Aldi - great deal on fire extinguishers - 1kg - $17

[greenMachine]

What bracket do they have?

One like the pic above?
Or a metal one with a manual catch of some kind?
...

... the mount that came with mine was a metal bolt-on bracket, with two quick-release over-centre clips. I reckon the bracket is worth more than $15!

[manga_blue]

manga_scarlet looked at one at Batemans Bay Aldi. It was stamped 2008 and the gauge showed it just on the margin of OK and recharge. As a scrutineer I would have failed it.

Then we checked one at Wollongong Aldi today and bought it at $14.99. It was stamped 2011, showed full charge, had AS1841 compliance, a full metal bracket with two metal straps around the body with two good strong clips. I felt the bracket was a much better one than on my current Chubb unit and I'll swap it in before Sunday's Supersprint.

The message is that if you find a recently made one with full charge for $14.99 then it's a very good buy.

CAMS requirements here: http://www.cams.com.au/Sport/~/media/A93A02630CAE4378916C5883C6C0A19B.ashx

[greenMachine]

From what Manga said (and Bounce above), it seems Aldi are mixing old and new stock. Looks like every couple of years they buy x thousand of these and put them on the shelves, together with any left over from the last time they sold them. Afer a few weeks they take any left off the shelves and put them away for the next time.

The take home message is to open the box and have a good look at what you are buying.

Not that this is rocket science - we always have a good look at what is in the box, don't we?

[greenMachine]

Rumour Central: You heard it here first

I was told today, by the person who was one half of the conversation, that a CAMS Technical Inspector (scrutineer) stated that the requirement for vehicles to carry a fire extinguisher had been abolished, though nothing was said about the date of effect of this change in policy.

I can't find anything on the CAMS website, and as I have a current extinguisher that I just have to put in the mount in the car, I won't be following this up, but I am putting this out there for anyone who is about to buy one, to do some checking first (assuming that if it is correct, you won't be getting (a new) one ...

If anyone can get any confirmation of this, or put it to bed as baseless, let us know here.



And no, this is not an April 4th prank.

[Suspense]

Just to add to the chorus of happy customers, I got one a couple of weeks ago from Chatswood Aldi, $15, metal clamps on a bolt on bracket, AS compliance sticker, 2011 manufacture date and full charge. Good bargain!

[Okibi]

...I was told today, by the person who was one half of the conversation, that a CAMS Technical Inspector (scrutineer) stated that the requirement for vehicles to carry a fire extinguisher had been abolished....

They are not required for non speed (social events) and race meetings. A race meeting should have a properly trained and equipped fire crew, if a driver in on the circuit trying to put out a fire then they risk getting hit by another car, getting burnt or making the fire worse because of their inexperience.

http://www.cams.com.au/Publications/Speedread/2012/March_2012/Technical_Bulletin.aspx

[deviant]

It is really only a change to give an 'out' for single seaters that really struggle for space to safely mount an extinguisher. Even for tuning days you would be silly to run without one...even just to use it to batter your way through a window to get out.

[greenMachine]

Thanks Okibi.

So you still need one for sprints, which presumably also includes track days (with timing) run under CAMS permits such as those run by the NSW Club, also Sandown/PI? I will keep one in the racecar in any event, as anything is better than nothing ...

I wonder if the scrutes will ping you for an out-of-date unit if the event doesn't require you have one (ie a race meeting)? Anyone taking bets ...

[bigdog]

As someone who was party to some of the discussions that took place about this rule change I can tell you that it had much more to do injuries and damage caused by extinguishers coming loose in crashes, and their almost total lack of effect on any significant fire. Having attempted to extinguish a trackside fire (loose fuel line on a fellow competitor's car on the cool down lap spilt fuel on his exhaust and up she went), three car mounted extinguishers did almost nothing, the fire marshals finally put it out with three full size extinguishers. Most single seaters have 2kg automatic fire bombs which are much more effective.

[bigdog]

I'm guessing the race exemption relates to the provision of trained fire marshals at race meetings, while many speed events lack this service, where something is possibly better than nothing.