New Fire Extinguisher

[Element]

Anne we need to consider what kind of a fire you would attempt to tackle either with an Element or a conventional fire extinguisher. One issue we always come up with in this industry is that people massively over estimate the size of fire a fire bottle will handle. If your engine is so on fire that flames are licking out of every corner the reality is that nothing short of a fire truck will help you and the vehicle is a goner. Portable fire extinguishers are for small fires and it is critical to get to these fires fast before they accelerate beyond the point where they can be handled.

Getting back to your question. For an engine fire I would not recommend tossing a lit Element into the engine compartment regardless of where it lands. While it could work you give up a ton of control and the bay will be far from sealed even with the hood closed minimizing your chances of saturation. The best is to direct through a cracked hood for the first few seconds then opening the hood a little and progressively more as you direct the discharge towards the source of the flame. This would give you the best chance of success.

As for the interior of a van placing an operating Element in and shutting the doors is your best bet. Of course closer to the fire is best but not essential either. We ran a test with a steel building larger than the size of a van body. We then lit a fuel fire in a round pan about 2 feet diameter and let it pre burn for a minute. An E50 was put in the room and the door was closed. Within 20 seconds the door was opened and the fire was out.

Great questions and for sure part of our responsibility as a company goes beyond just our product but sharing proper fire fighting procedures with our customers whether or not they have an Element at their disposal. It is amazing how much misinformation is out there and we are happy to help anyone to have the knowledge to put out a fire regardless of the tools they choose to use.

[Retired In Motion]

Discount code worked without issue. It's great to see a company that's willing to interact with customers at this level plus offer a nice discount to boot. I'm looking forward to receiving my order.

[wish41]

I appreciate the communication from Rob in explaining the product and answering questions. I just purchased 2, and hope I never have to use them.

[Twoxentrix]

Originally Posted by Element

... we will offer the group a special discount between now and the end of August. In order to keep it for Sportsmobile Forum members only anyone interested can PM us and we'll reply with a code you can use on our website for an immediate discount. In order to be fair to those who already placed an order, if you did order between the day this thread began and today, and are a member of the forum, please PM us your info and we will refund to you the difference.

IMO, Credibility and Reputation reflect the wealth of a business - this is a hell of an entrance! You have me sold - getting 2 as well.

[achop]

Originally Posted by Element

Anne we need to consider what kind of a fire you would attempt to tackle either with an Element or a conventional fire extinguisher. One issue we always come up with in this industry is that people massively over estimate the size of fire a fire bottle will handle. If your engine is so on fire that flames are licking out of every corner the reality is that nothing short of a fire truck will help you and the vehicle is a goner. Portable fire extinguishers are for small fires and it is critical to get to these fires fast before they accelerate beyond the point where they can be handled.

Getting back to your question. For an engine fire I would not recommend tossing a lit Element into the engine compartment regardless of where it lands. While it could work you give up a ton of control and the bay will be far from sealed even with the hood closed minimizing your chances of saturation. The best is to direct through a cracked hood for the first few seconds then opening the hood a little and progressively more as you direct the discharge towards the source of the flame. This would give you the best chance of success.

As for the interior of a van placing an operating Element in and shutting the doors is your best bet. Of course closer to the fire is best but not essential either. We ran a test with a steel building larger than the size of a van body. We then lit a fuel fire in a round pan about 2 feet diameter and let it pre burn for a minute. An E50 was put in the room and the door was closed. Within 20 seconds the door was opened and the fire was out.

Great questions and for sure part of our responsibility as a company goes beyond just our product but sharing proper fire fighting procedures with our customers whether or not they have an Element at their disposal. It is amazing how much misinformation is out there and we are happy to help anyone to have the knowledge to put out a fire regardless of the tools they choose to use.

Thank you, Rob! And if opening/cracking the hood is not an option, would the "thru the grill" approach work? ie, draft would pull the discharge in?

[jwintersteller]

WOW, you guys are incredible! When I posted this I just thought some of you would be interested and just buy a few of them. I've learned so much more about this product and am even more confident I made the right decision to purchase these things. THANKS to all!
And Twoxentrix, getting Rob/Element to join the forum, amazing. What a great resource. Welcome to the forum Rob
Cheers,
John

[Element]

Thank you all for the kind and warm welcome. Hopefully our product can contribute to the community with an added level of protection from fire. I come from the classic car and racing world so we started marketing to that familiar community first and are now branching off to more mass market fields. It is certainly exciting times for our company and the Jay Leno spot really helped us out in an immeasurable way.

To answer about the 'through the grille' approach in deploying Element I would say that the effectiveness of this approach has everything to do with the location of the fire and the surrounding combustibles in that particular engine bay. Certainly way too variable to give an accurate answer as to the effectiveness. Of course it is better than nothing but having direct access to a fire is always best.

[JWA]

Originally Posted by jwintersteller

WOW, you guys are incredible! When I posted this I just thought some of you would be interested and just buy a few of them. I've learned so much more about this product and am even more confident I made the right decision to purchase these things. THANKS to all!
And Twoxentrix, getting Rob/Element to join the forum, amazing. What a great resource. Welcome to the forum Rob
Cheers,
John

Credit where credit is due John---you AND Two both deserve kudos for making all this happen.

Add me to the list of bowled over members here---Element has skyrocketed credibility-wise in my eyes due their prompt and extremely helpful comments about their products.

I'll be snagging at least two of these (partially to honor Twoentrix's username ) and they'll be perfect companions to my aging (but recently serviced) 5 pound dry chemical extinguish that lives in the very back of my E250EB. I mean if one is good more have to be better, right?

And thank you Rob for joining SMB---we welcome your participation.

[JWA]

One last question from me Rob about an engine bay fire especially as it relates to the typical USA manufacture van or pick up truck..........

Would deploying an Element under the engine (hood left closed) work to any effect? I do understand we're talking theoretically but just wondering if that would be more effective than trying to get the gasses through the front grills.

TIA

[Element]

Deploying an Element below a fire would not work because the gas (which is laden with the fire fighting potassium ions) is heavier than air will not rise. Also I believe that the engine compartment of a vehicle generally has too many 'leaks' to effectively create an automatic saturation condition like what can be achieved by leaving a running Element alone in say the interior of a vehicle (with the windows closed). The concept behind shooting through the grille or through a cracked open hood is to create a 'blanket' of extinguishing gas that allows for the subsequent opening of the hood while preventing a flood of new oxygen that can cause a large increase in flame.

Some excellent points being brought up here that will be super useful to fine tune the points in a future video on this subject.