Preventive Fire Check!

[Guest]

History Commands

[January 04, 2009, 07:18:08 AM] edwin .s.nathan: I live in a tropical country ie malaysia.Need to install air conditioning.Any idea on where to put the vents

[January 05, 2009, 10:21:13 AM] BusManVW70: Hello everyone Im new to the site and I have just added some pictures of my 1970 VW Camper his name is Fred enjoy..

[January 06, 2009, 10:03:55 AM] Jamesbehave: oh man

[January 06, 2009, 10:04:11 AM] Jamesbehave: talk about brain dead

[January 06, 2009, 10:04:22 AM] Jamesbehave: read my post

[January 06, 2009, 10:18:51 AM] JimmyD\'s: 1977 vw camper wont start HELP

[January 06, 2009, 10:19:09 AM] JimmyD\'s: her name is lucy

[January 06, 2009, 11:22:28 AM] Jamesbehave: whats going on

[January 06, 2009, 11:40:04 AM] JIMMYD: i have two shitty batteries I have been taking turns on trickle charges. So I put the fresh good battery in and she tries but

[January 06, 2009, 11:40:39 AM] JIMMYD: she won't flip. I've checked all the fuses.... rolled her back.

[January 06, 2009, 11:41:05 AM] JIMMYD: Found an old allman brothers ticket

[January 06, 2009, 11:42:02 AM] JIMMYD: the starter has always seemed fine.... no problems

[Recycle]

Hey all, I am very sad to say, the guys over @ www.mykin.com  emailed me the other day and explained they were down in Grants Pass @ a hotel due to the fire they had in their bus. It started in the engine compartment and took the whole bus down to the ground... Hard to say what exactly ignited, could have been fuel line, could have been extremely overheated. They were on there way up to my area to meet up when just outside of Grants Pass they were hitting some heavy hills, it started to slow down to a slow roar and they smelled smoke and well... You can picture it from there I'm sure... I drove down Tuesday night and slept the night and we got up Wednesday morning and I put them up for a night here at my house. Then today I took them to Portland today, where they will be figuring things out, perhaps taking a flight back to sort things out. We stopped at the site http://blog.mykin.us/2006/08/16/picking-up-the-pieces/ where the incident took place, my bus could feel the agony, of Grimolda's remains littered on the side of the road. We found a bit of the engine and a few other pieces, but for the most part she was completely destroyed. It's a total bummer, and I wish it would or could have been prevented. Though we should move on and learn, and consider all the great things that we have and cherish each day. When we got in my bus I had to show Mike and Scott my Fire Extinguisher that is mounted under the drivers side dash. All Mike had to say was, "You should get a bigger one!" Ha! He is in good spirits, and he is taking it as well as you may expect. Scott was a bit weary to get back into a bus, allthough I think it faded as I was cruising along fairly well up the hills. You can read more about this and see some pics over at there blog.


Ill list the topics in order here-

• http://blog.mykin.us/2006/08/15/grimolda-you-will-be-missed/
• http://blog.mykin.us/2006/08/16/in-retrospect/
• http://blog.mykin.us/2006/08/16/picking-up-the-pieces/
• http://blog.mykin.us/2006/08/16/warning-not-for-the-faint-of-heart/

So please all members check your fire preventive measures http://baywindowmafia.googlepages.com/kombifireprevention and make sure you have them in place before you drive.

• NEW FUEL LINES
• FIRE EXTINGUISHER (Make sure you can grab it, and you know where it is.) (It's not in the closet under all your camping gear is it?)
• A glove or pot holder to open the Engine compartment.

[Schmoburger]

Alas.. time and again it continues to happen...

Good start there , but unfortunately replacing the fuel lines will not by any stretch of the imagination ensure a bus will not go up in flames... but it certainly helps anyway.

It seems timely that I should post the link to my rather in-depth article on preventing Kombi's from going up in flames... so here is the link to the tech article on BWM.

http://baywindowmafia.googlepages.com/kombifireprevention

Not to seem pushy or blunt... but I have to say right now.... IF YOU OWN AN AIRCOOLED VW, READ THE BLOODY THING AND READ IT GOOD!!!

As you'll see bad fuel lines are only the tip of the Kombi fire iceberg....

This article will be appearing in VWMA magazine in November for those members of LMB residing in Australia.

[landboat]

wow that really sucks! very sad i as well as my family were  are so rooting for zach an mike we are my kin members as well. dont even know what to say ..... 

[Recycle]

Alas.. time and again it continues to happen...

Good start there , but unfortunately replacing the fuel lines will not by any stretch of the imagination ensure a bus will not go up in flames... but it certainly helps anyway.

It seems timely that I should post the link to my rather in-depth article on preventing Kombi's from going up in flames... so here is the link to the tech article on BWM.

http://baywindowmafia.googlepages.com/kombifireprevention

Not to seem pushy or blunt... but I have to say right now.... IF YOU OWN AN AIRCOOLED VW, READ THE BLOODY THING AND READ IT GOOD!!!

As you'll see bad fuel lines are only the tip of the Kombi fire iceberg....

This article will be appearing in VWMA magazine in November for those members of LMB residing in Australia.

Thanks Shmo for the article, well done. It says alot about preventive fire maintenance. Perhaps adding a glove or something near the fire extinguisher to open a hot deck lid would be good to add to the article.

[Schmoburger]

mmmmmm.... yeh mate... I have been of divided somethingorother about the glove... it certainly is a good idea to prevent injury from a hot engine lid!

That said tho, the mere act of opening the engine lid can turn a little fizzer of a fire into an infrno in seconds as an inexhaustable source of oxygen becomes freely available from the open hatch. 

But I suppose for a carby fuel line fire, we arent left with much aof an alternative really.

EIther way... it is not an ideal situation. fighting the fire through the intakes (only really effctive with Halon or CO2 extinguishers) is unfortuanatrely far less efficient with reguards to flame coverage, however it also helps to stifle the fire.... i have seen a bus burn with the engine lid closed for quite a while...in fact, it burned forquite a few minutes before the firies arrived, and still came out relatively intact (tho unrepairable without spending serious money)... even the back of the poptop somehow survived.

if the lid is opened however, and you are not ready to jump on the fire like a ton of bricks, it vcan be totally engulfed within a couple of minutes, and come out looking like the MyKin bus.

thats why its best to just stop fires happening hehehe...

Anywho.. I'll maybe at that glove bit in sometime soon anyway mate.. dont suppose it can hurt anything if somebody is going to open the engine bay anyway.

CHeers!

[Recycle]

Yah, you know I kinda thought of it myself the fact of opening the deck lid would let oxygen in. But as you said, fighting it thru the vents would be very difficult. I think you really have to atack it as fast as you can, or your gonna be screwed. So opening it might be the best solution. But if gas is spewing all over, it really doesnt matter what you have its gonna burn? Dont yah think?

[Schmoburger]

Yah, you know I kinda thought of it myself the fact of opening the deck lid would let oxygen in. But as you said, fighting it thru the vents would be very difficult. I think you really have to atack it as fast as you can, or your gonna be screwed. So opening it might be the best solution. But if gas is spewing all over, it really doesnt matter what you have its gonna burn? Dont yah think?

Yep... that is indeed the case.. the sad fact is, no matter how big your extinguisher or how quick you are.. you will NEVER be able to put out a burning VW until the supply of petrol feding the flames has been exhausted. whilst a fire has heat oxygen and fuel it will continue to burn, and it is impossible to remove either oxygen or heat completely, especially whilst it is in flames.

ANother fact is that a bus will in most cases continue to burn until the tank is dry due to gravity feed from the high mounted tank... unless the fuel supply can be shut off...

This is why the Schmo, resident fire-nazi plans to place a simple tap underneath the fueltank in the lower rear bulkhead, inside his bu under the rocknroll bed. Instead of the fuel tank outlet line running directly to the fuel pump from the tank, it will be routed instead through this simple tap. In the unlikely event of a afire, one can simply dive under the back seat and twist the tap closed, therefore effectively shutting of the major source of fuel to the fire as early in the plumbing as possible.

This means that the tank will not continue to drain all over the flames, so one can then relatively safely fling open the engine lid and blast the flames with an extinguisher which will now be effective, cos as soon as all the fuel vapour has been exhausted, needless to say, the fire will remain out. 

I will put instructuions for doing this up when i have tried it myself... i am not oine to preach what i have not practiced hehehe.

Anywho... im gonna see if i can get these pics of BC to post properly! 

Cheers!

[Recycle]

That's an excellent idea.

[Wizzard]

My condolences on Grimolda . I , too , am a member of mykin .
That not only is tragic but extremely sad .
If anyone out there has an extra bus they can donate to the bros , that would really be a wonderful thing to do for those nice peeps .
Best regards,

[sluggo]

I hate to say this.  But I said to them several times to take those (2) filters out of the engine compartment.  Especially that little plastic one.  The #2 cause of ACVW fire (#1 being old hoses).  Just the worst possible place.  Glad they are okay.  Hopefully this won't turn them off to Busses.

[Dj:Eep]

 

That was a beautiful bus!  I got my filter the heck outta the engine compartment and stuck it over the trans when i replaced the heads a few months ago.

[McT]

Thats tragic news. Lucky the guys got out in one piece- Ive been following the whole adventure and am very sad that it has come to a standstill for them.

My condoleances to Miike and Zach.

[steve]

first ,real sorry to hear of the fire, i had a 59 bus years ago, that came from nm. that caught fire was atotal loss but no one hurt. i live in the notheast ,western maine to be exact ,am looking for a bus before 66. not many around up here thanks also nice forum  might stick around

[Wizzard]

Hey Steve ,
Welcome to Love My Bus . We all hope you do decide to stick around .
Best regards,

[Schmoburger]

Gday Steve.. to LMB... good idea to stick around cos these guys are maximum PHUN!! :g6:

Cheers!

Teh Schmofather