Safety Equipment: Don't trust appearances

[frankj]

I thought I would relay something that happened today. I’m replacing the fire suppression system in my Vintage FF. With the rule changes this year where it suggests that we should be running SFI or FIA approved systems. See discussion thread regarding systems FV/Open Wheel fire system . I didn’t know what the providence of the system that was installed, as it came with the car when I bought it in ‘18. So I thought I should replace my system, even though it looked ok.

It is(was) a Firebottle 5lb Halon system, manual discharge t-handle on the dash, bottle installed on the floor in front of the seat, plumbed to cockpit and engine area, like most are. The gauge, which was rotated toward the floor, gauge showed that it was charged in the green range though toward the bottom of the gauge range. From appearances it all seemed fine. With a dump bottle it isn’t something you can really test. You can check the gauge an wiegh them out of the car. Once installed it’s there and you hope it all works when you need it.

So these systems operate with a trigger wire that goes through the bottle head valve which is remotely activated with a t-handle on the dash or somewhere accessible by driver/course-worker. When the wire or pin is in place keeps the system armed and prevents the system from discharging. If the trigger wire is pulled with the safety pin removed, the system will discharge. So when I was disassembling I found the following on my installed system.

First off it was a halon bottle, which I wasn’t sure of thinking it could be CO2. It was dated 1997 (label was also facing the floor and under the mount so couldn’t be read without removing it.) The first real surprise was when I pulled the activation trigger cable out, with safety pin inserted in the head, I discovered that it only protruded about 3/8” out the end of the external sleeve. No way it would reach the head at that length.

I then realized that the safety pin wasn’t engaged in the head either. Now I know why the pin would not go all the way through the head. This system would not have worked in an emergency. Once I pulled the bottle it seemed way too light to be charged. Once I got it all out I put the bottle on a scale. 2.94lbs total.

This bottle has been discharged sometime in the past even though the gauge still shows that it’s “OK”. (If you zoom in on attached pic you can see it still shows in the green on the guage.)

Moral of this story. Make SURE your safety equipment is up to specification and will work in an emergency!

[Justin_L]

Great post and advice, @frankj. Pretty scary. Another member told me a story of someone who ran a car for years with a substantial onboard suppression system (10 lb. bottle, five nozzles). For whatever reason, the system had two arming pin locations, one at the bottle located in an obscure location (I think covered by something) and another near the driver. All those years, the driver would pull the pin in the driver’s compartment thinking the system was armed. After accessing the bottle for whatever reason after years, he found that there was a pin installed in the bottle too to where his system was never armed all those years. Yikes. I think people get complacent thinking nothing will ever happen to them, as evidenced by the person never checking the bottle gauge for years. For me, checking the bottle gauge is on my check list when pulling the arming pin before every session. Yeah, it’s unlikely the bottle will go from green to red between sessions, but it’s also possible the previous session caused a slow leak. I’d much rather know that fact in the paddock before my session versus when I’m on fire and nothing is happening when I pull the lever. In your case, the gauge was faulty, which, as you pointed out, isn’t easy to check at the track.

I like the more primitive actuation system that uses a traditional extinguisher hand lever to which the activation cable attaches. You pull the cable handle out, it pulls the extinguisher lever down. Easy-peasy. I’m sure the plumber design like your pictured system works just fine when properly installed, but the Murphy’s Law part rattling around in my brain thinks the traditional handle would be less prone to issues, and at least I can visually check the connection when I pull the arming pin.

[frankj]

The new Lifeline Zero 360 system that I’m replacing this with has the lever type handle/pin with cable(s). I also can mount it so the gauge faces up.

I should post some pictures of the differences between the two systems. I was surprised by how compact the 2.25kg (4.96lb) Zero FK system vs the old 5lb halon bottle.

[frankj]

posted a couple pic in the other thead about fire suppression systems