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Fire Extinguisher Recommendation


FlashBuddy

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Heading home from a short trip I saw a cloud of smoke billowing out behind 'ol Roxanne. Was I on fire?! When I got her pulled over I discovered that G@$ D!@# oil bath air cleaner had fallen off the carb and spilled its load on the engine. This is the third or fourth time that invention has lost its load.

Obviously I'll be purchasing a dedicated fire extinguisher for the truck. Heck, I'll probably buy a few and spread them around from the truck and garage to the kitchen.

Online I see prices for 5lb extinguishers from 15.99 to 167.50. What's up with that? They are all class 5-B:C rated; good for gasoline, grease, oil and electrical fires. What am I missing? I need counseling and advice. @pflaming you might want to weigh in here :)

Should I just head down the the local Walmart? Order the 15.99 fire extinguisher from Target (view online) or check out Costco and Amazon (here are Amazons's)?

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Toss that dirty oil bath filter set up, and get a nice smaller chrome or whatever you prefer paper filter set up.  I do always keep an extinguisher in my  truck, just a 3lb I believe...enough I hope to put out a small fire, and bigger and it’s likely more damage then I’m willing to fix lol

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The oil bath if properly clamped should have no way to fall off. Personally even before the recall I wouldn't touch anything by Kidde. We had their 10y smoke detectors and couldn't even get a year out of them before they started going bad. They replaced them under warranty and one of the new ones went wacko too. They all went in the dumpster at that point!

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Oil bath works way better that paper. Fix the clamp and you will never have the issue again. 

I get my extinguishers from the local fire protection business,. I use CO2 type as they don't leave a mess after use. (I've had a couple go off accidentally in the past and it is a mess to clean up.) Also by getting them at the local fire protection business they can refill them easily after use. Don't forget a mounting bracket.

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10 hours ago, P15-D24 said:

Oil bath works way better that paper. Fix the clamp and you will never have the issue again. 

I get my extinguishers from the local fire protection business,. I use CO2 type as they don't leave a mess after use. (I've had a couple go off accidentally in the past and it is a mess to clean up.) Also by getting them at the local fire protection business they can refill them easily after use. Don't forget a mounting bracket.

I've never seen any proof to that on anything I can find online, and unless your going for the 100% stock appearance or you live in a dust bowl, switching to paper is far more convenient and safer then the oil bath....even the ag industry dropped them close to the same time as the auto industry...paper element technology and permanent replacements like K&N and other performance filters will give far better engine performance and far less mess.

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In the case of the volcano eruption and ag units in the dust bowl, the oil bath filter is very effective....the cost to  maintain the oil bath is way less than the cost of buying replacement elements and or cleaning the washable K&N's. Just a minute or two more involved to dump the oil, wipe the insides, refill to the line. (time is about that of the K&N service) I prefer the elements and changed because I am NOT in an area where there is heavy dust in the air.  Either method is excellent if you service it properly and timely.  Some of my K&N's are approaching 30 years of age.

Edited by Plymouthy Adams
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The Volvo equipment that we sell and service offer an oil bath air filter as an optional Pre-cleaner in severe dust environments. The standard paper filter elements are still used, but the oil bath pre-cleans the air first. I've only seen a few that have had that option, but the standard air filters will stay cleaner much longer with that option.

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I have a Maxout dry chem unit mounted in my cab ala Merle. This is a similar unit to what most off road racers carry. Very effective.

If you stop and think about it the air cleaner is the first line of defence against engine wear. Most of the abrasives that enter an engine come in through the intake. Stopping them from ever getting into the internals of you engine is about the best thing you can do. Here in SoCal plenty of studies have been conducted on particulate matter along our roads and freeways. It is very bad and is compounded by the dry conditions so it stays airborne a lot longer than you would think.

I suppose an oil bath probably works best at high rpms when the velocity of the airflow is strongest. But I rather doubt it's effectiveness at idle.  I have a K&N with a Uni oiled foam sleeve over it hidden inside a modified oil bath housing. I know it work very well. I wash the foam element about every 6 or 8 weeks and the stuff in the bottom of the pan is always gritty. I feel fairly confident that some of this stuff would make it through a plain oil bath.

Jeff

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LOL It looks like there isn't much experiece/interest on the subject of fire extinguishers, but bring up the messy oil bath air cleaner and wow!

@The Oil Soup I did search for your thread, couldn't find it :) How about a link or info on what your using, the bracket and where you acquired the pieces?

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21 hours ago, FlashBuddy said:

Heading home from a short trip I saw a cloud of smoke billowing out behind 'ol Roxanne. Was I on fire?! When I got her pulled over I discovered that G@$ D!@# oil bath air cleaner had fallen off the carb and spilled its load on the engine. This is the third or fourth time that invention has lost its load.

Obviously I'll be purchasing a dedicated fire extinguisher for the truck. Heck, I'll probably buy a few and spread them around from the truck and garage to the kitchen.

Online I see prices for 5lb extinguishers from 15.99 to 167.50. What's up with that? They are all class 5-B:C rated; good for gasoline, grease, oil and electrical fires. What am I missing? I need counseling and advice. @pflaming you might want to weigh in here :)

Should I just head down the the local Walmart? Order the 15.99 fire extinguisher from Target (view online) or check out Costco and Amazon (here are Amazons's)?

I've been there, but my truck resulted in catching on fire. It was NOT a fun experience. I check the air cleaner tightness every time close the hood (which is every time I drive it!). I promptly put a paper element in my truck, and put a fire extinguisher in the cab. We've never had any issues with our cars with the oil bath, but I don't want to have a repeat with the truck. The cars also have a bracket to support the air cleaners that the truck don't have.  

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As i only have 2 -50 Plymouth cars so I ask- do not the truck oil bath air cleaners have a support part that bolts onto the side of the air cleanerand downward onto a head bolt for support ?

Seems just the carb to oil bath cleaner clamp was not up to the jarring because of the top heavy weight to keep it clamped tight enough. Seems that lots of these were left off over the years from what I have read here on the forum over the past several years. Made my own from 1/2" wide by 1/8" thick flat steel with some bends and required twists as needed. Mounting hole for the cleaner end was there from the factory!  Other end was put under a head bolt. If you have one of the head bolts with the threaded hole on top of the head bolt that was the original head end mounting point for the support!

On my 50 Ply. Suburban, every time I really got down on take off the oil bath air cleaner would fall off because the support part was missing which luckily did Not tip over and spread oil everywhere!. Finally fixed that issue.

Jus trying to help.  ;)

DJ

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15 minutes ago, Young Ed said:

oddly enough the trucks do not have that brace! They also tend to have smaller air cleaners than cars. 

Strange to me as trucks tended to spend in more time in dusty,rough conditions.  I would think than a car? If anything the air cleaners should have been bigger?!

On forklifts for construction jobs back 30+ years ago the owner told us to remove the paper air cleaner set ups and put on large oil bath setups as they often went on jobs for 6-12 months without field services! Could I argue? He was already in bus. at the time for 20 years. Forgot almost all these forklift had industrial mopar flat sixes!

 

DJ

Edited by DJ194950
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@The Oil Soup I did search for your thread, couldn't find it :) How about a link or info on what your using, the bracket and where you acquired the pieces

The truck air cleaner simply clamps to the carburetor and I gutted the oil bath cleaner and installed a micro guard air filter MGA3902

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