Dry-powder Fire Extinguishing System On Combine

Dry-powder Fire Extinguishing System On Combine COMBINES Accessories 25-1-35 My combine's not completely fire proof yet, but there's less chance the engine on my International 1460 will ever cause a fire since I installed a dry-powder fire extinguishing system in the engine compartment. Race cars have a system that sprays powder on their engines if they catch fire and I figured the idea would work on a combine, too. I spent some time investigating how dry powder fire retardant systems are installed and concluded I could put something similar on my combine without interfering with the way it operated. I visited with a fire prevention systems specialist in Des Moines and came home with a used canister to hold the powder, a smaller canister to hold a charge of compressed carbon dioxide (CO2), a supply of dry powder and some hurricane nozzles to spray it from. In all, it cost me about $50 in materials, and that includes $30 for the powder canister. I mounted the powder and CO2 canisters just outside the door on the combine. From the powder canister, I ran steel gas pipe and braided steel flexible pipe back to a T joint in the engine compartment. From there, I ran equal lengths of pipe which are each fitted with a hurricane nozzle. With these two nozzles, located on opposite sides of the compartment, I can spread the dry powder evenly over the engine and knock out any fire that might occur there. The canister for the dry powder looks like a fire extinguisher. The CO2 canister mounts on the powder container. To pressurize the system and blow powder back onto the engine, all I need to do is pull a pin - like you'd do in a fire extinguisher - and push down a lever that punctures the seal in CO2 container. If the engine should catch fire, I can do this quickly after I leave the cab before I climb down from the platform. It should only take a couple of seconds. Any business that sells fire fighting or safety equipment should be able to supply the materials needed. I was able to find used equipment easily, so I'm sure there's probably a lot of it available. Both canisters - powder and CO2 - are refillable. I can refill the powder canister myself, but will need to have the CO2 canister refilled and sealed by an expert, at a minimal cost. It took only about an hour to mount the canisters and run the lines, and most of that time was spent measuring and figuring angles to locate the pipe and the nozzles. The pipe is fastened in place with hose clamps, so all I needed to install it was a screw driver and wrenches to put the pipes together.(Arvin DeCook, 9658 Hwy F 62E, Sully, Iowa 50251 ph 641 594-3438)

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