On 10 Jan 2004 14:10:41 -0800, jim rozen
wrote:

In article , Gunner says...

Halon is hardly horrible stuff. Its a CFC (NOOOOOOOOO!!) that has had
significant use in fire systems. Its a heavier than air gas, that
displaces the oxygen in the room that its dumped into. IRRC it is
nontoxic, but as it indeed does displace the oxygen, its greatest risk
is suffocation.

The only reason I ask, is that I inherited a small halon extinguisher
(IIRC about a 5lb unit) that I put in our kitchen. I figured
that halon would be the best for a kitchen, where dry powder
would make a real mess.

I keep a 5# CO2 extinguisher in the kitchen, the thermal shock isn't
a big problem for that use. The Halon is reserved for near the
computers. As I type this, I look up and see an Amerex #352 2 .5#
Halon 1211, ready to keep the hard drive salvageable if the power
supply goes out in a blaze of glory.

(Murphy's Law: Backups are never recent enough, and the one critical
file you REALLY need back didn't copy properly anyways.)

And I have a 2.5# Halon in my cars, mounted under the edge of the
driver's seat - right next to a 2.5# Dry Chemical under the passenger
seat (and one or two 10# ABC units in the trunk/rear area) so I have a
choice of which tool to use for the situation...

If it's /my/ car burning (and especially if someone's trapped inside
at the time), I can choose to use the expensive Halon. If it's
someone else's car, I'll use the Dry Chemical first - unless they're
trapped inside the car, since it really isn't nice to blast off a Dry
Chemical extinguisher in anyone's face (screw the cost).

But if there were health issues with it (a small handheld,
not in a confined space) I would want to know about it.

No particular health issues involved, other than the real
possibility of suffocation from oxygen deprivation if you stay in the
room and the Halon concentration is high enough. And the other hazard
to life & health is the chemicals released by the fire itself before
you got it put out, that's a real witch's brew of some decidedly nasty
stuff.

You put out the fire with the Halon, and then get everyone the heck
out of the room for a while, drag them out if you have to. And be
sure to close all the doors as you leave - you /want/ the gas
concentration in the fire room to stay high enough to inhibit the fire
from starting back up again. Halon works by chemically breaking the
fire triangle...

After everything that was once burning cools down below the ignition
point, you must open up the room and air it out with fans before you
can safely occupy it again.

Oh, and a VERY important note: Go get that Halon extinguisher you,
um, "inherited"... serviced by a professional shop at least every 6
years, even if you've never used it - they have found that the O-ring
seals on the discharge nozzle crack from age and leak out the charge,
so you need to get them replaced before your precious (and expensive)
gas escapes. "Save the Ozone Layer" and all that bilge... ;-)

Since the cylinders are due for a Hydro-Test every 12 years, they
can do them both at once every other service. (They just have another
punch-out spot on the Hydro-Test sticker that says "6-Year Halon
Maintenance")

-- Bruce --
--
Bruce L. Bergman, Woodland Hills (Los Angeles) CA - Desktop
Electrician for Westend Electric - CA726700
5737 Kanan Rd. #359, Agoura CA 91301 (818) 889-9545
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