Fess up, who doesn't have a Fire Extinguisher in there shop?

[k0ua]

True story. Caught my tractor on fire welding on it last fall when hot slag fell into the engine compartment that was full of oil and dried grass. Calmly reached over and grabbed my extinguisher that I keep on my welding cart. Guage green. Pulled the pin, aimed, nothing. Realize this extinguisher is easily 15 years old. Semi calmly jog back into the shop for extinguisher 2. Jog back, smoke getting thicker. Pull the pin, depress. Nothing. Now I begin to panick. I run for the garden hose. Smoke us full bore and I now see flames. It was a Benny hill moment as the garden hose was wrapped around everything but the hose reel. I have no nozzle so the hose is spraying all over and my welder us still going full tilt. In the end deluged the fire with water and thankfully the grass and oil provided insulation so no damage other than to my nerves. Ran to my neighbor who is a fireman later that night. He has a bunch if refillables he will bring me when I get back home.

Is it the cakeing of the chemical in the bottom of the extinguisher that causes the problems?.. It would seen that the propellant was still there or you would not have had pressure on the gauge, but if the actual chemical was one solid mass on the bottom of the can, well that would seem to explain it.. Can someone that deals with this all the time professionally comment on this? I am just guessing.

 

[ultrarunner]

Most of you use dry chemical and not CO2?

I've got a couple of Halon, CO2 and dry chemical.

Get them for free and they are serviced annually... I think at 12 years hydro is required and it's just easier to buy a new one for the chemical ones.

Gave six 12 year out dates to rancher friend... put them all around his barn and one on each tractor... saved the barn according to him.

http://www.health.state.mn.us/divs/fpc/fireext2.pdf

 

[woodlandfarms]

I am not a pro but my fireman buddy said the red canisters need to be shook once a month. If it sits too long the chemicals settle and harden. He said they go around schools with a mallet and give the bottoms a wack or two (not the kids, the fire extinguishers) once every few months.

I just chucked mine. Not going to take any chances.

 

[buickanddeere]

All true about settling and setting dry chem. We have a callup every month to turn over every dry chem extinguisher.

 

[ray66v]

I am not a pro but my fireman buddy said the red canisters need to be shook once a month. If it sits too long the chemicals settle and harden. He said they go around schools with a mallet and give the bottoms a wack or two (not the kids, the fire extinguishers) once every few months.

I just chucked mine. Not going to take any chances.

I have a friend who owns a large fire extinguisher company.

He says, if the extinguisher is properly filled, with moisture free gas, and the powder is dry, it cannot cake in the bottom. Modern extinguishers are made to those standards.

This was a problem many decades ago, because there was not enough effort put into making sure everything was moisture free. This has led people to believe there is still a need to Turn them over periodically, and fluff them. This is process not required by the extinguisher manufacturers, any ordnance, (including the ones that require them to be serviced annually), or insurance company. That should be a hint, that it is not necessary.

We test many modern out dated units periodically, and have not had any issues with caking.

If you want to invert them and hit it periodically anyway, as a "feel good" thing, (I am sure many will), consider doing it less often.

 

[bigtiller]

I have a friend who owns a large fire extinguisher company.

He says, if the extinguisher is properly filled, with moisture free gas, and the powder is dry, it cannot cake in the bottom. Modern extinguishers are made to those standards.

This was a problem many decades ago, because there was not enough effort put into making sure everything was moisture free. This has led people to believe there is still a need to Turn them over periodically, and fluff them. This is process not required by the extinguisher manufacturers, any ordnance, (including the ones that require them to be serviced annually), or insurance company. That should be a hint, that it is not necessary.

We test many modern out dated units periodically, and have not had any issues with caking.

If you want to invert them and hit it periodically anyway, as a "feel good" thing, (I am sure many will), consider doing it less often.

I bought a fire extinguisher from Summit Fire Protection last summer. They have a lot of offices in Minnesota and a couple in Iowa. The guy said exactly the same thing as your friend.

 

[woodlandfarms]

Very interesting. Did a web search and found both shake and don't shake recommends from a variety of qualified sources. Called my fire guy back. He says 3 things. You do not need to shake the canister. This is true. They do shake canisters and suggest it to people because it does no harm and people check the status of their extinguishers more often.

Learning all the time but now wonder what was up with my red extinguishers

 

[ultrarunner]

We empty and refill every 12 months.

The powder is sifted and the canister pressurized from a cylinder where the contents are dry.

So far they have always worked...

Have never tried one that has been sitting for 10 or 15 years...

 

[bajabum]

Two in the house, 3 in the shop, one in every car/pickup
Never thought about the tractors...:duh:
I'll have to correct that!
Thanks!!!

Ps: I do try to turn them upside down and give them a couple of thumps every so often.
No mallet, just my hand.

 

[muddstopper]

I have a 20lb hal in mY shop. As for the inverting and fluffing. At work we used to have the old dry chemical extingusers that had the large co2 bottles attached to the side. Every moth, we where required to invert the extinguser and give it a good shake to fluff the powder. We kept spare co2 bottles and bags of the dry powde and refilled them ourselfs. I dont know if any of these old extingusers even exsist anymore. I know several years back we replaced them with the newer Halo extingusers. We have them inspected evey year and have to do a visual inspection every month.