Fire Suppression Systems

Lifeline was established in 1994, and soon became the leading manufacturer and supplier of on board fire suppression systems to the motorsport industry.

The first generation of systems produced by Lifeline were manufactured using Halon 1211 as the extinguishing agent; however, due to environmental pressures the manufacture of Halon ceased under the Montreal Protocol. Thus the race was on to devise an effective replacement for an extinguishing agent that had provided many years of valuable service. Lifeline took the pioneering route of introducing a lightweight, environmentally friendly, foam based extinguishant ZERO 2000.

Zero 2000 systems quickly became the accepted preference for competitors and industry alike but Lifeline did not stop its research and development program there. As soon as the chemical industry brought new gaseous products to market we tested, and tested, and tested! Ultimately this brought us to a new smaller and lighter range of clean agent gas systems and handhelds which we call Zero 360. The name relates directly to the panoramic qualities of the gas discharge which, due in main to our unique nozzle design gives a fire smothering gas cloud seeking out and suppressing fire in the hidden engine bay corners. A clear advantage over the foam based product. We now include 3M™ Novec™ 1230 in our Zero 360 range according to the application. This is defined as a clean agent by the USA EPA and other international accepting bodies and therefore identified as being non-toxic, non-carcinogenic and non-ozone depleting agents.

The latest development using the 3M™ Novec™ 1230 clean agent is the Zero ZERO extinguisher system. This capitalizes on a new high rate discharge nozzle and is designed specifically for single seat race and sports car users. The high performance of this design has enabled us to reduce the quantity of agent need to extinguish the FIA fire test to a miserly 1.5kg and therefore further reduce overall size and weight, items high on the car designers wish list.