Servicing a SeaFire Automatic system

Just had mine serviced by Safety First in St. Augustine.
Marine Industry Association of Northeast Florida

Tell Shelli the owner I sent you.

Alex, Capt. M/Y HI-BANX

Fixed Fire Extinguisher Service

In my experience many folks who "service" thes eunits do little more than a visual inspection. Make certain that, before you contract with a firm to do this that they supply you with a description of what the will do. For instance will they unship and weigh the bottle, will they test the manual release cable, will they test the automatic shutdown system, will they ensure the original installation complies with the manufacturer's installation guidelines (many don't)?

Many such companies are oriented toward industrial, lamd-based or large commercial systems and thus don't understand yachts. Not saying the named firm does or doesn't, simply recommending you get a clear picture of what they will do before allowing them to do it. I've inspected many systems that had been inspected and tagged by seeming professional service firms that were in fact out out of compliance.

You might also call Sea-Fire for a recommendation.

I think seafire's are un-servicable and the only thing they check is the gauge on the bottle. They also should check the manual over-ride (obviously with the bottle disconnected.) and the engine shutdown aspect when the bottle goes off.

In response to Capt J, Sea-Fire units can be serviced in that they can be refilled provided the clean agent the unit uses is still available, and FM 200 is. FM 200 by the way is ideal in that it's designed for occupied spaces, which means it won't kill or injur occupants should it discharge while the space is occupied. I spend a lot of time in engine rooms; reason I prefer agents that are safe for occupied areas.

In response to Rcrapps, the bottle's volume should be appropriate for the volume of the engine room and no more. BTW, when measuting volume no deductions are made for any equipment except fuel tanks and as such there's already an element of overkill. And, the bottle volume/coverage area already includes a safety margin. Many folks mistakenly believe that more is better and from the perspective of extinguishing the fire that's correct, however, if you are relying on the agent to remain non-lethal, once the design concentration is exceeded this is no longer guaranteed. In short, avoid oversizing and stick with non-lethal agents like FM 200.

Your misunderstanding of how the chemical works is what will lead to your creating a dangerous condition.

FM200 and Halon do not work by "displacing oxygen." They break the chemical reaction that produces a flame. The amount required to suppress a fire is only around 6 to 7 percent by volume and that is why they are considered "safe" to use in an occupied space.

By adding more than is required you are eliminating one of the most important reasons for using FM200 or Halon rather than the much cheaper CO2 systems.

If you are going to go into the fire protection design business it helps to understand how the stuff works. And for Heaven's sake, don't go around advising other people how to use something you don't understand.