27 May
2006
27 May
'06
2:02 p.m.
hi
There was a time when the chemical industry thought it was great
to be able to create chemicals that just didn't break down easily.
Freon and Halon were in this group.
No one thought that over time, this stuff would just be hanging
around until it did find a place where energies where high enough
to break it down. The ozone layer is just such a place. Ultraviolet
light from the sun splits all kinds of things apart. when it splits
up halon, it makes things that quickly react with the ozone that
also blocks the high energy ultraviolet from getting too far into
our atmosphere.
Someday they will learn. things that seem to last for ever are a
bad idea. That goes for things like DDT, freon and many types
of plastics.
Dwight
From: Brad Parker <brad at heeltoe.com>
"Chuck Guzis" wrote:
Given the topic of smoke, what do folks keep
around for fire
extinguishers
for their gear?
It's probably not pc (or even environmentally correct), but while racing
cars I started collecting small hand-held halon fire extinguishers.
Having used them a few times on engine fires (or grass fires caused by
oil spilling over hot manifolds) I can tell you they work extremely well.
The nice ting is they don't leave any residue to clean up. So I now
keep them around old machines, just in case.
I would think dry chemical bottle would make a huge mess.
I've still got a few big Halon-charged units
whose gauges say they're
fine,
but I know that Halon's a no-no because it
eats a hole in the sky. So
what's the current "safe" electronics fire extinguisher look like
nowadays?
I'd like to know too. I'm not ready to give up my halon bottles because
of the residue.
-brad