Early Engine Bay Fire Detection

[macrafic]

There is a small amount of discussion on the forums re this topic. Would welcome more input/feedback. The question is, who has put some kind of fire detection into their aircraft (thermocouple, bi-metallic switch, thermistor, etc.)? Where did you place it (near the low pressure exhaust area?)? Have you hooked it up to one of the discrete inputs on an EFIS? Cost?

Just seems to me that there must be some relatively inexpensive solutions out there that we could leverage in our homebuilts. Seconds count in this situation.

 

[rv7charlie]

If you really want fast, try googling 'optical flame detector', 'photoelectric flame detector', 'optical flame sensor', etc.

Smoke will likely give lots of false positives & heat can be very slow to no detection, depending on where the sensor is located in relation to the fire.

Charlie

 

[simpkinsona]

Detection

I haven't had a fire in the engine compartment, but I've had fuel leaks, oil leaks, and in my cars I've had coolant leaks and transmission leaks as well as burning clutches and brake pads. IMO you will smell any of the above conditions immediately. I suppose knowing if the problem has developed into a fire would be useful, however the action to any of those events would include landing ASAP.

In other words I think you'll detect a fire as quickly with your nose as you will with a detector.

-Andy

 

[bret]

I brought up this question last year, http://www.vansairforce.com/community/showthread.php?t=140776&highlight=gopro&page=2

I like the quote from Ron:
So here's what you do. You build a little cage inside the cowling and wire it with a microphone that feeds into your intercom. Place a canary in the cage and, voila! When the canary stops singing...

 

[macrafic]

I brought up this question last year, http://www.vansairforce.com/community/showthread.php?t=140776&highlight=gopro&page=2

I like the quote from Ron:
So here's what you do. You build a little cage inside the cowling and wire it with a microphone that feeds into your intercom. Place a canary in the cage and, voila! When the canary stops singing...

Sweet Bret!

 

[goatflieg]

I brought up this question last year, http://www.vansairforce.com/community/showthread.php?t=140776&highlight=gopro&page=2

I like the quote from Ron:
So here's what you do. You build a little cage inside the cowling and wire it with a microphone that feeds into your intercom. Place a canary in the cage and, voila! When the canary stops singing...

Gee... what mine did that gem come out of?

 

[Bill Boyd]

low-tech

How about a cotton thread across the cowl exit area holding open a spring-loaded NC switch? Thread burns through, contacts close, light comes on.

Backup / cross-check with an exit air temp probe, in case thread gets old and weak, breaks when it shouldn't.

 

[Bevan]

Check out www.blazecut.com click on the link for "small enclosures".

Bevan

 

[Evolution10]

That Blazecut is very interesting for sure.

 

[rv7charlie]

You'd need to check on what they mean by a 'small enclosure'. I doubt that any application they're considering has the pressure/flow induced by 100+ mph airflow.

I think it's been discussed here before, that most fire suppression systems will have a really hard time being effective in such a high flow environment.

Charlie