Haleon Fire System 45c 1987

[Zrida]

Help!!!!!!!! I have a Haleon Fire system which consists of a large tank in the Engine room. This tank has a gauge on it which the needle is showing in the green. I quess that means its normal. Does it?? My warning lights on the bridge just went on tonight they are red that is my fire light and my haleon light. What is procedure to reset this system. The vessel was not running but I was cleaning the bildge. Any suggestions.

[Genesis]

... there is a switch (closed when charged) on the bottle. If you knocked a connection loose it would show discharged (and also trip your shutdown relays if you have diesel engines) even though its not.

If this is the case just reconnect the wires.

BE CAREFUL screwing around near the bottle. The Halon/Fe241 bottles are triggered by a capsule of volatile liquid (usually an alcohol) which boils at about 175F and breaks, releasing the agent. This capsule is somwhat fragile, and if you manage to knock it, you will take a full-on discharge in the face. The mechanism is basically the same design as a wet pipe sprinkler system in an office building.

These bottles should be removed annually and weighed. There is a 'full weight' on the bottle; you must be within 10% of that number. The gauge can stick, so that by itself is not sufficient to know if its still charged.

[Zrida]

Thanks for the direction I will search for the wire but the shutdown relays how do I reset these or do I?

[Genesis]

If your system is wired correctly.

Also, if its wired correctly, and you have Detroits, they should be energized to the stop solenoid either only for a short period of time OR only if the ignition keys are on.

The timed relay units are quite a bit more expensive.

If you have a REAL fire, burning out the shutdown solenoids is not a big deal. If you don't have a real fire blowing $200 on a new pair of solenoids is going to get you more than a bit pissed off.

If your relays lock on when the bottle "shot off" signal goes low, you will destroy the shutdown solenoids if you don't catch it quickly and kill the power to it.

Gensets usually can have their "stop" switches closed indefinitely without damage. This is NOT true for Detroits in particular, which use a "close to stop" shutdown switch (as opposed to "close to run" solenoids such as is common on some Cats)

So assuming your system was "done right" there is no big deal - just find the disconnected wires (usually right near the bottle) and plug them back in. Note that this is almost always an isolated switch (that is, there are two wires coming from it - there is no ground return back through DC common)

If your system is wired correctly you will not be able to start either the genset or the mains without either reconnecting the switch or throwing the "bypass" switch (if your system has one - most do) The latter is essential in the event your unit goes off either for no good reason (e.g. someone manges to whack the capsule while offshore!) or if you have a real fire, the system puts it out, and you manage to restore propulsion post-incident.

[Nonchalant1]

If it's like the old Kidde CO2 system, there's a separate pressure sensing switch box mounted on the gas delivery pipe. When the system discharges, the gas pressure created in the pipe pops the switch which lights up your Crozier Alarm. If that's the case, the box has a pop-up rod on the top when it alarms. To reset, just push the rod down.

Doug

[BEC53]

Is this a system specific to the Halon tank or is it the fire light on a Hatteras 12pt monitor? I ask because my fire light used to come on intermittently on my 12pt monitor(1985 vintage). The problem turned out to be a few bad diodes on the main board. I had the board rebuilt and the problem went away.

[mikep996]

Just a (probably unnecessary) safety reminder...If you accidentally trigger the system, releasing clouds of Halon, RUN OUT OF THE ENGINE ROOM IMMEDIATELY. Do not hesitate, get out and go on deck. Open the side doors and rear salon door. Wait for 10 minutes. Then go back in to the salon, activate the eng room blowers, and wait another 10 minutes before entering the eng rooms. If you feel even slightly light headed inside the boat, leave immediately and go back outside.

Halon, like CO2, is not toxic but neither will it support combustion (good!) nor life (bad!) If you stay, you will feel like you are breathing normally but you will quickly pass out from lack of oxygen. If you pass out in the engine room you will probably die there. :x

Sorry if I sound patronizing but I saw this happen in our computer room at work. Instead of hauling A$$, An employee stayed to shut down the computers after the halon fired. Fortunately, the dummy was pulled out immediately by another with a little more lung capacity.

[Zrida]

I spent the better part of today listening to Hatteras of Stuart, Detriot Diesel of Fort Lauderdale, the company that serviced the Halon system and Both my surveyors as I just purchased the boat two weeks ago. Wow talk about information I not only used what was discussed on this forum but all the other information that came from these experts. The problem again was that my fire and Halon light came on with no discharge from the fire system. The answer was this: I had neglected to turn on my battery charger on Sat. by Thursday when I went to check on the vessel my warning lights were on. When I activated the charger today immediatley the warning lights went out. Does this sound right. I still have not started the vessel as I am waiting till tommorow for these batteries to charge. Can anyone tell me if this makes sense. I have not discussed this with Hatteras as they were closed today. Please tell me if this is right and how long will it take to charge these batteries so I can start, them. 1987 45 C 6V92 with Turbo's

[Genesis]

Possible? Sure. Depends on what loads are on when the system is hot but the charger off.

Most Hatts have pilot lights on the DC panels which eat a bit of juice, you may have other loads which are not really off, etc.

Low voltage can cause an alarm system to show an alarm that is not real, because the sense voltage to turn it off is not high enough to trip that circuit.

[zrida]

Since this is all new to us. I want to thank all of you for comments and interest. I look forward to many years boating with my 45C.