This summer we are going to sacrifice a perfectly good fire extinguisher. I'm going to start a fire in our fire pit and let my wife put it out, and if there is enough of a charge left in extinguisher, start another fire and let my neighbor's wife put it out.
Talking about how to do something is great, actually doing it makes it a bunch easier to remember.
I was into 10mm Auto before it sold out and went mainstream, but these days I'm here for the revolver and epidemiology information.
Yes they do expire but yours should be good. They CAN last for 5-10 years but people tend to just buy them and leave them alone. Most are filled with powder and the powder can sink or collect at the bottom over a long period of time. Also the seals can go bad in them preventing them from being able to discharge.Originally Posted by Rich_Jenkins
Good thread.
I just looked at what we have here in the trailer. It's a First Alert 5-B:C.
Couple questions?
Do these have an expiration? My RV was made July 15, so I'm guessing it's original.
I'm thinking of getting at least two more. Is a 5-B:C ok for auto use too?
Commercial businesses are required to get theirs inspected yearly by licensed companies. To avoid the costs for a homeowner, they can simply check the pressure gauge periodically and shake the extinguisher. A rubber mallet on the bottom works even better.
Another issue I've seen is people have extinguishers but do zero maintenance. They discover a small fire in their house and grab the extinguisher only to find out it doesn't work.
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"Shooting is 90% mental. The rest is in your head." -Nils
I get that. It just never could find a readily accessible place to mount one in my vehicles. I did have to borrow one from a bus to put out a fire in my engine compartment. It obviously I wAs able to get out to do that.
I should probably put more thought into this than I do, considering one of my stoves is literally in flames every time it gets used, and I use it on an unserviced island with no running water.
I do keep fire extinguishers everywhere that's relevant (most particularly on the boat, where a fire would be terrifying and easily fatal, since the only place to escape it is water that's currently about seven degrees above freezing).
But I haven't always been especially good about getting them re-certified or whatever. I will take this thread as a good reminder to go get them all checked and maintained or whatever.
This is a thread where I built a boat I designed and which I very occasionally update with accounts of using it, which is really fun as long as I'm not driving over logs and blowing up the outboard.
https://pistol-forum.com/showthread....ilding-a-skiff
We have an extinguisher mounted right next to the stove and right next to the panel box where I would flip the circuit breaker for the stove before I did anything else.
Great thread!.
I am a technical trainer for Viega. One of the products/services we offer is NFPA 13D residential fire sprinkler systems. Statistically, most residential fires start in the kitchen. However, the greatest number of deaths are from fires that start in living rooms, dens and bedrooms - places where people sleep. Once a fire starts and finds fuel (like window curtains), air temperature rapidly accelerates to lung-burning levels;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3JlcgqmKlI
Scary stuff - smoke detectors and fire extinguishers are vital in-house gear.
I recall hearing that RIGHT next to the stove may not be good, you may not be able to reach it in case of a severe fire.
I went to visit family years ago. New place, Id never been there. They had a room for me in the basement. No lights near the bed. I found a candle and pad of note paper by the phone to set it on for a light while I got undressed and in bed. Long drive,....woke up to the table, phone and wall on fire. Ran up two flights of stairs,...banging on dads door, hear him asleep asking his wife who was knocking on the door,.....get him to the door "Wheres the fire extinguisher?" "Why?"......"Theres a fire in the basement, wheres the fire extinguisher?"...."What?" "I NEED a fire extinguisher, where is it?" "In the closet downstairs." "Which closet?" "In the back hall" (theres 4 doors in the back hall, in a house Ive never been in before). "SHOW ME!" stumble down stairs, opens door, shows me extinguisher, I put fire out. Chip at the wood wall with Randall knife to be sure its not got embers in it. Fire Dept shows up and makes sure its all out and under control.
Since then, every bedroom in dads house has had a fire extinguisher in it behind the door, one in the kitchen, garage, and basement, as has all my houses/cabins, if not more than one. Keep one or more in each vehicle also, and kept a couple on my job sites when building houses.
Coming home once, I saw vehicles stopped, smoke coming out from one. We were at least 5 miles from anything, if not more, maybe 10 from the nearest fire department, and in bad cell area. Neighbor comes to my window, "Do you have a fire extinguisher? I used mine and its till going" There was flames coming from the rear diff of some ladys SUV. Never seen or heard of such a thing. He got it out. The fire department showed up after a while, not sure how far the vehicle would have burned by then if it hadn't been put out. Another friend said they were coming back from The Big City once when they spotted a vehicle fire. People running around panicking. Their son got out with their extinguisher and shot it under the hood and put it out.
Good tip on banging them with a rubber hammer. Mine show good on the gauges, but I should buy some fresh ones.
Last edited by Malamute; 04-08-2017 at 07:25 PM.
I actually keep the car one as a Samaritan aid (drive by a burning car maybe with people trapped in it) and/or for camping emergencies. It's in the hatchback so unlikely it would be used by me for my own car.
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State Government Attorney | Beretta, Glock, CZ & S&W Fan
As a 29 year fire fighter, a few observations on extinguisher use:
Any sort of dry chem extinguisher used on Class A fires may do well at initial knock down, but be very wary of reignition. They do well at disrupting the flame, but do nothing to cool the material. Don't let your guard down until the material has been thoroughly cooled.
Car fires can be tricky since they are often 3 dimensional. The dry chem will hit 90% of the fire but miss a little flame hidden behind some car component and as soon as you let up on the trigger, it all comes back. If you have more than one extinguisher, consider hitting the fire from two directions simultaneously. I had a mine rescue instructor describe a fire that started in the engine of a big haul truck. The people on scene went through 20 extinguishers one after another and ended up watching the rig be destroyed. His opinion from the AAR was that two or three extinguishers used from the front and both sides together would most likely have knocked it out before it got uncontrollable.
A Class B extinguisher on a kitchen oil or fat fire is probably going to work on a residential scale fire, but watch for reignition. The Class K extinguishers use a different process to kill the burning liquid than what the usual dry chem uses. The problem is that Class K is often only rated for kitchen oil/fat fires. If it doesn't also have a rating for Class A and/or B, it might not have much use outside of a stove top grease fire. They're really intended for deep fryers or commercial cookers where you have a lot of heat retention due to the volume of the liquid.
If you plan on having any sort of water extinguisher for RV or camping use, be sure it's freeze protected.
Don't get any closer than you absolutely have to. I've watched people being trained and it's amazing how often they keep walking forward as they squeeze the trigger, even after the instructor mentions it.
I had to do all the inspections of our fire extinguishers when I was a Director of Maintenance. I will share what I remember because my info is on another computer which I think is dead.
From memory, this is the inspections I performed.
MONTHLY-
1) Visually inspected body, valve, gauge and tube for damage or deterioration
2) Check that lock pin can be easily removed. Reinstall pin with new breakaway tie
3) Inspected nozzles for any kind of blockage
4) Initial and date monthly inspection sticker
ANNUALLY-
1) All of the above
2) Check gross weight of extinguisher and record
3) If a rechargeable extinguisher, check for date of last hydrostatic check. First hydrostatic check is due 12 years after manufacture. (I believe it's every 6 years after that)
4) Update annual inspection tag
Non-rechargeable extinguishers don't need hydrostatic checks, but I believe they are no longer serviceable after so many years. I don't remember what that interval is.
The weight of the extinguisher, including minimum and maximum allowable variance, should be marked on one of the labels or engraved on the body
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