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Gary-
I can't make out the brand name of the fire supression systems from the picture.
Greg- I put it in the main front bay when I'm on the road. When I'm boon docking I wheel it out and run it overnight plugged into the shore cord outside the bus. I have to turn one of the inverters to the "off" position on the remot panel to reduce the load since I discovered that an inverter that is "on", even with no load on that 2nd inverter still draws power. For the 3,500 watt Kipor, I turn off the inverter that doesn't run the fridge, put the float charge to around 5 amps and can run any one of any air conditioners.
Jeff
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Jeff tell us that story about the exploding fire suppression system you installed for Gary and the others who have not heard
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Joe and others-
After my near generator fire, I started asking around about fire suppression systems for the problem. I asked Prevosts service depots and got no referrals. I asked Power Tech and they couldn't recommend any company. I finally found a company called Sea Fire which I suspect is a competitor of the one Gary knows of. I went to see them in person at their manufacturing facility on the East Coast but forget the stage. Maryland I think. They market primarily to the marine industry as their name suggest and do installations on million dollar yachts engine compartments. I showed them what I wanted for my generator bay. They put together the parts and accessories I needed which came to just over $1,000 if I recall including an audible alarm for the inside of the coach so I would know that if/when it ever discharged. They weren't in the business of doing installations for motor homes but I found a guy that worked for them that agreed to do on his own time after that days work.
The extinguisher wound up blowing up. I mean to say that the metal extinguisher itself exploded like a grenade and went into shrampnel pieces. It blew a 12" hole in the bulkhead wall into the the bay on the other side. The force and conclusion also tried to blow the bay door. It bend some of the parts that allow the bay door to fully close and those were easily replaced with no further damage to the bay door.
My theory on what happened is this. The guy installed the extinguisher too close to the exhaust of the generator. I believe the propellant slowly heated from being too close to the insulated generator exhaust. The thermostat which provokes the extinguisher to release the propellent goes off around 240 degrees I believe. So the generator bay didn't get to 240 and allow it to purge. Rather, it must have warmed to somewhere over 180. It was a hot Miami day when it happened which explains why it didn't defect earlier as I made my way south after the installation.
I reported the problem with photographs to Sea Fire and requested that they pay for the repairs and replace the equipment.......properly this time. They have chosen to shrug me off. I haven't bothered with an attny but in my letter I wrote to them I said that "Thank goodness no one was killed" in an effort to let them know they were getting off cheap. You would also think that the knowledge of them learning about this happening could potentially save them hundreds of thousands of dollars if this were to happen on a million dollar yacht.
I'll probably make a stop at the manufacture again when I pass through there.
So what was installed as a safety device wound up being a small bomb and back firing. Crazy.
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Hi Jeff. As I understand this Cold Fire technology, it is a very cold , environmentally safe, water soluble, suppression system. The Tank should be mounted remotely with 3/8" copper tubing run to each of the gen, and engine compartment. Then , a sensor installed in each area connected to a digital monitoring device at the drivers area. I briefly read thru the installation instructions and it is straight forward.
