Inertia cut off switch

[oil_on_the_carpet]

Quoted from TedTaylor

I personally feel these remarks implying it is unsafe to run a car with a LOW pressure electric fuel pump and not use an inertia switch are irresponsible.  Effectively you are saying that anyone with a car without such a switch should immediately stop using it until one has been fitted - which means tens of thousands of classic cars in use today all round the world!

No one is saying that. Perhaps we should strip out those seat belts that crept into our cars since the 50's and 60's too?
After all, nothing but a firm grip on the wheel or a lap belt was good enough in the 'good old days', why fit those silly inertial reel 3 point belts now?
Should we go back to the halcyon days of non gripping crossply tyres too? After all, they were a new fangled and expensive 'safer' option only on the higher performing cars from the mind 60's. Why anyone with an older car should fit such safer tyres is beyond me when crossplys were good enough back when it was built.

Oh that's right, we have vasty more traffic on the roads, the vehicles around us are almost invariably far bigger and heavier than us now, and unleaded petrol thanks to the increasing ethanol content is a rather more difficult stuff to extinguish than leaded stuff.

An inertia switch one an electric fuel pump is cheap and unobtrusive primary safety. The fact they didn't routinely fit them in the past is utterly irrelevant as the technology didn't exist to build cheap and totally reliable ones for mass usage in the past.

[oil_on_the_carpet]

Quoted from JohnD

I think you need to back up that provocative statement with evidence, or risk the wrath of the MSA, for which AFFF or Zero 2000 are the only types of extinguisher allowed.
How long ago did you build your last rally car?   Halon has been banned since 1989, nearly 30 years.  Certainly, the MSA Scrutineers today will not approve an "inert-gas" extinguisher system.  The only type of inert gas system in use at present is CO2, recommended by the Fire Service for electrical fires only, and useless in an car fire as all the CO2 will fall out of the engine bay.    A passenger compartment full of CO2 is not one you would live long in.

John

Still got a load of them.
Best fire extinguisher medium ever invented.
Instant knock down on any fuel fire.

[Stuart Wilson]

Quoted from JohnD

Thank you Stuart!

When the MSA Blue Book says, quote K.3.1.6 "Permitted Extinguishants.  AFFF, Zero 2000" I'm surprised that there is a separate list of FIA approved agents - perhaps not, the MSA is always behind.

Is there nothing but a gas in this system?  What stops it falling out of the engine bay?  Does it carry another material with it?
John

John, I'm not sure if there is anything else in them. I've been lucky enough not to need to use it. The downside of them is the cost, at least twice if not more than an AFFF, plus more to get them serviced.

[TedTaylor]

Quoted from oil_on_the_carpet

No one is saying that. Perhaps we should strip out those seat belts that crept into our cars since the 50's and 60's too?
After all, nothing but a firm grip on the wheel or a lap belt was good enough in the 'good old days', why fit those silly inertial reel 3 point belts now?
Should we go back to the halcyon days of non gripping crossply tyres too? After all, they were a new fangled and expensive 'safer' option only on the higher performing cars from the mind 60's. Why anyone with an older car should fit such safer tyres is beyond me when crossplys were good enough back when it was built.

Oh that's right, we have vasty more traffic on the roads, the vehicles around us are almost invariably far bigger and heavier than us now, and unleaded petrol thanks to the increasing ethanol content is a rather more difficult stuff to extinguish than leaded stuff.

An inertia switch one an electric fuel pump is cheap and unobtrusive primary safety. The fact they didn't routinely fit them in the past is utterly irrelevant as the technology didn't exist to build cheap and totally reliable ones for mass usage in the past.

Umm to quote an earlier remark which is why I made my point:
'With any electric fuel pump, not fitting an inertia switch is stupid unless you really fancy the thought of your fuel pump pumping gallons of petrol over your hot engine after a crash.'

Also other comments about frequency of accidents involving fires and requirements for the ability to generate an explosive situation seem to have been ignored.

I think this is now simply getting right off the point of the original posting so perhaps time to call and end and everyone accept their positions.

MUT

[JohnD]

Banning Halon was one of the few things ever done that can be said to have saved the planet.
It was the discovery of the Ozone Hole that confirmed scientific fears about halocarbons, that had previously been considered 'just theoretical' by governments.
The Montreal Protocol banned them from manufacture and sale in most counties of the world, except for military and aviation use, and in the US where they may still be bought and sold, if not manufactured.
Since then, the southern hole, although variable, is predicted to be significantly smaller by 2040.

A Halon extinguisher is one too many toys, ootc.  Have it disposed of safely, please.
John

[Jonny-Jimbo]

Going back to the original point, I have now bought a switch off the old ebay, £8 including the harness connector and wiring and postage. Not too bad... as long as it works!!