I have 2 Fire Extinguishers at home. One expensive one for serious situations, the other much cheaper one is to put out not-really-dangerous fire's, when i'm "playing" with small fire's and testing stove's. Just to prevent mine equipment from having burn damage. But otherwise totally safe on a concrete slab. (Tossing water isn't really handy on liquid fuels.)

To mine suprise mine cheaper fire Extinguisher (ABC powder, 1,5 year since manufacture, EC certified), well worked today, but not really like it should. I had to use the cheap one to prevent damage to a stove. So i used the PASS methode: Pull (the safety pin/tab), Aim, Squeeze and Sweep. Well actually not Sweep, 2 very short burst was enough... But not when i squeezed. The extinguisher sprayed , when i pulled the safety tab up (which supposed to be, just "safety off"). Which really shouldn't since it's suppose to spray when i squeeze. The extinguisher also kept sissing slightly afterwards. Which basically means it was losing pressure, also something it shouldn't. Which is also quite wastefull, since there was plenty of powder left, for playing... ahem.. i mean practice. Now i have to buy a new one. Ohw... well it only cost 6 or 7 euro's. I will bring it to work friday and let mine co-workers check it out(i work at a firedepartment).

So mine question, any other person here had a fire extinguisher fail or work diffrently than it is suppose too? Alright, a extinguisher not working at all isn't a totally unknown thing. It happens more often, especially with age and bad maintinance. But how often do they work diffrently, than it is suppose too?

What brand and type of exthinguisher did you use?



That's the reason they advise you to get it refilled and recertified after every use. I't shouldn't do that, but just to be sure...

Something I do every 4/5 moths is to flip all the powder-exthinguisers upside down and tab the bottom and sides with a rubber-hammer to make sure the powder hasn't clotted (??) (and check the safety-pin,momometer,etc. Of course, you can't do that with a CO2 one. (you'll have to weigh that one)

And another thing: why use a powder-exthinguisher for 'practice'? It gives a terrible mess! (as you probably already found out) Why not a CO2 or foam?

I do know that once a pin/handle is pulled, the best thing and only thing to do is to have the extinguisher serviced. I teach shop and as I tell my students, the fire extinguisher is not to put out fires but to blow a hole through the fire to allow someone to escape the flames. I realize that most people do use a Fire extinguisher to put out a fire (I would too), but the students love to play with fire extinguishers (for some unknown reason). That is why I don't let them mess with them, in case we actually need them. Our fire plan is to get out of the building and take cover in a ditch to keep shrapnel/blast wave from hitting us. We have about 5-10 cylinders of oxygen, acetylene, CO2/argon, and propane in the shop at all times. I will try to get the tanks out if possible but I will not jeopardize my students lives over them.

A couple of years ago a scented wax burner my girlfriend was using shattered, and the wax poured out of the pot onto the electric burner that heated the wax. The wax quickly caught fire and poured onto the floor. I grabbed the extinguisher, and she called 911. I was able to stop the fire, but I was a little worried about the possibility of the fire re-catching so I didn't call 911 back to stop the fire department from showing up. I needed their expertise on this one.

Anyway, after using the extinguisher it continued to hiss a little. I asked a fireman about this and IIRC he said that quite a number of the cheaper fire extinguishers on the market, especially the "One use Only" disposable extinguishers, are meant to bleed off all of the left over propellant after the safety tab is broken.

I can't remember why he said they did this.

"... flip all the powder-exthinguisers upside down and tab the bottom and sides..."

For years our patrol vehicle had powder filled extinguisers in the trunks, and what we did was tap the bottom on the ground a couple of times right before using it. Seemed to work, I never had one fail to squirt powder everywhere...

A firefighter trainer a few months ago informed us that the old 'percussive maintainance' or flipping extinguishers isn't required anymore with modern extinguishers. I had a small, cheap one that sat unmoved for 5 years work just fine for practice. That's just one data point, but I wouldn't worry much about maintainance for modern ones.

Jason

My understanding is that a dry chemical extinguisher must be serviced after every discharge regardless of the amount of powder emitted. This is because the powder gets in the valve and prevents it from making a gas tight seal. You have to let the pressure out, clean the valve, put it back together with new dry chemical and then repressurize it. At least this is according to the extinguisher guy i talked to once while he was inspecting ours at work.

well i'm fully aware of the service intervals, to service it after use and what to check every now and then. And the hissing afterwards isn;t such a huge problem. I'm just used to the bigger more pricy ones, that don't hiss.

The main problem is the diffrence in operation. The safety tab somehow worked like the discharge lever...

I assumed that the quickie/cheap extinguishers are not to be recharged, but just discarded after use. So, if the pressure slowly vents off it is to prevent it from causing problems in the trash after it is thrown away.

Or is there a more proper way to discard the used extinguisher?

The only thing I might add to the fire extinguisher thoughts are that if you have never actually used one to put out different types of fires, you might look for an opportunity to practice.

The first time I actually used one was an experience that made me purchase a few larger capacity, professional quality ones for my boat and home, which are now serviced regularly. It wasn't a disaster, but, it could have been if we didn't have a garden hose available... lets just say there was some burning grease/napalm, a rubber supply hose that apparently doesn't handle heat well, and a propane grill involved, it wasn't pretty.

If you're not a trained fire professional (and I'm not), you might be surprised when you try to attack various types of "small" fires. Our local FD periodically will run some public demos and training, and one of the most "popular" events is trying to put out various fires with home style fire extinguishers. The really funny ones (only funny because it's a controlled environment) are when someone "puts out the fire", then turns to walk back to the group and it reignites behind them...

Practice is right! In our CERT fire suppression training, it was amazing how hard it was to get the fire out at times. Sometimes the fire flared UP big time when we thought we were giving good coverage with the PASS technique. Then there was the time someone attacked the fire too low to the ground and managed to blow the flaming liquid right out of the pan and onto the ground. Even if you aren't practicing with a real fire, it's good to know what the powder is going to do when you squeeze the lever. IMO it is worth the $10 for the practice extinguisher.

From what a fireman told me, ALL fire extinguishers are one-use.

If the head is metal, it's probably refillable, and it should be refilled by a professional after any discharge (the fire dept can recommend one). If any part of it is rusty or corroded, they probably won't refill it.

The ones with the plastic heads aren't refillable; if the tank is aluminum, take it to a recycling facility. If it's made from anything else, send it to the dump.

Sue

Well no, commercial extinguishers for home use generally are one-use, but the heavy duty industrial once's can be refilled, many many times and will last for many years.

Fire extinguishers are checked every year and every some years they will be empyted and hydro tested (to check it's pressure risistance). Than dryed and refilled. There have been 2 cases where a extinguisher tank failed and killed the user, because of hidden rust. I think it was hidden behind the rubber protective foot on the bases of those extinguishers, where water would collect...