Fire suppression

#1

Im looking to get a suppression system as opposed to a single extinguisher. Any suggestions or things I MUST know about getting one?

#2

i would recommend the 4L SPA AFFF (aqueous foam filled) system from bimmerworld. Great price from them.

http://store.bimmerworld.com/spa-firefighter-afff-fire-system---4l-multiflow-steel-p621.aspx

Note, order some extra tubing, the included tubing is not sufficient to plumb the cabin and the engine bay.

#3

kishg wrote:

[quote]
Note, order some extra tubing, the included tubing is not sufficient to plumb the cabin and the engine bay.[/quote]

I’ll second that. This is the system I’ve got and I only used 5 nozzles and I’m still about 4’ short on tubing. Other than that, it seems to be a good system and the install is pretty straight forward.

Matt

#4

I Have this same system, but I did not need extra tubing. Where do you all have your nozzles?

1 at driver feet
1 at diver chest
1 at passenger seat area
1 pointing at injectors area
1 pointing at headers area
1 pointing at left side engine block

What am i doing wrong?

#5

where did you route your tubing through dan? i said screw the passenger and put 3 on me :slight_smile:

#6

The charm of AFFF is you can refill it yourself.

The instructions for my system said that each tube could only handle 2 nozzles or they wouldn’t spray hard enough. As a result I have only 3 total spray nozzles. Don’t go crazy on the number of nozzles without considering how you are going to get adequate volume to them.

A pull handle location such that it is accessible to both driver and corner worker is a good idea. Mine isn’t.

#7

The bottle is centered on the rear seat, Tubing follows the trans tunnel to in front of the shifter, t-fitting, left to 2 nozzles(driver), right to passenger and t-fitting to go thru the firewall behind the ECU to the 3 in the engine bay.

This system comes with 2 handles. On the the Driver side, the handle is mounted in the dash on the left of the steering wheel. on the passenger side I have a custom panel mounted to the dash with the other handle and cut off switch.

#8

hmm. mine is in the passenger footwell but the tubing follows the same route as dan’s. i ran one up the side of my cage driver side downpipe to aim down at me. that could explain the additional length. i’ve got a pull handle in the center console and one on my cage main hoop on the passenger side where it’s easily accessible to a safety worker.

#9

I placed my pull handles so a corner worker could get to them easily if one side of the car was buried in the wall. The one on the drivers side is mounted right where the headlight switch is, and the one of the passenger side is in the same spot on the other side. Originally the one on the passenger side was on the cowl where my cutoff switch is located!! I did all of that with the hood off only to realize the hood hit the pull handle when closed!! Oops

Also the AFFF system from bimmerworld is definitely the best system for the money!! I’ll also second Kish’s advice to order the extra tubing.

#10

Okay so I was reading the AFFF instructions tonight in anticipation of installing it this weekend. I notice that it states to mount the bottle forward to aft. Did everyone do this? I was hoping to mount it sideways where the back of the passenger seat would mount with the handle towards me.

#11

Mine’s sideways. In the trunk.

#12

Not sure about refilling yourself - I have the SPA system (bought from Pegasus) and have always had to send in for refilling/recharging. I believe you can self refill the Firecharger brand of AFFF, but not the SPA.

Regarding mounting, we have had 3 cars and mounted all of them sideways in passenger rear footwell.

Ed

#13

[quote=“edavidson” post=57300]Not sure about refilling yourself - I have the SPA system (bought from Pegasus) and have always had to send in for refilling/recharging. I believe you can self refill the Firecharger brand of AFFF, but not the SPA.

Regarding mounting, we have had 3 cars and mounted all of them sideways in passenger rear footwell.

Ed[/quote]
I have my SPA bottle mounted in the middle of where the rear seat used be. I wanted to be able to reach the handle from the seat while still strapped in, just in case the pull handle failed. I couldn’t reach it when I had it positioned where you have yours without loosening the belts.

I checked with some local firms that service extinguishers and they said they could refill the bottle.

#14

Mine is mounted sideways behind the passenger seat. The included metal straps don’t fit super tight, so it was moving a bit over the course of a weekend when I first installed it. To prevent this we cut some rubber hose in half and wrapped it around the metal straps that are included, so that the hose is sandwiched between the straps and the bottle. The bottle stays put now.

#15

The straps appear to be a common problem with the large SPA bottle. Mine is mounted fore and aft and it used to move under braking. It doesn’t now because I have a battery heater pad under it that I use in the winter to keep the bottle from freezing