Talk:Halon

how these chemicals stop fires
Can someone explain how these chemicals stop fires? --mike dill

I don't know the chemistry behind the compound. But I believe this chemical works by cutting off two major components of the combustion process. When the halon is released and decompressed, it cools the fire. Since the compound is inert and it replaces the air surrounding the fire, it suffocate the fire by cutting off the oxygen supply.

If the halogens combine with Hydrogen, how does that deprive the fire of feul? Does it not block the O2 from getting to the fire? Is it heavier than air and therefore the O2 rises. And again, how does Hydrogen affect the combustion process?


 * Try that now. Hope it's clearer. Securiger 15:35, 15 Apr 2004 (UTC)

Merge request
Cacycle suggested the following merge: Freon, Halon, CFC, and Hydrochlorofluorocarbon and added to Alkyl halide. I agree with merging Freon, CFC and hydrochlorofluorocarbon; these are all synonyms. I am doubtful about adding them to Alkyl halide, though (which is a much more general topic) and disagree with merging them with Halon (which is a different, albeit somewhat related, topic). The Halon article, for obvious reasons, concentrates ont he application of these materials in fire-fighting. It is, in my opinion, a pretty good article if still well short of featureable status (disclaimer--I wrote quite a bit of it) with the main defect at present being lack of discussion of the search for alternatives. Adding in a lot of irrelevant information about freons and refrigeration would destroy the structure and enhance neither article. Certainly EB thinks halons and freons are worth separate articles. Securiger 18:33, 3 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Halon, freon... are only trade names for certain alkyl halides that are also available under many, many other names. The idea is to merge the common properties in one article - alkyl halide. Their refrigerant and fire extinguishing agent properties should go into the respective (new) articles as might their ozone depletion properties. It makes no sense to have the same information for more or less identical compounds repeated and cluttered over dozens of articles. Cacycle 08:52, 4 Apr 2005 (UTC)

What about moving Halon to fire retardant gas or fire retardant so that this good article can be kept. Cacycle 11:44, 5 Apr 2005 (UTC)


 * Erm - why not just leave it where it is? These materials are universally known as halons, and "fire retardant gas" could include almost any non-oxidizing gas. Securiger 13:15, 7 Apr 2005 (UTC)


 * BTW, it would probably be a good idea to avoid trademarked names in article titles if there is more than one manufacturer. However, my information is that unlike "Freon", "Halon" is not a trademark. -- Securiger 18:45, 8 May 2005 (UTC)

Edit Request
as far as I know, haloalkanes or halogenoalkanes do not include just any hydrocarbons like methane and ethane, but only hydrocarbons with one or more halogens in them (F, Cl, I, Br), such as chloroflurocarbons, or flurohydrocarbons. I suggest this part is edited because even though afterwords it is stated that these alkanes must include halogens in their structure, it is confusing to mention the names of the alkanes methane and ethane, since they refer to specific molecules (that are NOT haloalkanes) rather than functional groups or building blocks of more complex molecules (such as haloalkanes)

are all halons suitable for fire suppression ?
The page suggests that they are, but the individual articles do not. My chemistry stops at H2O but from scanning the articles it appears that some of the Halons would not be appropriate for fire suppression.

Also, I understand that "Halon" is not allowed for fire suppression anymore (re: the Montreal accord etc. ). But which Halon does that refer to? Are any of the Halons still allowed for this purpose?

Leotohill (talk) 02:58, 24 March 2009 (UTC)

Haloalkane fire extinguishing systems is a bad link
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haloalkane#Fire_extinguishing

First of all the article linked doesn't use the word "halon" once. Secondly there's no section called "fire_extinguishing" so the link is useless. The merger seems like it was a bad idea. StarkRG (talk) 19:20, 15 October 2009 (UTC)

Minor meaning
Halon also refer to a character from Heroes of Might and Magic. --Bringback2ndpersonverbs (talk) 22:33, 27 March 2018 (UTC)