Fire Extinguishers in cars.

[Psuedonym]

It was easier in the old days when you could happily chuck a few kilos of BCF through the grille......

So very true, although if there was a a bit of a wind.....it's ok, I'm not going down that route !!   

[Chris Houston]

I'm sure¹ the environmental damage done by the fires is far greater than the environmental damage done by the outlawed fire extinguishers.  Perhaps we should start a campaign to bring them back..........






_{1 Based on the theory of pure speculation.}

[AnthonyB]

Around the time of the Halon ban a study into release quantities was done and pointed out that only a small percentage of halon extinguishers and systems were ever discharged to atmosphere not on a fire (which of course decomposes the agent) and were next to nothing compared to all the other CFC's in use.

However, because the halons were far more destructive to ozone than the CFC's in the more general uses they were still banned in the EU.

Still used a lot in the US, however as UL are removing the listing of all Halon extinguishers next year this will drop off significantly.

It's still made and used in the far east and Indian market and hundreds are still floating around in the UK that aren't held by special users.

[Chris Houston]

Around the time of the Halon ban a study into release quantities was done and pointed out that only a small percentage of halon extinguishers and systems were ever discharged to atmosphere not on a fire (which of course decomposes the agent) and were next to nothing compared to all the other CFC's in use.

However, because the halons were far more destructive to ozone than the CFC's in the more general uses they were still banned in the EU.

Still used a lot in the US, however as UL are removing the listing of all Halon extinguishers next year this will drop off significantly.

It's still made and used in the far east and Indian market and hundreds are still floating around in the UK that aren't held by special users.

How much of it is discharged in non fire statistics may be interesting, but what would have been more relevant would have been the total environmental impact of the ban.  If fires are extinguished less effectively then a cost v benefit of the ban is what should have been done. 

[John Webb]

Chris - I have much sympathy for your viewpoint. While working at Fire Research, a decree came from the minister of the Environment (we were part of DoE) that all BCFs were to be withdrawn except where a special case could be made out. We had absolutely no say in the matter, and indeed were not asked in any way for our opinion, let alone to assess the problem in a qualitative way as to whether this should be done or not - yet we were part of his 'empire'! Most irksome!

[AnthonyB]

The EU is actively seeking to reduce the 'special users' list to zero as soon as it can and only fierce lobbying by the main users (particularly air use) is keeping this back as there really isn't anything as good for the remaining uses (air & police).

If it goes, we are back to CO2 for planes (they already use water)and presumably powder (preferably a high MAP content ABC) for police unless something new is produced.

[Psuedonym]

Some call it progress for progresses sake/ political correctness /others call it a con. I know which one gets my vote!