Question:
i have been carrying small halon fire extinguishers in my motorcycle saddle bags and cab of my trucks for a while. i recently realized that all of my halon units which are rated for a 10 year shelf life are over 15 years old. since there is nothing worse than pulling the trigger on a fire extinguisher and nothing happening i am looking to replace them. halon 1211, halitron 2, and dupont pe-64 are all i try to use for fire extinguishers. when you spray electronics and aluminum with a standard chemical ABC fire extinguisher you may as well have let whatever burn because of how caustic the chemicals are. i am looking at these two units at present. http://www.h3raviation.com/halon-blend-rt-a-400.htm http://www.h3raviation.com/halon_1211_a344tc.htm the small one is not serviceable and has a 12 year shelf life. the bigger one is chrome plated, rechargeable and has a charge gauge. but the bigger one is *bigger.* it would take up way too much saddle bag room so i would have to figure out a cool way to mount it on the frame. then i have to worry about exposure to weather etc, etc.. my main question is this. i know halon does quite well in an enclosed environment but how does it behave outside with the wind potentially dispersing it. any of ya'll folks know anything about fire fighting. the little 14 oz unit is actually a very compact unit. the ones i am currently carrying are 12 oz units that i can't find anymore. is 14 oz enough to put out a motorcycle fire? should i go ahead and figure out a nifty bracket and bolt these chrome plated 1.3 pound units to the bikes? while all the bikes are insured to the max i don't want to have to rebuild the two custom built bikes. the late model bagger can be replaced with nothing but writing a check.

Answer: I spent a good bit of my career repairing/maintaining fire trucks and equipment.....even graduated the fire academy for my state cert and worked as a volunteer firefighter for a while........as well as did some work with vehicle mounted fire suppression systems..... Halon works to put fires out because it displaces air. Works great in enclosed spaces (which you seemed to know already), don't know if it'd work at all on a bike sitting on the side of the road. We used some halon systems under the hood of some small wheel chair transport vans.....seemed like they were more trouble than they were worth. Had to have them inspected, serviced, and certified at intervals and that got expensive. Only time we ever had one go off was a misfire...... I doubt if I would spend much time digging in a saddlebag of a bike that was on fire looking for a fire extinguisher ...... Would probably set off the gas tank before I was done and have me running around the side of the road like the human torch. When I was working as a firefighter, we'd pull up on the scene of vehicle fires and find the small extinguisher bottles all over the place (cops used them trying to put out the fire). It was mostly PR......they'd squirt 'em, the fire would go down/out, and as soon as the air came back in....the heat and fuel was still there, so Whoosh.....fire would take back off. I don't think I've ever seen a motorcycle catch on fire, except in the movies or on a racetrack.