Engine Room Extinguisher

Divemaster1

Divemaster1

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I have just taken delivery of:

Gas Extingusiher Bottle
25m of FireTrace flexible tubing
Connectors and fixings
Pressure Gauge and Alarm for Helm Position

Will try to do the install this week-end (as engine bay hatches are open anyway) and try to document the installation, which should cover:

Lazarette with Generator, cable runs for 220 & 24V up to instrument panel, batteries, Engines and along the gas supply route.

This may take some time, but should be good in the end....
 
What make and where did you get it from?
I have to re-do mine so would be interested to know.
 
Went for "Firetrace"

Very professional and rapid response to enquiry, and sensible approach....Happy to help and bend over backwards to find the right solution for you and your vessel.

Provides on spot coverage and flexible enough to cover the hard to reach places such as having the switch and instrument panel covered etc....as well as being very competitively priced....
 
Are fire suppression systems mandatory for recreational vessels in UK over a certain size, or is it an owner option.

I will be keen to what the installation though!
 
Did not get as far as I wanted today as priming the fuel system and moving the boat to another berth + cleaning took longer than expected..., so only managed to position the bottle..

Anyway...this is an illustration of what I aim to set up ...

FireSupression.jpg


And here are the components ... simple really...

FireTrace1.jpg
 
Two and a half hour was all I managed today, but most of the Firetrace tubing is pulled from bottle and around engines, cable ducts, generator and batteries.

Bottle in situ behind the deck drains and tubing going each way along the cable racks. Did consider going inside cable rack. but decided agains this as it may impair gas expansion.., so run it above the immersion heater as well as it was easy...

DSC_0546.jpg


At the end of the line over the batteries, a termination needs to be fitted...

DSC_0545.jpg


And I have run the tubing up across all switch panels and in to the instrument panel ...

DSC_0545.jpg


Where I left it today before drilling a hole for the pressure gauge in direct view from the helm...

DSC_0548.jpg


Next week ... fitting gauge, pressure switch, alarm and comissioning the system...
 
Looks a good system.
If I'm teaching granny to suck eggs here then apologies in advance, have you made provision of closing off the air vents to the engine space?
 
Engine room vents are probably one of my next jobs and I do not want to connect them to the engine air shut off ( have tanks, fuel and air intake shut of on the engines), as I want to have control of the engines as much as possible... but spring loaded og gravity activated baffles is relatively easy to fit as I have the space...

The system itself is designed to attack the fire where it starts and as such is not a full flood system. The flexible tubing ruptures at 120 degrees C at the point of flame contact and discharges there and then (hence the selected routing of the tube). The pressure switch activates the alarm and hopefully combined with the camera surveilance I have in the engine room, I can see the discharge. A controlled shutdown of the engines and/or electical power is then in my hands and as such maintain vessel control.

more to follow...
 
Wrong picture attached with respect to instrument panel and now to late to edit ... so here we go.... spaghetti junction... but now with fire detection and supression.. /forums/images/graemlins/ooo.gif..

DSC_0547.jpg
 
Hi Alf,
Just picked up one of these firetrace units at a boatjumble.

Its an earlier version of your unit but unlike yours it has a fixed length of discharge trace. (2m)

Obviously it's precharged, the guage is reading OK (green) so it should be ok to install.

My question is how does your unit connect to the trace? I read with interest you have ordered a length of trace for your requirements, my only guess is they have made it so you can precut the length required before you connect it to the cylinder valve & charge the system once installed.

I might get mine serviced & while there get them to add the length of trace I require, still I dont think it was a bad purchase at £40!.

Your unit looks excellent, hope the rest of the install goes OK.
 
My unit probably have a similar connetion as yours, but with a T adaptor at the top.

Currently, the little crane (just at the bottom of the neck above the gauge) is closed and as such the tubing is not pressurised (yet).... and think that you should be able of shutting off (isolating) the tubing yourself as well...

The tube then connects to the pieces in a similar way that you connect copper pipes together by pushing the tube to a nozzle and fixing it with a compression fitting. As such, any lenght of detection / surpression tube can be fitted.... and any number of T connections and end pieces for termination of tube can be used (must be a practical limit though...). I took delivery of 25M tubing and cut to fit where I needed to tubing to run, then connected the pieces myself, including the run up to the remote pressure gauge I will have at the helm position.

Commissioning alos have a sensible approach (from my perspective), as the remote pressure gauge also works as a comissioning point where I can connect a standard 12V car tyre inflator and pressurise the system to 10 - 12bar. Leave the system pressurised for a day or two and if no pressure drop, I have a sealed system. If not I need to go looking for leaks...(without having lost expensive gas)... When all is OK, it is just a question of opening the crane (from the top comment) and I'll have a comissioned system.

Have the price list for the various bits & pieces (think tubing is approx £8 per metre), but can check the other prices if interested.... Irrespective give the guys a call and ask them for advise... great people and very happy to help us boaters out with what I would call sensible solutions.
 
Thanks Alf,
just looked at the accessories on their website, the valve has changed slightly & so has the trace connection.

Will give them a call as overall Im impessed with the system.

Was going to install this one "as is" but after seeing your thread I thought about updating it to cover more area's than the 2m trace will allow.

Will be installing the audable warning too which looks to be straight forward enough. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
Great stuff ... anything I do that helps others is great... especially if it improves safety...

Ask for Dave Melton or Mark Piper ..& give my regards to the guys ... I know they will be more than happy to help in any which way they can...
 
System installed and commissioned now with total elapsed install time of five hours:

Ran the tubes over the fuse cabinet as well...

The Gauge can be un-screwed and you fit an adapter to the fitting, to pressurise (10 bar) the system for leak testing with air... from a simple car tire pump.

IMG00040.jpg


IMG00041.jpg


IMG00042.jpg


Then after leaving the system pressurised for approx 24 hrs with no air leaks, I drilled a hole in the instrument panel for monitoring the system together with the engine instrumentation.

IMG00045.jpg


IMG00038.jpg


And with system pressurised, I connected the alarm sounder to the system's pressure switch.

The sounder, which have a seperate test button, is installed away from the engine sounders, so there is no mistaking which alarm it is that goes off...

IMG00043.jpg


So now I hope that the system never will be used.... /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif
 
... Asked the guys at FireTrace if it was possible to extend the system a bit and got a positive response... which was followed up by a parcel arriving the following day... (FOC)... /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

So, a quick extension over the panel, and below the starter switches...

DSC_0550.jpg


A new T piece after coverage of the Start batteries, up along the cables to the starter motor (Cleaning took place after installation) and up between fuel filters, above fuel supply

DSC_0552.jpg


.....and forwards along the cables past oil filters and end piece above the alternators

DSC_0553.jpg


Think I'll stop here as I think I have mya enough coverage in the engine room now....
 
Sorry to dig up an old thread.

I have to install an automatic Co2 fire system in my engine bay. I currently have HFC-227 which is not acceptable.

Can you let me know if this is the system installed in this thread? It doesn't need to have any gauges or be wired to electronics. The sole need for this is to have an automatic Co2 fire system in the engine bay (10 sq. m)

My boat is a Cranchi Smeraldo 37, so not a huge engine bay. Ideally I would like to have an independent bottle, with pipes as outputs if necessary. I do not mind if I have to have 2 x extinguishers. The main aim here is simplicity, but simplicity that works.
 
alt said:
...........
Can you let me know if this is the system installed in this thread? It doesn't need to have any gauges or be wired to electronics. The sole need for this is to have an automatic Co2 fire system in the engine bay (10 sq. m)..............
Click to expand...

Nope... this is a HFC system.... Looked at Co2, but for full flood I needed something silly like a massive tank, which I could not locate anywhere sensible ... and it would not be able of doing targeted suppression like the installed system...
 
Divemaster1 said:
Nope... this is a HFC system.... Looked at Co2, but for full flood I needed something silly like a massive tank, which I could not locate anywhere sensible ... and it would not be able of doing targeted suppression like the installed system...
Click to expand...

The surveyor (the boat is coded) is stating that I MUST use Co2 in the engine room, as that's what it says in the Statute book.

Every professional that I have contacted can't fathom why i'm trying to remove my HFC system in place for Co2.
 
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