>In a message dated 3/31/05 9:29:13 AM Eastern Standard Time, Taobythesea
>writes:
>
>
>>  In fact, now that I am thinking of this, I believe there would probably
>>  have been MORE
>>  damage to the interior of the van with a metal lid
>>
>
>not true.   in your kitchen, is your area surrounding your kitchen stove
>damaged by heat from using the burners?   no..   the heat from the
>lid wont burn
>your interior.  the flames wont pass thru the lid.   its the flames that burn
>the interior.
>while it appears that the composite fiberglass lids have held up in some
>fires, i have seen some that they have not held up in, and that was
>reason enough
>for me to run a metal one.
>
>another reason i did it, was that if i ever want to do a engine conversion in
>the future, a metal lid is easier to modify/weld  than the composite one is.

When the metal lid gets hot enough for flashover the paint on it will
ignite, unless it first chars to the point where the organics are
gone.

If it does ignite, it may well set items above the lid alight.

In a camper the bedding avove the lid may catch even with a steel
lid, though lack of air might keep things from getting too warm.

In an empty van or bus the steel lid will definitely be better...
even if the paint burns, it won't rapidly touch-off the whole van.
--
Andrew Grebneff
Dunedin
New Zealand
Fossil preparator
<andrew.grebneff@stonebow.otago.ac.nz>
Seashell, Macintosh, VW/Toyota van nut

HUMANITY: THE ULTIMATE VON NEUMANN MACHINE

DEMOCRACY: RULE BY THE LOWEST COMMON DENOMINATOR