Fire Extinguishers

[Toyboy]

How many of you guys/gals have fire extinguishers in your home, garage or vehicle? We've had two homes in our area burn to the ground that could have been saved if the owners had a fire extinguisher available. I have several in my garage/shop and home. It's split between CO2 and dry chemical, but I prefer CO2. How about you people?

 

[mrmikey]

I've got two dry chem in the house a 5 and 2 1/2 lb, one 20 lb co2 in the garage and a 2 1/2 lb dry chem in my truck. I intend to mount one on my tractor but never got 'roundtoit yet....Mike

 

[JimRB]

I have only one small one in the garage just outside the kitchen. I need to shake that one up. I probably should have at least another one in the basement and a much bigger one in the garage as that is where I weld when I do my rare occasional welding.

 

[Pete Judd]

2 dry in the house, 2 dry, and one large Haylon in the shop, 5 dry and one Haylon on the boat, one dry in both of the trucks one dry in the wifes car. I just started looking at how to mount one on the tractor as I have no Rops to mount one on.

 

[Mounted Madness]

10 lb units - 1 each in the shop and the garage.
3 lb unit in the kitchen.

Welding and grinding in the shop has me constantly thinking about the fire hazard, plus the wood stove adds another level of concern...so more extinguishers is better.

Had a friend lose his shop, tools and his competition tractor pull Fargo truck after dropping a trouble light and the bulb broke. He had been using brake cleaner on a truck he was restoring. Only 1 extinguisher and that was used up pretty quick and didn't put out the fire.

Read a welding post a while ago where the poster had an extinguisher attached to his welding cart. Good idea when you think about it. The cart will likely be closer to you then the extinguisher on the wall some 20-30 feet away. :thumbsup:

 

[Toyboy]

Your right on that. I have a friend that had a stove fire and hit it with a dry extinguisher. What a mess! Took her 2 days to finally clean all the powder up. It was everywhere. Since that happened I've switched to CO2 units in the house and put the dry powder ones in garage & vehicals. Hope I never have to use any of them.

 

[grnspot110]

I keep 10#' dry chems in the shop & garage, 5# in the pickup, 2-1/2# on the 790 & a little Halon near the kitchen. Also keep a "pressure water" near the welder in the summer, picked it up at a flea market for $5, and usually a 5 gallon bucket of water. The pressure water will need (non-flammable) anti-freeze or drained in cold weather.

Of course, I'm a little biased since I spent 29 years as a full-time firefighter! ~~ grnspot

 

[Mace Canute]

I don't have any in my truck but I have a small freon one in the kitchen and several dry types in the garage, from 2 1/2 lbs to 20 lbs.

grnspot110's mention of a water extinguisher is a good one as they are cheap and highly effective against many fires but not oil or electrical ones.

One thing about fire extinguishers, having one too small for the job is like having none at all, as Mounted Madness buddy found out.

MM, decades ago I went to the plastic coated shatter resistant light bulbs for my trouble lights. They withstand cold water dripping on them (like you get if working under a vehicle that you just brought indoors in the winter that has snow melting off it) without thermal cracking and they will not shatter like regular bulbs do if dropped. They are well worth their extra cost. Here's one site of many that features them. About Shat-R-Shield and our Safety Fluorescent Lights and Lamps

 

[The Haymaker]

Your right on that. I have a friend that had a stove fire and hit it with a dry extinguisher. What a mess! Took her 2 days to finally clean all the powder up. It was everywhere. Since that happened I've switched to CO2 units in the house and put the dry powder ones in garage & vehicals. Hope I never have to use any of them.

I'd much rather clean dry chem than carbon....

 

[mjarrels]

Bought my wife one for her birthday many years ago (big mistake). Hangs in my barn now.

mark