Carry a Fire Extinguisher: A cautionary tale.

[Paystar]

Man I wish my new Polaris would catch fire, piece of junk.

 

[TractorGuy]

That's a good deal on an ABC (which is what you want for gas and electrical fires), but I wanted one that was specific for UTV roll cage mounting with a mount that could take a beating as a modern RZR is like a munchkin trophy truck and a driver can rock along in a ditch at 50-60 miles per hour, no problem.

These are made for vehicle use and come with a latching metal bracket.

 

[Rock Crawler]

On my Jeep rock crawler I have the DRAKE mounts on the roll bars, one on each side. They are not meant for use in your daily driver... they rattle because the loose fitting slip joint means that you pull the pin and they drop free. They are extremely fast to deploy... touch the pull pin and pull about half inch and it falls into your hands. For a UTV or off road Jeep like machine they are awesome and you choose what to mont to them. I have 2 5lb extinguishers mounted, a Halon gas unit and an ABC dry unit.

https://www.amazon.com/Drake-Off-Road-FIREX-MNT-DOR-Extinguisher/dp/B006VFR2LS

 

[MinnesotaEric]

I reached out to Polaris today. I explained my thesis of leaking gas

(1) following a bungee cord down toward the right rear hitting hot exhaust in the back, or,
(2) following a bungee cord down on the right front and dripping onto a heat shield directly above the exhaust and catching on fire.

I also explained that nowhere on the exhaust or heat shield was there any bungee residue (and this burned goop doesn't wipe or burn off), and that my thesis didn't explain how a fuel leak happened when the vent and gas cap where still on the fuel tank without appealing to shaking and vibration to cause a gas leak past the cap or vent while I was traveling.

Moreover, the bulk of the damage was from the airbox to the center of fuel rail to the right-hand side where the fire obviously followed the wiring harness.

If the fire started on the hot muffler, it left no trace. If the fire started atop of the righthand forward heat shield, it also left little trace. I would have expected more charring in that area but the burn pattern suggests that the fire was focused on the fuel rail area and expanded from there.

Since I have not thrown anything away, Polaris wants to inspect my charred bits and my machine for a few days. Which is to say, that my thesis, while reasonable, doesn’t seem to accommodate all the evidence I saw when I took the machine apart for repairs and so for that I reason, I called Polaris.

In other news, my fire extinguisher kit arrived today.

 

[YLee Kioti]

Glad your OK Eric.
Thanks for the reminder, just cut a few acres and have no had any rain in weeks.
Doesn't take much to spark up a unwanted camp fire....heh...

Shopping time yeah....!!!

 

[RalphVa]

I've carried an extinguisher on all the JDs I've had, fastened to the fender for the right rear tire. The present one is inside a cut down "document" holder supplied by the 3ph implement people. Got another part of a document holder for my drink container mounted to the right side FEL tower.

Ralph

 

[astrohip]

I've always carried a fire extinguisher on my tractor, but not on my Mule or mower. But this sounds like an interesting idea...

You might want to consider Element - Fire Extinguishers as its small enough to carry on an ATV and has 5 times the output of the typical extinguisher. Not cheap but neither was the repair.

 

[ning]

You might want to consider Element - Fire Extinguishers as its small enough to carry on an ATV and has 5 times the output of the typical extinguisher. Not cheap but neither was the repair.

I just read up on this and given the method of this extinguisher to put out fire - it combines with oxygen and thus suffocates a fire (similar to Halon) - I'm guessing it won't work very well if there's much wind. How much wind will it still work in?

For ranch & tractor work, I think I'm going to stick with a compressed water extinguisher.

 

[Rustyiron]

You might want to consider Element - Fire Extinguishers as its small enough to carry on an ATV and has 5 times the output of the typical extinguisher. Not cheap but neither was the repair.

Thanks for this.:thumbsup: Do you have any personal experience using the "element"?
I have 3 in my "cart" ready to order. Between it's small size, discharge time and indefinite expiration, kinda makes the $80 seem irrelevant.

 

[Doofy]

And yet, once again, something they won't ship to Alaska (Element Extinguishers). Lame!