Dave, I got a response from Safecraft on the foam vs halon question:
To our knowledge no direct data exists that compares agent quantities of
foam vs. Halon. This is primarily due to the fact that water/foam is
considered a local streaming agent and halon is generally classified as a
total flooding agent. This puts the agents is two separate classifications
which don't really have a comparison.
Recently the motorsports Safety Foundation Institute (SFI) has done testing
on engine fires with both agents. These tests were to determine discharge
capabilities of different manufacturers systems. Both foam and Halon were
tested, and were conducted with both 5 and 10 pound systems. Both agents
extinguished the fires. Halon was typically much faster in extinguishing the
fire - but both worked in the controlled test article.
We believe that foam can be an effective agent, but you consider that nozzle
placement is much more critical with foam. Water/foam must have direct line
of sight to the fire - halon being a gas - nozzle placement is not as
critical.
One thing to keep in mind is that water/foam has half the density as halon -
so the container for foam much be much larger for a given amount of agent.
Please feel free to contact me if you would like to discuss this further.
Regards,
Steven Baker
Safecraft Inc.
800-400-2259
sbaker@safecraft.com