OK with your help I picked out a nice big extinguisher for my teenie apartment.<br><br>What now for the Soccermom Mobile? Should I get the same thing, a Kidde, I think, 10 pound extinguisher, rechargeable? The next smallest size was 4 pounds, which some said 5 pounds was the bare minimum.<br><br>Should I get the 4 pounder or the big one (I think it's 10 pounds, the one I have at home). Again, should I make it the rechargeable type?<br><br>Finally, there is a plastic ring that holds the pin onto the handle...does this have to be removed when taking it out of the packaging? THe pin appears to be able to slide freely (i.e. seems unsecure) if this ring wasn't in place. Will it break free when I yank the pin?

The plastic is a safety retainer. It will break when you pull the pin in use. I would get another 10 lb rechargeable. Try the home unit in your vehicle for accessability first of course. You might as well have the extra capacity. If you have to use one the other will be a natural backup until refilled. Using the same unit also insures familiarity, an asset in a stressful situation.

I know that with each two pounds you can attack a fire for only 9 seconds. In my car I have a fire extinguisher of two pounds in the reach of the driver and a backup in the trunk of four pounds.

I looked at that safety retainer again, I'm not sure if that thing will break, but I don't want to test it..cable ties, for their small size, are deceptively strong and impossible to break.<br><br>How do I mount this thing in the car? I have a Honda CRV.

every object not belted into a seat belt or something stronger becomes a missile when you get involved in a collision. Make sure that that 5 to 10 pound steel cylinder cannot whack you in the head when it goes air-borne. The front or back dash is flat out. I carry my 5 pounder on the floor in front passenger side and let my passengers deal with it. Of course I rarely carry any passengers. Figure, in a rear end collision, whatever is on your dash will be in your lap or face depending upon the force of the collision. In a head-on, anything in the backseat will be in your back or the back or your head. The stuff on the floor will at worst crush your feet. If you hit something with enough force to worry about that stuff on the front floor will be going through the fire-wall, hitting the engine as it is thrust through the firewall back at you while you helplessly hang on the shoulder harness pinned in place. Most likely your knees and femurs will be crushed as the dashboard tries to mate with the seat you are in. The fire-extinguisher rattling around at your feet will be the least of your concerns. OTH if you hang it conveniently on the frame piece by your left ear then it will definately go air-borne on a much smaller collision and crush your skull.<br><br>YMMV

Good info, and great points. Another factor to consider with the mounting is accessibility. If you have it zip tied and so secure that it delays getting the thing out when you need it, you might as well not carry one. Those extra few moments may mean the difference.<br><br>That said, I dont think I need to tell everyone that a car fire is extremely dangerous, and opening the hood will more often make the fire worse (more air), and that small extinguisher isnt going to do much for a full blown fire that will ensue by opening the hood. Most often the best bet is to just stop the car and run. I carry my extinguisher mostly for "other" incidents, and if my car catches on fire, most likely I'm running away. That's why I have car insurance.<br><br>

You should definitely mount any fire extinguisher you put in your vehicle. Having the thing rolling around is not only distracting, there's also the chance that it might roll somewhere where you can't find it when you need it. You should use a USCG approved mounting bracket for the extingsuisher. They're designed to be secure yet easy to use in stressful situations.<br><br>However, mounting a fire extinguisher in a vehicle can be a PITA. I work at a automotive testing facility, and corporate policy requires a fire extinguisher to be mounted in every test vehicle. The technicians here got so fed up with mounting brackets in test vehicles and then having to remove the brackets at the end of the vehicle's test life that they came up with a spiffy little trick.<br><br>Basically, what they do is mount the bracket to a piece of 3/4" plywood with 'handles' cut into the sides and ends of the wood. The extinguisher goes into the bracket, and an unused seatbelt goes through the slot 'handles' of the plywood. Voila, a nicely mounted fire extinguisher that won't roll where it isn't supposed to be, fly around in an accident, or hurt the resale value of your car. If you feel really ambitious, you can also mount a few mop handle-type spring clips on the plywood to hold road flares.<br><br>If my explanation is difficult to understand, just ask and I'll try and get a photo or two.<br><br>P.S. Don't zip-tie a fire extinguisher. Either to something, or the pin to the handle. It's just a bad idea.