Fire safety/Fire extinguishers - what to buy etc

[Phil Pascoe]

Even smoking cigarettes takes 30/40 years of doing it constantly to end up with chronic issues.

I was serving a dozen or so newly qualified doctors in a bar one night (20 years ago) and commented that I was surprised most of them smoked. They said it was fine, it did no harm so long as you gave up by the time you were thirty.

 

[The_Yellow_Ardvark]

Back in the day (re Henniep, above), the foam agent on HM ships, in a yellow drum with a pierceable lid IIRC was ox blood!

Plus it worked well.
FB5X and FRB10X

 

[Chubber]

Plus it worked well.
FB5X and FRB10X

Whale Island NBCD Instructor's Course?

 

[The_Yellow_Ardvark]

Whale Island NBCD Instructor's Course?

That and the famous Fire ship HMS Bristol.

 

[Superduner]

I seem to remember that when I worked in a refinery in the Middle East they had to use a special fire fighting foam as the normal stuff was made of pigs' blood (a no-no for Muslims, of course)

 

[The_Yellow_Ardvark]

I seem to remember that when I worked in a refinery in the Middle East they had to use a special fire fighting foam as the normal stuff was made of pigs' blood (a no-no for Muslims, of course)

From 1979 Oe blood foam agents were to be phasd out. The Armed forces used up stock.
They new agent is commonly called AFFF.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I seem to remember that when I worked in a refinery in the Middle East they had to use a special fire fighting foam as the normal stuff was made of pigs' blood (a no-no for Muslims, of course)

I remember reading that a problem at the time of the Indian Mutiny was that beef fat and pork fat were used in the making of shells so offending both Muslims and Hindus.

 

[Chubber]

That and the famous Fire ship HMS Bristol.

...Amazon's Tyne uptake fires were my r
first real '.. baptism of fire'.

 

[The_Yellow_Ardvark]

...Amazon's Tyne uptake fires were my r
first real '.. baptism of fire'.

eeeeeek

 

[Dabop]

One thing to watch out for is with the dry powder ABC rated fire extinguishers, the contents can 'clump and solidify' over time and many manufacturers say to turn them upside down or rotate them on their side periodically (often as little as every three months) to prevent this from happening...

Otherwise you can have 'pressure' but if you try to use it- nothing comes out but the pressurised air!!!

(some people say this isn't necessary, but I know that the one in my tilt tray (5 years old when I used it, gauge in the green') did NOT work- hissed but no powder came out (which when I checked online was told 'oh you never shook it regularly did you'- um no- first I had heard of it...

The guy who was to refill it later took one look at it inside and told me, just buy a new one- the ammonium phosphate??? inside was a single solid 'block' and it would take hours to 'break it up' enough to get it out of the tanks neck...

Luckily I had a second 'fire extinguisher in a can' I have carried in my workpack ever since a car I was in caught fire while driving along!!!) and it was (just barely) big enough for the job (crashed car's wiring shorted out and the bonnet was too damaged to open to disconnect the battery- it started smoking and glowing while being winched off the tree...
(I now have TWO separate extinguishers- one each side- and both are shaken and tipped upside down every three months)

Makes you wonder just how effective most peoples powder extinguishers would really be in an emergency...

 

[Sachakins]

One thing to watch out for is with the dry powder ABC rated fire extinguishers, the contents can 'clump and solidify' over time and many manufacturers say to turn them upside down or rotate them on their side periodically (often as little as every three months) to prevent this from happening...

Otherwise you can have 'pressure' but if you try to use it- nothing comes out but the pressurised air!!!

(some people say this isn't necessary, but I know that the one in my tilt tray (5 years old when I used it, gauge in the green') did NOT work- hissed but no powder came out (which when I checked online was told 'oh you never shook it regularly did you'- um no- first I had heard of it...

The guy who was to refill it later took one look at it inside and told me, just buy a new one- the ammonium phosphate??? inside was a single solid 'block' and it would take hours to 'break it up' enough to get it out of the tanks neck...

Luckily I had a second 'fire extinguisher in a can' I have carried in my workpack ever since a car I was in caught fire while driving along!!!) and it was (just barely) big enough for the job (crashed car's wiring shorted out and the bonnet was too damaged to open to disconnect the battery- it started smoking and glowing while being winched off the tree...
(I now have TWO separate extinguishers- one each side- and both are shaken and tipped upside down every three months)

Makes you wonder just how effective most peoples powder extinguishers would really be in an emergency...

Great tip,thanks

 

[Henniep]

One thing to watch out for is with the dry powder ABC rated fire extinguishers, the contents can 'clump and solidify' over time and many manufacturers say to turn them upside down or rotate them on their side periodically (often as little as every three months) to prevent this from happening...

Otherwise you can have 'pressure' but if you try to use it- nothing comes out but the pressurised air!!!

(some people say this isn't necessary, but I know that the one in my tilt tray (5 years old when I used it, gauge in the green') did NOT work- hissed but no powder came out (which when I checked online was told 'oh you never shook it regularly did you'- um no- first I had heard of it...

The guy who was to refill it later took one look at it inside and told me, just buy a new one- the ammonium phosphate??? inside was a single solid 'block' and it would take hours to 'break it up' enough to get it out of the tanks neck...

Luckily I had a second 'fire extinguisher in a can' I have carried in my workpack ever since a car I was in caught fire while driving along!!!) and it was (just barely) big enough for the job (crashed car's wiring shorted out and the bonnet was too damaged to open to disconnect the battery- it started smoking and glowing while being winched off the tree...
(I now have TWO separate extinguishers- one each side- and both are shaken and tipped upside down every three months)

Makes you wonder just how effective most peoples powder extinguishers would really be in an emergency...

Clogging in the older extinguisher was common, particularly on trucks where vibration compacted the powder. Newer extinguishers have an updated (sometimes yellow coloured) powder less likely to self-clog. Insurance companies usually require annual service which will solve the problem anyway.

 

[Fergie 307]

They seem perfect, I wonder if they would work on an EV fire? Otherwise way too expensive at £210.00 for a 3 pack of 50 second units.

I have been looking at these. Yes they are expensive, but how long to you get out of a typical Co2 or powder one, not 50 seconds I would have thought?
And they are good for 15 years, and no maintenance required, way better than other types.
So if you weigh it all up they aren't actually any more costly than the alternatives.

 

[Dabop]

Clogging in the older extinguisher was common, particularly on trucks where vibration compacted the powder. Newer extinguishers have an updated (sometimes yellow coloured) powder less likely to self-clog. Insurance companies usually require annual service which will solve the problem anyway.

My extinguishers are required by law to have 2 inspections a year here (as they are in a 'business' use)- but they have never been taken out of their brackets yet...- they walk up- look at the gauges, check the handle and pin are free and removable and fill out the paperwork and stamp the tag on the extinguisher- 'thats fine- $95 thanks' and give me a piece of paper I have to stick in my files... Every five years they have to have a pressure test done- which is almost the price of a new extinguisher!!!
Strangely- the fire blankets ALSO need 'testing'- um WTF- how do you 'test' a blanket???

They are actually due again in a few weeks time (its a bloody pain- I have to make sure the truck is available for them at the required time- which means I often have to turn down work for the inspection- which adds to the 'cost' of the inspection of course...)

The ones at the house of course aren't legally required to have any kind of inspection ever... (in fact the home and contents insurance doesn't even require me to HAVE a fire extinguisher at all!!! 'recommended' but not a legal requirement!!!)


What gets me P.O is I have had a fire extinguisher stolen from my truck- here you can't have them locked up- they have to be 'readily accessible' at all times (ie on the bed of the truck) yet I can't risk them being stolen either... (the DVR in the truck recorded the person taking it, but the police don't give a dung about someone stealing it... never even asked for a copy... GRRRR....)- so I take them off and lock them in the toolboxes if I am leaving it unattended away from my place overnight- which is a bloody pain to have to do each time and dubious legally, even if I refit them before driving off again the next morning... but at over $150 each for the big ones, I'm not risking another theft of them (especially now I have two on the bed)- what I'd like to do is have them in cabinets on bed and have the doors on those tied into the central locking system- if the cabs locked, so are they... (my toolboxes already have this on them, took a bit of extra wiring to tie them into the door locks, but thats already been done now)