M20J fire extinguisher mount

[blaine beaven]

When I bought my 78J the extinguisher was mounted on the floor in front of the back seat. Not an easy place to reach. 
 

I moved it to mount on the side of pedestal under the instrument panel in the passenger footwell. There is a structural tube of some sort running from the throttle quadrant area to the firewall. I used two adell clamps wrapped around that tube to attach the fire extinguisher bracket. 
 

It is not at risk of being stepped on, is out of sight, and I can easily reach it from the pilot seat. I’ll try to remember to take a picture next time I am at the plane. 

[natdm]

On 5/28/2024 at 3:27 PM, 201Mooniac said:

On my 1980 M20J, mine is mounted to the spar right in the middle, basically just above and behind the emergency gear system.  I can get it out of the bracket from my seated position though it isn't easy if the copilot seat is back.

Pictures maybe? Hopefully I can do the same in my K..

[201Mooniac]

1 hour ago, natdm said:

Pictures maybe? Hopefully I can do the same in my K..

I'm heading to the airport in a couple of hours and will try to remember to take a picture.

[blaine beaven]

[201Mooniac]

11 hours ago, 201Mooniac said:

I'm heading to the airport in a couple of hours and will try to remember to take a picture.

 

13 hours ago, natdm said:

Pictures maybe? Hopefully I can do the same in my K..

Here you go

 

[ArtVandelay]

If you ever choose to upgrade your panel, I would suggest you replace the defrost hoses while you have the panel disassembled.

[EricJ]

15 hours ago, blaine beaven said:

 

I'd be worried about that causing an injury to a passenger's shin or leg in turbulence.

[ArtVandelay]

I'd be worried about that causing an injury to a passenger's shin or leg in turbulence.

Yeah, it looks like he just screwed the mounting bracket to plastic, it’s not attached to the steel supports. That doesn’t seem like a secure solution.

[EricJ]

4 minutes ago, ArtVandelay said:

Yeah, it looks like he just screwed the mounting bracket to plastic, it’s not attached to the steel supports. That doesn’t seem like a secure solution.

Even if it is secure, it looks like somebody's leg can get bumped up there and hit that.

[blaine beaven]

Thanks for reminding me why I seldom share on this site…

It’s not screwed into the plastic; as noted above it’s mounted on the steel tube frame.

Defrost hoses are getting changed during the panel upgrade along with cleaning up the general rats nest of old wires. 

99% of my flights are by myself. When I do have a passenger, they are rarely sitting forward enough to be close to that extinguisher. It’s solidly mounted, so they would hit it in turbulence about the same as if they hit any other part of the plane. 

Please, drill into your spar and hide the extinguisher under your rear passenger’s legs, a far superior location…

[jetdriven]

There are really no good options for this, although the one at the spar is further away, and there are less passengers in the backseat than the front.  

[blaine beaven]

I’ve always thought something like this might be great:

https://elementfire.com

but I don’t know that they have FAA approval. Less space, less mess, just as effective? 

[EricJ]

2 hours ago, blaine beaven said:

I’ve always thought something like this might be great:

https://elementfire.com

but I don’t know that they have FAA approval. Less space, less mess, just as effective? 

They're like a pyrotechnic and once you start it you CANNOT stop it, and some of them run for quite a while.   They can be difficult to start and need both hands to continue striking it until it ignites.   They generate a lot of dust/smoke, too.    I would not want to try one inside a small cabin in an already stressful situation.   If you get the fire out you'll have a second emergency of what to do with the pyrotechnic and how to see and breathe.

They've gotten fairly popular for track days, where they're not a bad option since you're outdoors.

For confined spaces Halon and Halotron get recommended a lot, but still aren't very optimal.   Many/most airline cabin extinguishers are CO2, mostly so the extinguisher doesn't cause more problems than it cures. 

There aren't any optimal extinguishers for a confined space like a Mooney cabin, but the Halon or Halotron are arguably better choices than most.