Norcold Air Temp at Top for Fire Extinquisher Operation

[Sammie]

Does anyone know what the outside normal working air temperature at the top of a Norcold 1200 would be? The reason I'm asking is that I would like to install an automatic fire extinguisher at the top of the fridge and I'm sure there is a certain air temperature at which the extinguisher will fire off. I'm an old fire sprinkler installer and most of the sprinklers we installed were either 165 degree or 212 degree. My next step will be to turn on the fridge and try to drop a themometer down from the roof vent to measure the working temperature.

Sammie

[Gary RVRoamer]

I doubt if it would reach 200, even on a hot day.

A guy I know sells fire extinguishers for the fridge compartment. They are halon and he recommends placing them in the bottom and facing up. The halon gas rises for a bit, blanketing the entire coil area. I believe his unit triggers at 165 degrees, which is well below the combustion point of wood and paper.

Fire Extinguishers for RV Refrigerators

[Sammie]

Originally Posted by Gary RVRoamer

I doubt if it would reach 200, even on a hot day.

A guy I know sells fire extinguishers for the fridge compartment. They are halon and he recommends placing them in the bottom and facing up. The halon gas rises for a bit, blanketing the entire coil area. I believe his unit triggers at 165 degrees, which is well below the combustion point of wood and paper.

Fire Extinguishers for RV Refrigerators

Thanks Gary, I do have the website for the fire extinguishers your talking about. Firefight1 Products
My theory is that if a fire starts, hot air rises so the best place for the actual trigger head would be at the top of the fridge, not the bottom. I'm still going to contact the company above and get their ideas as to the best place for installation. Being an old fire sprinkler fitter, we always installed the sprinkler heads in the ceilings of buildings which is where the heat collected during a fire.

Sammie

["007"]

You have a good question Sammie this picture shows a after picture of a fire most of the fire was in the upper reaches of vent area. If you notice the extinguisher link looks likes its still in place so it didn't help this fire, the heat was above it.


Someone had their 2nd recall done and he ask tech if installing a extinguisher above fridge would help and he said no would trigger extinguisher because its to hot in upper area. I think he's wrong.
The 1200's have the fans for cooling will have to check what temp triggers them.
Page # 31 cooling fans operate high 130* shut off 115* Note 130* is well below trip of a fire extinguisher plus air movement would keep upper vent area cool when drawing cooler air from bottom vent.
Not sure if there is a different link on extinguisher for higher temp setting that could be tried.
This thread there has been discussion on placements of fire extinguishers nothing has been settled yet.
This PDF has information on proper venting of refrigerators.

[Sammie]

I fired up the fridge on LP yesterday and then pulled my rig out in the sun today (fridge side facing sun). I then climbed up on the roof and pulled the vent cover off of the fridge so that I could see down inside from the top. The outside air temperture was 80 degrees F. Next I took my trusty laser thermometer and shot a temp reading down inside the vent. It read between 100 to 117 degrees with the fans running. This tells me that it could possibly go higher in the summer when outside temps reach 100 plus. There are several different temperature fusible links that can be installed on these extinguishers, I just want to be sure that the extinguisher doesn't fire off prematurely. More research is needed on my part before my installation.

Sammie

["007"]

If we had a wreck MH and stated a fire similar to fridge fire would make it easier for you.
I'd say your on the right track with extinguisher up above, the fire is going to be hotter than refrigerator generated heat.
Wonder if fire department could give a idea how hot fire would get?
If you can adjust with different links your on the right track, we'll keep looking.

[Harry B]

Sammy,

The 1200 fans turns on at 135 degrees. The thermal switch is located toward the top and attached to cooling tubing. It appears to me that it measures the temperature of the tubing instead of ambient temperature.

I am following this with interest as this is a concern I have as well. I would also like to remedy this situation.

[Gary RVRoamer]

Being an old fire sprinkler fitter, we always installed the sprinkler heads in the ceilings of buildings which is where the heat collected during a fire.

But ceilings in buildings don't have open vents at the top like the fridge cooling stack does.

[Sammie]

Originally Posted by Gary RVRoamer

But ceilings in buildings don't have open vents at the top like the fridge cooling stack does.

To a certain extent you are right Gary, but ceilings in buildings do have air conditioning supply and return air vents and in warehouses there are usually fresh air vents at the roofline. I'm only saying that once a fire starts, the hot air goes up, not down and the trigger fusible link for the fire extinguisher should be located between 6 and 12 inches below the inside ceiling.

Sammie

[a k]

Halon ext fires up because it's a gas. water sprinkler heads face down do to water falls gases rise.

[Sammie]

Originally Posted by a k

Halon ext fires up because it's a gas. water sprinkler heads face down do to water falls gases rise.

I've installed many halon systems in computer rooms where the actual sprinkler system heads used were installed in the ceiling. The halon containers were stored in a seperate room and then connected to the sprinkler heads with normal piping. When a fire is detected, the system trips and halon gas is discharged thru all the heads at once filling the entire room with the gas and extinguishing the fire. We had to test a halon system by setting a trash can on fire and allowing the system to trip. It was a pretty neat test to witness.

Sammie

[Sammie]

As an update to my fire extinguisher addition to the fridge area. I spoke with a guy named Jim at Firefight1 Products today, and he agreed that any installation of an automatic fire extinguisher should be at or near the top of the fridge where the heat will collect in the event of a fire. His SS-30 remote model extinguisher with a 286 degree trigger will be my choice.



I plan on mounting the bottle in my pantry area next to the fridge and then running the remote head thru the wall next to and behind the fridge near the top. I also told him to contact IRV2 if he wanted to promote his product as I think there will be a lot of other of you folks with a similar intrest in protecting your investment.

Sammie

["007"]

One question when the Halon gas comes out of sprinkler head will it have enough force to spray the gas down to mid point of vent area where fire may have started?
The heat of fire is going to force all heat and gas up through upper vent area.
Thanks for your input Sammie we need something because these band-aides, "recalls", will fail eventually.

[Tincup]

Wouldn't be appropriate to aim the extinguisher at the point of combustion? The fire will start at the bottom where the gas flame is and the electric heating element. I would want to put the fire out at it's point of origination, so, I'd mount it on the bottom.

I had the Norcold recall work done yesterday, the thermocouple is placed on the electric heating element at the bottom of the fridge, where the highest temps will be experienced, that's where I'd put the extinguisher.