Looking for Halon helm panel light

[jim rosenthal]

I've had the expense of inspecting, weighing and tagging this system annually since I've owned the boat. I'm not quite sure why the fire company took my money if the system us "useless" as Pascal and boatsb have testified here. So this afternoon, I removed the entire system and threw it in the dumpster. It discharged when it hit the bottom of the empty container. The good news is that I no longer need the small helm panel that was the original subject of this posting. I'm feeling safer already. THANK YOU.

Really?

[krush]

Well, I guess that's one way to solve the ugly decal issue.......

[Boatsb]

The halon may have been worth money. It's no longer available so some companies resell it.

[Pete]

I've had the expense of inspecting, weighing and tagging this system annually since I've owned the boat. I'm not quite sure why the fire company took my money if the system us "useless" as Pascal and boatsb have testified here. So this afternoon, I removed the entire system and threw it in the dumpster. It discharged when it hit the bottom of the empty container. The good news is that I no longer need the small helm panel that was the original subject of this posting. I'm feeling safer already. THANK YOU.

But now you have several holes in your console that need to be filled or covered, not just a new sticker required. Maybe when you find the new sticker or have one made you can mount it as originally planned since you will have the same level of protection as before, just not an annual weigh in.

I also have a Halon tank that gets weighed ever couple of years by the fire extinguisher business in town, and each year I use a digital fish scale I bought at Wally World to check myself. Maybe I will stop the weigh ins but keep the tank as a placebo.

Pete

[Pete]

On a serious note, I do not subscribe to the automatic shutdown of engines by the Halon discharge as the best action due to fire. I want the ability to determine what the best action is for the total situation. To do so, I subscribe to the setup that the Halon discharges and sets off an alarm that can not be missed or confused with any other situation, along with some meaningful firefighting "stuff" located just outside the engine room. Uncontrollable loss of all power could easily lead to results far worse than the loss of a single boat.

Pete

[Pascal]

I cant thInk of anything worst than a fire, i d rather loose power. If necessary and safe, you can quickly throw te override switch and restart

At cruise speed, unless the engines are shut down right away, the gas will be sucked in very quickly leaving you with nothing to extinguish the fire.

Most fire extinguisher services just check the bottles, they dont always test or check for shutdown systems

[Pete]

I cant thInk of anything worst than a fire, i d rather loose power. If necessary and safe, you can quickly throw te override switch and restart

At cruise speed, unless the engines are shut down right away, the gas will be sucked in very quickly leaving you with nothing to extinguish the fire.

Most fire extinguisher services just check the bottles, they dont always test or check for shutdown systems

A couple of thoughts, first if the engines shut down automatically, the engine room fills with Halon, chances are quick restart is not an option. Second, this is the reason for serious firefighting "stuff" just outside the engine room. Third, in the case of split engine room boats, as with the 53 MY, that is a definite advantage requiring two simultaneous fires in separate engine rooms, something that is not going to happen, and also an advantage the vast majority of boats do not have.

I will add that a "fire porthole" on the door to the engine room is a must to allow fighting any fire from the outside without introducing new oxygen and personal risk.

Pete

[Boatsb]

Restarting Detroit's after a halon dump is not an issue. You can evac the engine room with the blowers too but given 10 seconds or so a Detroit should be back and running. They move a lot of air.

I've installed a bunch of these and had to test the shutdown every time. I show the owner how it works and then throw the override switch and start the engines. No issue. I don't blow the halon though. It's too expensive.

FWIW the co2 systems work the same way.

[Pete]

Restarting Detroit's after a halon dump is not an issue. You can evac the engine room with the blowers too but given 10 seconds or so a Detroit should be back and running. They move a lot of air.

I've installed a bunch of these and had to test the shutdown every time. I show the owner how it works and then throw the override switch and start the engines. No issue. I don't blow the halon though. It's too expensive.

FWIW the co2 systems work the same way.

I believe that a quick restart after Halon fills an engine room is a big problem, as Halon is not an oxygen displacer as is CO2. Halon chemically interferes with all elements of a fire and prevents the combustion process. It takes a less than 10% concentration of Halon to put out a fire and also to prevent the combustion process that runs a diesel. As far as humans are concerned Halon is much safer in the confined engine room than CO2 should an accidental discharge occur.

With that said neither of us have actually seen a demonstration of a Halon flood in an engine room and an attempted quick restart. Thus, for now we just have two baseless opinions. Perhaps another member has actual facts on the subject. The only verifiable fact thus far is that CO2 and Halon use completely different processes to extinguish a fire.

Pete

[Pascal]

Halon (or its modern replacements FE241 and HFC227) doesn't prevent the combustion process in a diesel which is why you need a shut down module. So once the fire is out and compartment has been vented restarting should not be a problem

But indeed I ve never had to try it . I ll be installing a separate shutdown system for each fireboy I m installing in my boat (both ER plus gen room)