Fire Extinguisher Recommendation

[FreeMountainHermit]

Guys, I must confess that I've never had a designated FE for my still area and it's about time to chit or get off the pot and buy one,

ABC ??? Halon ??? CO2 ???

Your thoughts, please.

Don't see much of Halon anymore except in marine applications as it depletes the oxygen in the area of concern.

[Euphoria]

The days of Halon and CFC's (ozone depleters) are pretty much history. Pick yourself up a good ABC extinguisher, and please don't get one of those "pocket edition" ones. Opt for the biggest one you can get. If you have a real fire, you want to have one with enough Chutzpah to put it out. It also doesn't hurt to have a charged garden hose handy as well.

[DAD300]

The big issue is determining that you have an ethanol fire. Ethanol flames are almost invisible in daylight. I once heard the whoosh as my boiler caught fire and looked at it for 5-10 seconds before I realized it was on fire. I finally realized it, because the grey insulation on the top of the boiler was turning black. I had a leak at the keg to column that was letting ethanol pool under the insulation. NO MORE INSULATION THERE!

If it's specifically for ethanol...water deluge...because water will dilute ethanol, you put the most water you can on as quick as possible, at low pressure, to dilute the ethanol below a burnable ABV, less than 40%. Problem is...around the still we provide the conditions for a better flash point.

The flash points of ethanol concentrations from 10% ABV to 96% ABV are shown below:

10% — 49 °C (120 °F)
20% — 36 °C (97 °F)
30% — 29 °C (84 °F)
40% — 26 °C (79 °F)
50% — 24 °C (75 °F)
60% — 22 °C (72 °F)
70% — 21 °C (70 °F)
80% — 20 °C (68 °F)
90% — 17 °C (63 °F)
96% — 17 °C (63 °F)

So, if it's 84F in your shed, 30% will burn!

And 10% on top of a hot boiler will ignite!

A high pressure ABC, may push the ethanol and the flame around the room. Drag racers found this out. If you spray a NHRA Alcohol Funny Car Driver whose on fire with a high pressure hose, you can force the flames into his helmet and fire suit!

When I had my fire...and realized it...I was outside. I shut off the gas, and used the reflux cooling line, waste water out, to put out the fire. It went out very fast. I was only using a liter a minute, but it diluted the ethanol to no burn level. There was probably only a few tablespoons of 90%+ ethanol on top of the boiler! And it didn't really burn the insulation, just dicolored it.

The only thing damaged was my pants!

So, I went to a friend that sells building systems and she said, ethanol is very hard to smother even with industrial foam extinguishers. Deluge/dilute with water to non burnable levels.

[S-Cackalacky]

Never had a fire. I keep a pump type garden sprayer charged with water nearby and a 2 gallon bucket of water. Hadn't thought about the condenser output water, but I'll be mindful of that as an option too. I want to get a water faucet installed so I can have a garden hose available. Beyond that, I guess it would have to be 911.

[FullySilenced]

Keep 300#'s of foam on hand just in case... it maybe excessive but.. ya never know

[oldgrouch62]

Could I suggest a big CO2 extinguisher? Not much distilling experience here but 30+ years in the fire service and also been welding & brazing in the shop since I was a kid. Been more than once I had an unexpected fire that had to be knocked down quick, and there always seemed to be a pan of kerosene or oil around. The ABC extinguishers will work, as will the foam, but both are going to leave you with a mess to clean up. CO2 is clean, it'll leave nothing behind that the fire didn't make. If you've got a welding supply place not too far away they will recharge your CO2 extinguishers fairly cheaply.

Water don't work so well because being a polar solvent alcohol will hit a point during combustion as it heats up where it "rolls over" and no longer will absorb water and dilute. It acts just like gasoline and floats on the water, which just spreads it around. If you hit it quick, you might succeed, but why take a chance? An extinguisher is cheap insurance.

And yeah, Halon is history, except for some very specific applications, and that's too bad, it was really good stuff!

[cranky]

Water don't work so well because being a polar solvent alcohol will hit a point during combustion as it heats up where it "rolls over" and no longer will absorb water and dilute. It acts just like gasoline and floats on the water, which just spreads it around.

I did a fire test that I documented here http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... &start=870 and it did not behave like gasoline although it did take more water than I expected before it went out, but it did indeed go out and go out quickly when I hit it with a sprayer from the garden hose.

[Truckinbutch]

Garden hose is my option for an , as yet , unintended alcohol fire . Arm's reach attention and 15 minute leak checks are part of my safety protocall . First sign of fire = immediate propane shutoff . Flood fire area with diluting , cooling water mist and remain calm . Panic only helps to escalate a problem into a catastrophic event . Long as you get an external vapor fire out before it sucks o2 back into the boiler you are not going to have an explosion .