Fire Extinguishers, Got one in your car? Options

[Curvie Roadlover]

Our group here in MI had this discussion yesterday during lunch on our little pre-mother's day run. I thought it would be interesting to see what the thoughts of the BBS folks are on this. Please share your stories.

[ArtechnikA]

How big of a fire extinguisher does one need for a car? I see that Pelican sells 1.25, 2.5, and 3.5 pound models. There's no guidance on which size is appropriate.

just big enough to put out your fire :-) ...
in practice, it boils down to how much room you've got, and how much you want to spend.
most competition rules that require extinguishers on board specify a capacity. SCCA SOLO-II does not require onboard, Zone 8 PCA DE/TT did when i was doing it, i have no idea nowadays. i recall (fuzzily) that the requirement was 2A:5BC which was met by a 5-lb dry checmical or Purple K unit or a rather smaller Halon one (which was quite new, then...). yes, i know, dry chemical is bad news but most of us carried one anyway because it was the best ofthe available options then...

so: read your rules, find the A:B:C rating required, get one at least that size. remember that a 5-lb extinguisher will weigh 200 lbs in a 40-g crash and make your mounts accordingly...