Date:         Wed, 25 Apr 2001 09:42:36 -0700
Reply-To:     Matthew Pollard <poll7356@uidaho.edu>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Matthew Pollard <poll7356@uidaho.edu>
Subject:      Re: Ever wonder what's in your fire extinguisher?
Comments: To: Stuart MacMillan <macmillan@home.com>
In-Reply-To:  <3AE6F6C8.37B0B9FC@home.com>
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII

Stu- that ain't baking soda.

It is way way way worst- It is ammonia  phosphate and or ammonia sulfate.
(baking soda is sodium bicarbonate.) That stuff is extreamly corrosive. I
would pull out that vacuum cleaner and go through everything that you can
find, paying particular attention to the instrument cluster and radio.
That stuff will eat up electronics, optics- like those high end laser
mirros you have all over the dash- and aluminum.

As for CO2 extinguishers- a 10 lbs CO2 extinguisher weights about 40 lbs
(that is 10 lbs of CO2). You need about three times more CO2 as compared
to the dry chemical ones for the same fire stopping power.  Then their is
Halon, which is chloro-flouro-carbon (cfc :-(  that weights less than the
dry chemical ones for the same stopping power.  If you have combustable
metals (magnesium, titantium, etc) then you need a class D extinguisher-
those are huge (like 10"x30") and weight about 75lbs for the same stopping
power.... but chicks dig big fire extinguishers.

Personally, i stick with dry chemical because when my engine is on fire i
don't give a damn about corrosion!

By the way, why didn't you have a trigger lock on your extinguisher?
Doooohhhh!

-Matthew


Matthew Pollard             http://www.uidaho.edu/~poll7356
Dept. of Chemistry               http://www.chem.uidaho.edu
University of Idaho                   http://www.uidaho.edu

On Wed, 25 Apr 2001, Stuart MacMillan wrote:

> Well, I know now!  I was loading a long, heavy piece of metal into the
> old workhorse last weekend and managed to hit the button on the fire
> extinguisher dead square.  Before I could get it stopped, the entire
> front passenger area was coated with a layer of baking soda!  These
> little buggers really put out an amazing amount of stuff in a short
> time.
>
> Oh, well, the van needed a good cleaning anyway.
>
> I wonder if they may CO2 extinguishers that size?
> --