:eek:Forum members might be 'amused' at this little episode:

Moving things around in the boot of the new L&K Octavia when a dry powder fire extinguisher that I've carried around for years in various cars, suddenly went off. The interior of the car was totally covered in fine white powder that stuck to everything as well as me! The car has the black leather interior so imagine the mess; it took all day to clean it up and I haven't stopped coughing yet.

Why the extinguisher suddenly went off I've no idea - perhaps it was just old. I know that extinguishers have a use by date and this one was well overdue. So, if you carry an extinguisher it could be an idea to check it.

I'm only grateful that it didn't go off when driving.

:wrthless:

sounds like you tried to snow foam the interior, get those pics up bert! think ill go check mine in the morning though .....

:wrthless:

What he says...

:iagree:

Mostly likely cause of the 'Negligent Discharge' - Safety pin came out!

I had a Fire Extinguisher a while back with a metal pin (as the safety pin) held in by a plastic washer/clip placed over the end of it. The washer got knocked once, broke and fell off; thereafter I had to keep the pin in with some tank tape.

Overall, this reminds me though; I ought to get my fire extinguisher out of the garage and into my car. Also for me, the best place to put an extinguisher is secured to the front of the driver's seat where you can get at it in a split second. Its no good being in the boot covered by luggage!

PS> BertJ;- 'Amused' yes but at the same time really sorry to hear the story; I sympathise with your cleaning task. Dry powder is worse than sand - it does get everywhere.

I used to keep one under the drivers seat of my old Polo. Got in early one morning and slid the seat back, pierced the can and powdered everything. Scared the carp out of me, (was very early in the morning!) and took years to fully clean out from the seat metalwork.

Phil

It will falling out the headling for years, happened to me

I used to keep one under the drivers seat of my old Polo. Got in early one morning and slid the seat back, pierced the can and powdered everything. Scared the carp out of me, (was very early in the morning!) and took years to fully clean out from the seat metalwork.

Phil

Oops!!

I have used cable ties to secure the extinguisher bracket to the seat adjustment handle - that way the extinguisher is easy to get at and is fixed in place.

I used to keep one under the drivers seat of my old Polo. Got in early one morning and slid the seat back, pierced the can and powdered everything. Scared the carp out of me, (was very early in the morning!) and took years to fully clean out from the seat metalwork.

Phil

Um, what exactly took years to clean, the powder or the carp?

Sorry for the bad taste.

Speaking of bad taste, had to use a powder extinguisher once to put out a chip pan fire, and as everyone has confirmed, the stuff gets everywhere, including over what was left of the chips, and sausages, and veggies. Tasted bl**dy awful.

mm powdered carp must be a polish dish

..

No got relative from there who was pilot in WW2 , they do eat carp he reckons

No got relative from there who was pilot in WW2 , they do eat carp he reckons

They sure do the local lake in cardiff has signs in polish telling them not to take the carp home to eat as they are there for sport only :eek:

sorry to jack the thread

Have relatives from there too, and I took carp to mean cr*p.... previous post going..

Although I'll give you sauerkraut in either it's German or Polish form is at best interesting.

yep its true, suppose just like eating cod

As an aside - Did you know that of you have an outdated Firemaster (Firemaster Extinguisher Ltd - UK fire extinguisher manufacturer - www.firemaster.co.uk) single use extinguisher you can call them for replacement(s) at a very preferential cost...

Then when the new once arrives you can then show the kids/wife/dog etc what happens when you let the old one off in the garden :eek:

I'm reliably informed that carp taste awful, but please don't eat me ;-)

Carp do taste awful and they do not just eat them in Poland.

Bad luck with the bertj, hope you got it cleaned up ok.

:)Thanks for all the fishy comments! I'm afraid I didn't take any photos as I was a bit keen to clean the mess up, even so I keep finding odd corners in the car with white deposits in them. It's interesting that the powder stuck particularly firmly to hard plastic bits - static electricity effect I suppose.

Still debating whether to buy another extinguisher; I suppose I should really.

I'm not sure I see the point in fire extinguishers really. If your car gets a fire in the engine compartment, as soon as you open the bonnet, oxygen gets in, the flames will probably come out onto you. Best to get the keys out and get away from the car and call the fire service who are experts when it comes to that sort of thing (although it will probably take them 10 minutes or more to get to you).

My previous car had a small electrical fire, following a shunt which jammed the cooling fan. The extinguisher I had there was very useful in putting out the fire. More useful than a carp anyway!

Phil

Dry powder extinguishers are highly efficient, but they have the mess downside described. If set off accidentally while driving the loss of vision is even more dangerous. This is why the DoT will not allow them in mini-buses or PCVs and most taxi licencing authorities won't approve them either.

The recommended extinguishers are water-based, and for a car a 1L Foam Spray would be relevant, set one off and a damp washing up water like mess is the worst you can expect. All extinguishers should be discharged and recharged every 5 years, except the factory sealed type like the Firemasters described, which must be replaced entirely. Having said that most of those sold, including Foam Spray, for domestic/automotive are disposables. Extinguishers that are suitable for refilling should be serviced annually and paying a bit more for a true, commercially acceptable, one may be worth it in the long run, Ask a local extinguisher company, rather than the Bike Shop.

Extinguishers can be extremely useful in dealing with incipient stages of a fire and would be useful in any car. The 'leave it to the fire service' has some merit as we are trained, however there are points need to be covered to correct comments above - firstly there is plenty of 'oxygen' floating around your engine compartment already - it has openings at the sides and bottom and a nice air intake through the radiator grille, opening the bonnet is not recommended - what is is pulling the catch and then pointing the extinguisher through the gap that occurs. Secondly the FRS may take many more than 10 minutes to arrive (think of rural locations and motorways) and we rarely put out a car fire leaving a vehicle capable of repair. Thirdly if the fire is as a result of an RTC lives can well be saved by an on scene extinguisher - it takes far less than the time for the FRS to arrive to be killed in a fire at an RTC.

No officer its not what you think ! It dust from a fire extinguisher honest. (sniff)