Element Fire Extinguisher

[MyBlackBeasts]

This is very cool! Getting one for each car & a few for the house!

No mess!!!



https://youtu.be/oBjXecsF860

[vonirkinshtine]

Ok ok ok...hold up. To let you know where my comments are coming from I am a Mechanical Engineer, firefighter, and occupational safety professional.
First, let's look at the fire tetrahedron:
https://www.highspeedtraining.co.uk/hub/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/fire-tetrahedron-combustion.jpg

There may be merits to this idea. Traditional "cloud-based" fire suppressants use Sodium Nitrate as the active ingredient (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Condensed_aerosol_fire_suppres sion)

HOWEVER, I have serious doubts about the effectiveness of this thing outdoors. To put out the fire you need to maintain an adequate cloud density around the fire.
Check out this video

https://youtu.be/GwzZJInS40g
This guy has to get ON TOP of the fire to get it put out. And the video cuts out and you don't get to see if the fire stays out.
Now, I will say that I see this thing working best when you have an under-hood fire and you haven't opened the hood yet. Toss that thing on the ground under your engine.

Overall, I think it's usefulness is very limited. I'd rather have something with some reach so I can give the fire a good knock down before I get closer.

Also, according to Element (https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/3001/3080/files/ElementOperationDescription.pd f?18031477555294614639) the main ingredient is Potassium Nitrate which is a common ingredient in BOMBS AND ROCKET FUEL! I'm not putting that in my house or car.

I recommend an AFFF-based extinguisher like FireAde.

[Marauderman]

Having worked and been in the Fire Industry for over 50 years, I looked at the vid and must agree with my friend above me here.
The demonstration is without an actual live fire to visually see the effects of the unit being described . Yes it appears all good with the benefits over the 5 lb. unit agree, but like my friend says, everything has its limitations, I was surprised it was not demonstrated on a fire--well if there was a flame I did not see it in the vid. Referring to this vid --https://youtu.be/oBjXecsF860.

Additionally, if used outside in the open at all,, it would be limited as said to extreme close proximity of what is on fire otherwise the wind would surely blow the "cloud" from breaking up the chemical chain necessary to achieve extinguishment. The other point not mentioned about powder 5 lb. extinguishers is that the powder agent tend to stick to the heated parts that were on fire to maintain extinguishment
until washed off normally- even after its own cloud has vanished. This all could have been seen if both types were demo on an actual fire for comparisons---which if you are going to impress someone on a new product that is the best way to do it...so I digress to the old unit until I can see a better demo ---yep on a live vehicle fire since that was specifically used as the reference.

[Marauderman]

My comments above needed more editing as I looked at the car fire outside but the wind conditions were such that if parts were hot enough a flash back could and have occurred in real similar conditions.. --the vid was short but it may have merit.

[MyBlackBeasts]

Is it going to put out a full vehicle fire? No, but neither is any extinguisher you can carry in a car. It can stop the little ones before they get out of control.

The nearly 1 minute run time helps HUGE over the 5 second discharge of a regular one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJHQWL3UJRU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwzZJInS40g

https://elementfire.com/pages/faq

[vonirkinshtine]

And you'll probably need every second of that 1 minute to get your little fire under control too with that smoke bomb.

[MyBlackBeasts]

I've used aerosol can gas extinguishers (like Halon) working in a shop for top of engine fires. They work great to prevent fire getting out of control and stopping it before melting wires or other damage and no big mess to deal with clean up. The problem with them is they go dead over time so when the emergency happens and you grab it off the tool box and it doesn't work = a bad day.

[Blown3.8]

I think its perfect to carry in a vehicle. Could carry 4 of them compared to one 5lb cylinder.

I'd like to see how the 5lb would fair in this test. https://youtu.be/PIXULks_cos

[sailsmen]

The Fire Extinguishers in all my vehicles serve 2 purposes. Extinguishing Fires and the Devil.

I had an engine catch fire on a busy road. The emergency kit fire extinguisher was useless. I took my shirt off to try and smother it out.

Some teenagers with a full size extinguisher handed me theirs and it immediately put it out.

[vonirkinshtine]

I carry one of these around with me everywhere I go. It's in my EDC bag at all times.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvKUBTp5kRI