Alcohol Stove Fire

[Graham376]

ergh, never heard of that channel before, but they have all i hate, young/naive, annoying music overlaid, vain

I rarely watch their channel these days, she drives me nuts. OTOH, have a look at their repairs to salvaged boat, a job most wouldn't tackle. Typical episode here - (1312) SALVAGED sailboat MAJOR rebuild - Part 2 | (satisfying) | Expedition Evans 16 - YouTube

 

[Praxinoscope]

Agreed, provided that you have the correct professional equipment and are suitably trained.
As far as I am aware water mist is not normally used on commercial vessels other than the automated systems on the vehicle decks of ferries.
Its unlikely to be available for amateur use on small boats, unless you are aware of recently developed extinguishers that I have missed. Do you have experience of using it?

I have recently changed to water mist extinguishers to replace the powder units on my boat, but have never used them and hope I don’t have to.
They are available in a 1 litre size from nationwideextinguishers.co.uk among others.

 

[Stemar]

OTOH, have a look at their repairs to salvaged boat, a job most wouldn't tackle.

That's what got me into the channel at first, and it was well worth watching, but now it's pretty much just another sailing with eye candy channel.

 

[Praxinoscope]

Alcohol stoves are like all other forms of energy, safe as long as the rules are followed, there are numerous warnings on the stoves themselves and in the user instructions not to fill the unit when hot
Unfortunately people do sometimes forget the rules with severe consequences, I seem to remember Dylan Winter when walking Offas Dyke for a BBC radio programme, made a similar mistake with his alcohol stove and wrote off his tent.
Despite these ocasional accidents still prefer my Origo alcohol stove to a gas installation on my boat, I don’t have to be aware of failing joints, leaking pipes and finding somewhere to store the gas cylinder, but I know that I will never change the opinion of those who seem to have a high level of disdain towards them.

 

[Sandy]

Agreed, provided that you have the correct professional equipment and are suitably trained.
As far as I am aware water mist is not normally used on commercial vessels other than the automated systems on the vehicle decks of ferries.
Its unlikely to be available for amateur use on small boats, unless you are aware of recently developed extinguishers that I have missed. Do you have experience of using it?

I am wondering what sort of professional equipment you refer? The hyperlink in my above post links to the water mist extinguisher.

Back in the day when I worked full time I was a fire warden and regularly spend an enjoyable day at the Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service Training Centre in Plymouth using fire extinguishers on the right and wrong type of fire. Using the wrong type of extinguisher is quite an eye opener. There I learnt that dry powder in a confined space is almost impossible to use as you could not see a thing and breathing was 'unpleasant' although not fatal (I felt I was suffocating in the stuff). The Yachting Monthly Boat Crash video demonstrates exactly what I mean.

My late father-in-law was a Station Officer, now called Watch Manager, in the Fire Brigade and naturally there was an acute awareness of fire risk. In discussions with him he pointed me at Water Mist as being new and covering all the classifications of fire on a boat, class A, B, and C fires, AND electrical. There is nothing special about Water Mist, it's a fire extinguisher that you point at a fire and use, I would argue it is simpler to use as there is no need to remember all the different techniques for using each type of extinguisher. A huge advantage is I only need to carry one type of extinguisher as it will also deal with electrical fires.

 

[srm]

I am wondering what sort of professional equipment you refer? The hyperlink in my above post links to the water mist extinguisher.

Sorry, I missed that you had sent a hyperlink. Up to then I had only come across fixed instalations, hence the comment about vehicle decks.

Agree with all the above comments regarding use of water mist, and will look into changing my extinguishers.

Its quite a few years since I retired so am obviously out of date. My job then included running pre-sea courses including an intro to firefighting for fishing and MN. We used the equipment that was normally available on ships at that time; powder, foam and CO2 extinguishers, hoses and BA sets. It was interesting seeing the ways even the small training fires could and did reignite after the available extinguishers had been fully discharged into them.

On one occasion we had a publicity film crew from Sea Fish recording the course. When the first powder extinguisher was used out on the pier the powder was blown towards the camera. As it cleared the cameraman was seen running away trying to protect his camera.

 

[mjcoon]

Sorry, I missed that you had sent a hyperlink. Up to then I had only come across fixed instalations, hence the comment about vehicle decks.

If it had been a hyperlink it would have looked like this: water-mist-fire-extinguishers and been more obvious, at least when "moused over"! Even better would be some enhancement: water-mist-fire-extinguishers.

 

[mjcoon]

I am wondering what sort of professional equipment you refer? The hyperlink in my above post links to the water mist extinguisher.

Back in the day when I worked full time I was a fire warden and regularly spend an enjoyable day at the Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service Training Centre in Plymouth using fire extinguishers on the right and wrong type of fire. Using the wrong type of extinguisher is quite an eye opener. There I learnt that dry powder in a confined space is almost impossible to use as you could not see a thing and breathing was 'unpleasant' although not fatal (I felt I was suffocating in the stuff). The Yachting Monthly Boat Crash video demonstrates exactly what I mean.

My late father-in-law was a Station Officer, now called Watch Manager, in the Fire Brigade and naturally there was an acute awareness of fire risk. In discussions with him he pointed me at Water Mist as being new and covering all the classifications of fire on a boat, class A, B, and C fires, AND electrical. There is nothing special about Water Mist, it's a fire extinguisher that you point at a fire and use, I would argue it is simpler to use as there is no need to remember all the different techniques for using each type of extinguisher. A huge advantage is I only need to carry one type of extinguisher as it will also deal with electrical fires.

Sadly, I have never attended a fire fighting course. But the story of the powder extinguisher and suffocation and potential camera damage makes me wonder if they are not useful outside in a breeze but only in a confined space. Could the same apply to a drifting mist? I was intrigued at the idea that the mist is de-ionised for use on electrical fires. But don't leave your salt-cellar where it could be washed onto your battery or shore power!

 

[srm]

But the story of the powder extinguisher and suffocation and potential camera damage makes me wonder if they are not useful outside in a breeze but only in a confined space.

I would suggest that all extinguishers work best in a confined space. However, suffocation is a serious risk in any confined space with powder and CO2 as they block oxygen from the fire and the firefighter. There have been a number of deaths due to CO2 extinguishers being used in confined spaces on commercial vessels.

Even on a breezy day on the pier powder was effective, the cameraman was running from the dust blown off the fire area, most of the powder was in the target area and the fire was extinguished. We would put out oil fires with the oil in a container using CO2, again outside for safety, but the gas would rapidly disperse and the oil reignite if hot enough. A free running oil fire would be better attacked with foam, but indirectly so that the foam flows over it as a direct blast could spread the burning oil.

Perhaps, counter intuitively, the real problem we had was with type A fires, paper, wood etc. Even a small fire would happily reignite some time later, despite the fact that the outside had been drenched by the water extinguishers. We always broke up the remains of the fire and soaked it with the hose before cleaning up.

I would suggest that, should the opportunity occur, you jump at the chance of any fire fighting course. They are usually fun as well as instructive. Just do not stand up as you use an extinguisher; keep yourself and your head down or you may singe your eyebrows in the blow back.

 

[rotrax]

I have just invested in four 2 litre 'Firexo' liquid based extinguishers for Jarrow Lily.

The info suggests one extinguisher does for all fires.

Apart from crap mountings for boats - soon fixed with a bit of nous and First Mates sewing machine to knock up QD straps - they appear perfect.

Cheapest Supplier was Amazon Prime.

 

[dankilb]

Yup - as above - we went for Firexo. Can’t see why you wouldn’t, it available to you, as they’re basically a water mist but with a freeze-resistant additive (which I think claims other qualities as well). About the same price too.