Fire Extinguishers

Hey, I was wondering if anyone may have a couple of old fire extinguishers that they woulld like to get rid of. I'm going to use them for air tanks on my Silverado. I'm putting in an air horn system. If youjust have one ,that would probably be okay too. I live in Vonore, TN, so if you live close that would be great.

Hey, I was wondering if anyone may have a couple of old fire extinguishers that they woulld like to get rid of. I'm going to use them for air tanks on my Silverado. I'm putting in an air horn system. If youjust have one ,that would probably be okay too. I live in Vonore, TN, so if you live close that would be great.

I honestly don't think a fire extinguisher or two will either be big or strong enough to handle the sort of pressure for air horns. I am not sure what type of air horns that you are talking about, but I am aware of some horns such as a Nathan P124 set that will eat a 20 gallon tank of air at 90 psi, in seconds. Granted, this is a three bell locomotive horn, but it is representative of what air horns will use.

In the event that you are working with locomotive type horns, any Nathan/Airchime P124 (P3) or K3LA type horn will use that sort of air, any 5-bell such as an Airchime K5LA or K5LL will eat that air faster. You need a good compressor, too.

Back in the day (when full-size custom vans were all the rage) it was common to use a recycled refrigerant cylinder as a reservoir for a twin air horn. They were cheap, small enough to mount under the vehicle, and had adequate volume for about 3-5 seconds of noise. Ford/Lincoln air ride compressors were almost impossible to find in salvage yards because of that.

about how many gallons did those old refrigerant tanks hold?

about how many gallons did those old refrigerant tanks hold?

About 3-5 gallons - are you seriously considering locomotive horns, and if so, what model?

You'll be a cop magnet if you blast locomotive horns on the street, but there's nothing like the sound of a P124 horn (think Southern Pacific) blasting - it sure gets people's attention.

Yes, I'd really like to have some, but I would like to find some older ones that still work or need cleaning. That way they will be cheaper. The problem with older ones is that it is hard to get them just like new. If some one had some that still worked like new that they would like to get rid of pretty cheap, then that would be great. The model doesn't really matter to me, but I would like to have either doubl or triple tone horns. If I need to go bigger with the tank then I can.

Real locomotive horns, used, are going to run you about $500-$1000, no matter how old they are. The P124 seems to be the least expensive among all of them ($500-$800), with the K5LA the most expensive ($2000).

My personal favorite is the P124 as it has a rather musical A-major tone (the K3LA is B-major).

Also keep in mind that all of these have serial numbers on them, some of the used ones MIGHT be stolen from the railroads, and railroad cops would like to check the serial numbers on any of them, if they encounter you.

I don't think that I would be able to spend that kind of money, I will probably have to settle with some cheapos unless I can find some that someone is giving away.