Originally Posted by Sasage
Excellent advice, and I very much agree. A Class K or "Purple K" extinguisher is only a few dollars more than an standard ABC, and is dramatically more effective with a grease fire. That is the statistically most common fire in a kitchen or used to be.
Sasage - stay safe.
To clarify: don't confuse Class K with Purple K. Class K is for grease fires, and works based on the interaction of the agent with the animal or vegetable grease. It's usually a wet agent, and is most often only rated for the Class K grease fires. Some have a dual AK rating, and I saw a little one on Amazon that claims "ABCK" but I didn't research it. Purple K is a dry chem agent which is optimized for petroleum fires. Purple K is more effective on petroleum fires than the BC or ABC agents, although all of them are somewhat effective.Excellent advice, and I very much agree. A Class K or "Purple K" extinguisher is only a few dollars more than an standard ABC, and is dramatically more effective with a grease fire. That is the statistically most common fire in a kitchen or used to be.
Sasage - stay safe.
Didn't see it mentioned yet but I would highly recommend a water extinguisher in addition to the standard ABC extinguishers. You can generally pick up a new one for around $75 off ebay, used ones for less than that. These can be serviced by the end user as long as you have a compressor/air source and would also add some dish soap to the water when filling up.
I keep the water can in the garage and then have 1 ABC on the 1st floor and 2 ABCs on the second floor.
Amerex and Badger are good brands, just make sure to stick with something that is able to be re-charged/has metal valve.
Dog Guy - thank you very much for the correction, I appreciate the info. Learning has occurred.
Thanks again, and stay safe.
When I was a heath inspector, I frequently saw kitchens with an excessive amount of grease behind and under stoves. I would write them up even though it was not a health violation. And then one day the biggest offender's kitchen had a grease fire that became a firestorm. So be careful about grease and keep any containers of used grease away from the stove. And ,yes, I said I told you so.
Got a chance to use one of my Amerex ABC 5lbs this weekend.
Looked out Kitchen window to see random (likely passerby cigarette butt induced) grass fire burning next to my shop building.
Grabbed 5lb unit form under sink ( the shop is locked so grabbing this one was faster than finding my keys to open the shop and get one form there ) ran down and got to work.
Dry chemical units don’t typically do well on 3 dimensional fires like grass but in this case it worked.
I wet the whole thing down with a hose after and shoveled through it.
Got the unit recharged the next day for $25
So. Yea. Get some fire killers and keep them handy.
Last edited by Duke; 02-26-2019 at 01:03 PM.
Disclaimer: I am not a fire fighter and have never used an extinguisher in real life.
I have a 2.5 gallon water extinguisher, that as mentioned earlier in thread, has some dish soap added to it per SME advice. I don't own an air compressor but I have a heavy duty 12V car tire compressor that clips directly to the battery terminals and it outputs 120 PSI. The water extinguisher requires 100 PSI so as long as your car tire compressor outputs at least 100 PSI, you should be able to use that. Don't fill it all the the way to the top with water because you need room for the air.
What I love about the water extinguisher is that I can fully self service it. Also, you can test it out in your backyard with virtually no cost or mess. You could refill it a dozen times over the course of 20 minutes and have everyone in your family drill using it a few times each, every 6 months. The Pull Aim Squeeze Sweep (PASS) method that you train on the easily self serviceable water extinguisher should carry forward to your more expensive, harder to service dry chemical or foam ones.
A garden hose could also be used to put out some fires if the hose is long enough.
Also, don't forget about non extinguisher methods of putting out a fire. I believe it may be possible to take a wool blanket off your sofa and use it as a fire blanket to smother a fire. Faribault Mills makes really nice Made In US wool blankets that are very comfortable with no scratchiness. Some are even machine washable. Wool is naturally flame retardant and this company makes beautiful blankets. I love the idea that I can have a beautiful, comfortable, Made in US blanket folded on my sofa that can serve a dual function as an emergency purpose. I wouldn't want to burn a $200 blanket intentionally, but the spread of the fire would cause more than $200 worth of damage.
Assuming the wool blanket could be used for a kitchen fire, then a calculation could be made of likelihood of a kitchen fire compared to cost of a dedicated ABC extinguisher and the cost of having it refilled every 1 to 2 years. The cost includes time driving to the place and waiting for it to get refilled. I'd estimate that at 1 hour of time plus whatever they charge you labor (maybe $20 to $50 I'd guess?). If there's a 1 in 100 chance of a kitchen fire than 99 times out of 100, your $200 wool blanket never gets ruined. But 1 time out of 100, it gets burnt. Versus a 100% chance you drop $100+ on a dedicated ABC extinguisher plus 1 hour of labor every 12 to 24 months and $20+ refill fee.
I'm not advocating that people shouldn't have ABC extinguishers on hand, but exploring the possibility of having a few easily self-servicable water extinguishers plus a few wool blankets lying around your house (one on sofa, one in each bedroom folded up). I'd be curious to hear from some of our Fire Fighter SMEs if that's a crazy idea.
I love the water extinguisher, and we use them a ton. That said, I wouldn't recommend one as your only or primary extinguisher in your house. Statistically speaking, your most likely location for a fire in your house is in your kitchen, and water and grease fire is a bad combination. You also can't use them on energized electrical equipment.
If you're getting your water extinguisher used, make sure to check the hydrostatic test date. IIRC they're good for 10 years. I bought mine at an antique fire muster, from a fire equipment dealer who hydro tested them before he sold them.
I think the wool blanket makes a nice plan B, but your financial calculation is a bit off. My 1A:10 BC in my kitchen is listing for $20 on Amazon. Extinguishers in commercial service are supposed to be serviced annually. For dry chemical extinguishers, they visually inspect the extinguisher, whack it a few times with a rubber mallet ( to keep the powder from caking) and put a new tag on it. Every 5? years they're supposed to be emptied and refilled, and every 10? hydro tested.
The non-serviceable ones they make for home use say they're good for 10 years, as long as the gauge still reads in the green.
'Nobody ever called the fire department because they did something intelligent'
The blanket concept is viable, but as you noted I wouldn't make that my primary plan. It's analogous to carrying an improvised tourniquet instead of a CAT: it may work pretty well if there's nothing better and it's a good substitute if you get caught short, but your plan should be to have the better tool and know how to use it. Knocking down even small fires can be surprisingly difficult, especially if there is anything three dimensional about them. Physically smothering a flat surface fire is way easier than smothering a fire around a knocked over trash can or on a stove with a couple of flaming pans. The blanket also forces you to get closer to the flames. You're more likely to knock something over and spread flaming material with the blanket, thus possibly contributing to fire spread. I like the water extinguishers for anything not flammable liquid or electrical and I think they're a great tool to have around. Just make sure kids or spouses know which extinguisher to use for the job at hand.
My mind tends to go towards the best, most expensive option such as commercial rechargable units. I hadn't considered getting some cheap $20 residential units and throwing them out every few years instead of recharging.
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