suitable mounting bracket for it that I know is going to hold it in place if I did have a accident.

As far as the Blazecut goes I do have one mounted under the engine hatch as many others do.
I now am of the opinion that it is great for the air-cooled engine with a sealed engine compartment, but for the wbx engines I do not think it will put out a fire.

The reason being that the Blazecut inside the sealed compartment is going to release and stay inside the engine compartment.
On the open wbx engine compartment I think it is going to blow right out the bottom along the sides of the cylinder heads. It will maybe slow the fire down a bit, but I do not think it will extinguish it.
I've got no proof of this. I have not had a fire to test this theory and do not want to test it.
Your best line of defense is to keep your fuel lines and electrical system in the best condition it can be in.
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This free advice is worth exactly what you paid for it.

There are seven days in a week. Someday is not one of them.

[dobryan]

I have lost a westy to an engine fire. 10 seconds was not the issue. It was well on fire when I pulled over. The issue was too small an extinguisher and no way at that time to kill the battery which was providing sparking wires in the engine
compartment reigniting the fire.


I now have a battery cutoff switch at the drivers seat and a big ass extinguisher (80ABC) under the rear seat. YMMV.
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Dave O
'87 Westy w/ 2002 Subaru EJ25 and Peloquin TBD

"To travel hopefully is a better thing than to arrive." Robert Louis Stevenson

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[elizer]

What is the consensus on tossing a fire blanket ontop and the. Spraying everything else That is still on fire? Those welding blankets are made from the same material for turbo blankets. Seems fast to deploy and buy you enough time to grab and deploy a extinguisher.

[Nuthin2It]

Last week we woke up at the first campground of a 10-day trip and started to make breakfast. My wife tried to light the burner, but I hadn't opened the tank valve yet. She wanted to know exactly where the valve is, so we went outside and I showed her where to open it. When we got back in I smelled gas. I said she must have left the burner valve open. She said she hadn't. I checked each valve and sure enough both were closed. While this was sinking in, my wife opened a valve and clicked the lighter. There was a big Whoosh! and the van was engulfed in flames, then went out. A roll of paper towels on the table was on fire. I grabbed it, threw it outside, then jumped out and stomped the fire out. My wife screamed “It's on FIRE!” I turned to see flames shooting out from behind the stove. I went for the fire extinguisher, and, after what seemed like forever, figured out how to get it off the bracket. I discharged it behind the stove and put out the flames. I couldn't figure out what had happened. I started to assess the damage. For some reason, I opened the refrigerator door. Another Whoosh! and the van was engulfed in flames again, then they were gone. There were no flames behind the stove this time, but I discharged the fire extinguisher under the refrigerator. My wife jumped out of the van and said she was going to turn off the gas. Oh, yeah. Good idea!

After calming down, I looked around the van. The curtains, curtain retaining cord, and window screen above the stove were melted. The stove cover had clumps of melted plastic (the curtains) on it. The cover over a LED light above the stove was melted. The pop-top roof vent was blown off the skylight flex arm and flipped over. The metal strip above the sliding door that holds down the tent was pulled up, ripping some screws out of their hole and tearing the heads off of others. Other than a singed eyebrow and slight redness on the side of my hand, we were unhurt.

I realized the gas had to come from behind the stove. A few weeks before I pulled the refrigerator to replace the fan. I somehow forgot to reattach the gas line. I have a small computer fan inside the refrigerator to circulate the air inside. As soon as I opened the door, it must have reignited the gas.

At my age, every brain fart raises the fear of Alzheimer's. This one was scary. I already automatically get my camera whenever I do something on the van. I'll have to document more. Or retire from Vanagon maintenance altogether.

Years ago, when the bracket broke on my van's original fire extinguisher, I just put the extinguisher in the small cabinet next to the refrigerator, where it slowly worked it's way beneath everything else in there. Only after reading this thread did I go ahead and buy a new one and mount it where the original was located, inside the sliding door. If I hadn't done that, the delay in digging my fire extinguisher out of the cabinet could have made this a lot worse. Time to donate to TheSamba.com again.

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1985 Westfalia 15 degree EA288 Boxeer

[jimf909]

Yikes! Blowing the canvas off is impressive...and scary.
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- Jim

[candyman]

Ugh! Scary, thank goodness you got that under control. My biggest fear, esp with all the electrical mods I have done over the years. Dobryan, can you elaborate on your batt shut off switch? I want to install something that is within my reach if the event ever occurs

[Nuthin2It]

Comment deleted
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1985 Westfalia 15 degree EA288 Boxeer

[bluebus86]

When you smell gas, turn off the gas! I once had to shut off a flaming Silane 300 cu ft cylinder. Regulator ruptured, and silane is pyrophoric, so the only way to stop the flames, and prevent the cylinder fitting from melting and causing a big kaboom is to shut off the cylinder. Singed my hand, but saved the gas cylinder room, which was loaded with a lot more dangerous stuff than silane. 13 fire trucks arrived and near 1000 people evacuated from the building, I had only been on the job several months. They told me I probably should have ran away, but thanked me for saving the building.

Glad no one was harmed in the van, smart wife to suggest shut off the gas!
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[dobryan]

[Merian]

"She said she hadn't. I checked each valve and sure enough both were closed. While this was sinking in, my wife opened a valve and clicked the lighter. "



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....

[Vanuber]

Figured it was time to replace my original Westy fire extinguisher. It expired in 1986, so I don’t think it will put out any more fires. Went with the H3R Halguard HG250. Halotron is pricey, but I’ve heard all the horror stories about dry chemical corrosion and impossible cleanup.

The bracket holes nearly align with the original, but the mount was too low for the taller canister. I had to drill two new holes but am happy with the fit. Just hope I never have to test it!

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'85 Westfalia 1.9L
'72 BMW R75/5
'71 BMW R75/5
'02 Subaru Forester 2.5L

[Xevin]

Keep that old fire extinguisher as a “Back up” in the house. I had an old extinguisher from the 70s that the PO had in my bus. Some dude set a fire near my fence one night. I grabbed my new extinguisher and the old bus one from the basement. The old one put out the fire. If it was a fire in my house or bus. The new one would’ve been used first. I was amazed a 40 year old extinguisher worked like a champ. But yes. Invest in good extinguishers. Like insurance
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Keep on Busin'