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Up in smoke... Bus fires... don't let it happen to you! FAQ
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RoadHazard
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PostPosted: Sat May 18, 2019 3:38 am    Post subject: Re: Up in smoke... Bus fires... don't let it happen to you! FAQ Reply with quote

John Ghia wrote:
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Geeze...the fire department is more interested in saving the asphalt! Surprised

Remembering not to leave the engine compartment lid open... Embarassed

Rubber Duck wrote:


I've mentioned this in passing before, but never got a response...has anyone tried Cold Fire? I went to their website just now and read a little excerpt about a racer:

Quote:
Cold Fire helped save the life of Andy Hillenburg on April 3rd, 2000 at Texas Motor Speedway, when his Number 2 Luxaire J&J hit the berm and a brake rotor punctured the fuel cell, which started a fire.

Is it worth looking into a fuel cell to install in an early Bay?

Would the capacity increase or decrease?

.
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BUSBOSS
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 18, 2019 11:16 pm    Post subject: Re: Up in smoke... Bus fires... don't let it happen to you! Reply with quote

BayCreamPuff wrote:
Posted my 6' blazecut in another thread, but might as well add it here as well.

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.




Did you use 3/4" rubber insulated clamps or 7/8"?
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BUSBOSS
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PostPosted: Thu Dec 19, 2019 12:03 pm    Post subject: Re: Up in smoke... Bus fires... don't let it happen to you! FAQ Reply with quote

Got the answer from Blazecut directly. The hose is 19mm so 3/4" clamps will do it.
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nemobuscaptain
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PostPosted: Sun Jul 05, 2020 9:10 pm    Post subject: Re: Up in smoke... Bus fires... don't let it happen to you! Reply with quote

Pinetops wrote:
How long do you think this bus has left to live?


Link


As a former FF, Im pretty suspicious that was set, for dramatic purposes. Odd and unlikely to have two separate fires like that.

Just reach down and grab sand, dirt, whatever while you wait for the extinguisher. And close the hatch. You are feeding the fire.

EDIT: OMG, now it still RUNS after the fire? Bulls#%@

chachi wrote:
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.


cmonSTART wrote:
Ya, seems reasonable - probably a lot of odd wiring done in there.

Interesting the left rear corner got so hot - probably a lot of electronics in there for the solar system.

That's actually to be expected. Chimneys on both sides of the bus, so burns up to the vents. Probalby the other side is burned like that too.

I agree that that solar makes me suspicious. It also looks stupid. No way they needed that. They were just trying to out #vanlife the others by carrying the most solar panels.
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nemobuscaptain
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PostPosted: Sun Jul 05, 2020 9:29 pm    Post subject: Re: Up in smoke... Bus fires... don't let it happen to you! FAQ Reply with quote

RoadHazard wrote:
John Ghia wrote:
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Geeze...the fire department is more interested in saving the asphalt!

No, man. The gas from the gas tank was under that bus burning, no doubt. It's that way with most car fires. Put out the area under the gas tank first. Sometimes you are even stuck fighting a fire in a the nearby drain.
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nemobuscaptain
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PostPosted: Sun Jul 05, 2020 9:31 pm    Post subject: Re: Up in smoke... Bus fires... don't let it happen to you! FAQ Reply with quote

I can't find the original post now, but this is a pretty cool system.

https://www.htgsupply.com/product-category/tools-a...nguishers/

This too: http://www.mangosmoothie.ca/fire-suppression
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WhirledTraveller
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 15, 2021 12:23 pm    Post subject: Re: Up in smoke... Bus fires... don't let it happen to you! FAQ Reply with quote

My Bus *almost* went up in smoke about a month ago.

Started it up in the garage and was backing out, everything normal, when I decided to hop out and check to make sure I wasn't about to hit the garage door.

Something was dripping pretty steadily from under the engine! Thought it might be oil so I dipped a finger in it. Nope, GAS!

Shut the engine down right quick. The spray was directly out of several pinhole leaks in the FI fuel hose prior to the cold start valve and directed straight at the distributor. This hose had been replaced when I purchased the bus in 2008 with proper "German Metric High Pressure" (Contitech 7x3mm) fuel hose. I knew it was past due but thought the "replace every 8 years" crowd was a bunch of nervous nellies.

Now Replaced with Gates Barricade.
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babysnakes
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 15, 2021 12:44 pm    Post subject: Re: Up in smoke... Bus fires... don't let it happen to you! FAQ Reply with quote

Good catch,Gates is the best in my opinion.
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notchboy
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PostPosted: Fri Jul 16, 2021 6:54 am    Post subject: Re: Up in smoke... Bus fires... don't let it happen to you! FAQ Reply with quote

WhirledTraveller wrote:
My Bus *almost* went up in smoke about a month ago.

Started it up in the garage and was backing out, everything normal, when I decided to hop out and check to make sure I wasn't about to hit the garage door.

Something was dripping pretty steadily from under the engine! Thought it might be oil so I dipped a finger in it. Nope, GAS!

Shut the engine down right quick. The spray was directly out of several pinhole leaks in the FI fuel hose prior to the cold start valve and directed straight at the distributor. This hose had been replaced when I purchased the bus in 2008 with proper "German Metric High Pressure" (Contitech 7x3mm) fuel hose. I knew it was past due but thought the "replace every 8 years" crowd was a bunch of nervous nellies.

Now Replaced with Gates Barricade.



Sometimes the VW Gods smile upon you. Sometimes.


Link

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t3kg wrote:

OK, this thread is over. You win.

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nemobuscaptain
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PostPosted: Sat Aug 27, 2022 3:03 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hoody wrote:
I am curious about Scott's customer's negative issue with Gates Barricade. I am leaning towards their product. It's tested with alcohol... Wondering why it failed?

Well, my first guess is that the story was either exaggerated or even fabricated. My second guess a counterfeit product, likely from China. A friend of mine enforces import violations with US Customs this stuff and says it is rampant, from batteries, to baby food, to electronics. China is good at copying, and copy they do. US catches only the smallest fractions of violators. I won't buy things like fuel hose off Ebay or Amazon because of this. There is no policing going on by them.

You can google Gates Barricade and see how many similar failures you can find. I doubt you will find even one.

You can spend just a few minutes in an VW forum and find hundreds of premature failures of the "Good German stuff". VWs and Audis burn like Bob Marley for a reason. Audis in the 80s may have been worse than VW. The rubber is shit. You don't see this with old Toyotas, Hondas, or even Mericun cars. No one has to change their hoses every other year or so. The VW shops I frequented in the 80s always had burned VWs on the lot even then. The German fuel hoses were always shit.

And don't even get me started with VW's electrical safety and all the unfused hot wires running from bumper to bumper.

I still love vintage VWs though. It's a disease.

Busbodger wrote:
None of the OEM (new) vehicles have been sold with glass or plastic fuel filters in what - fifty plus years? I'll second the metal filter.

That's a clue, right?

How many companies are still using just good old German metal screens in the tank and fuel pump and no fuel filters at all?

DougB wrote:
Turned out that I missed one of the 1.5" connection hose segments for the vapor lines...this one was on the left side of the engine bay, between the spare tire well and the outer body sheet metal (and pretty hard to see unless you're trying to)
I don't think I've ever looked at a bus which was for sale that didn't need that replaced.
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Last edited by nemobuscaptain on Sat Aug 27, 2022 3:42 am; edited 2 times in total
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nemobuscaptain
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PostPosted: Sat Aug 27, 2022 3:32 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Wildthings wrote:
mcdonaldneal wrote:
Wildthings wrote:


Interesting that no flames or smoke are seen coming out of the pillar vents.


I guess the engine is still running and the fan is drawing air in through the vents? Although the access hatch is also open!


Yes but it blew the hatch open without sending flames or smoke out of the vents, this just seems odd. Obviously there was at least momentarily a fairly high pressure in the engine compartment.

Pretty common for a fire to be burning under the vehicle where the gas pools, so maybe not using the vents for a chimney.

The first couple of times a gas tank blows, new firefighters always jump. It sounds like a small bomb and flashes a good deal of heat, like enough to melt your faceshield (at least the old equipment from the 80s and early 90s anyway, maybe todays equipment is far better).
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PostPosted: Sat Aug 27, 2022 3:37 am    Post subject: Re: Up in smoke... Bus fires... don't let it happen to you! Reply with quote

levi20AE wrote:
A Blazecut is the single best thing you can do for your bus. It saved mine while out in the middle of nowwhere.

That is a fraction of a small fire extinguisher which will affect only the smallest of fires, like your carb backfire, but they sure seem to have marketing on par with Lucas, Seafoam, and POR15.

Please don't buy the marketing quick fix bullshit. No little tube and for that matter no fire extinguisher even the jumbo one is going to protect your bus once that gas tank starts gravity-feeding the fire. Spend your time fixing the hoses and doing something to stop that gravity feed.
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PostPosted: Sat Aug 27, 2022 8:33 am    Post subject: Re: Up in smoke... Bus fires... don't let it happen to you! FAQ Reply with quote

A fuel shutoff solenoid triggered by the loss of pressure in something like a Blazecut may leave you with a small enough fire to put out.

I managed to set fire to my bus on the driveway, then I turned off the ignition which shut the fuel valve in my setup. Then used a 2lb dry powder extinguisher - half under the bus for the small pool of burning fuel, the remainder in the engine bay.

Messy but the bus was driving again 2 days later.
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nemobuscaptain
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PostPosted: Sat Aug 27, 2022 12:46 pm    Post subject: Re: Up in smoke... Bus fires... don't let it happen to you! FAQ Reply with quote

mikedjames wrote:
A fuel shutoff solenoid triggered by the loss of pressure in something like a Blazecut may leave you with a small enough fire to put out
Yes, if you do get a Blazecut (or any automatic fire extinguisher) certainly buy the model with the warning light up front that let's you know it deployed. It won't stay in the engine compartment for long while you are zooming down the road.
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