Fire Extinguishers

Toyboy · Apr 15, 2011

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 · Apr 15, 2011

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 · Apr 15, 2011

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 · Apr 16, 2011

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 · Apr 16, 2011

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 · Apr 16, 2011

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 · Apr 16, 2011

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 · Apr 16, 2011

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 · Apr 16, 2011

Toyboy said:
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 · Apr 16, 2011

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

mark

Gale Hawkins · Apr 16, 2011

we have several Halon. Keep one water based extinguisher in the MH charged with one quart of Cold Fire so it is good for fuel fires. Cold Fire multiplies the effectiveness of the water by 7x if I remember correctly.

Halon is clean but WILL NOT drop temps very fast like water will.

RobertN · Apr 16, 2011

Have couple around the house and garage.

It is also a good idea to have working smoke detectors too.

And, maintain both.

Extinguishers have to be kept charged. Some times the powder cakes in the bottom.

Detectors have to have good batteries. They need to be kept clean. And, most only have a 5 or 10 year life span; they are not "set and forget".

Darren · Apr 16, 2011

Look up Purple K. That is the absolute best small extinguisher you can get for a combustible fuel fire.

If you chose to fight a fire, be aware that several firefighters have died due to the hydrogen cyanide that is given off by plastics in today's homes. Plastic is pervasive. Most carpets are plastic for example. As long as firefighters wear the air packs, SCBAs, and use them, they are safe. But some have been poisoned by the hydrogen cyanide hanging around after the fire's out. The effects mimic a heart attack.

tsteahr · Apr 16, 2011

The Haymaker said:
I'd much rather clean dry chem than carbon....

CO2 = carbon dioxide gas. What carbon cleanup are you talking about?

CompactTractorFan · Apr 19, 2011

We have a 5# and couple 2 1/2# ABC dry chem in the house. Also have a few 2 1/2# in the garage. I also had a pressurized water extinguisher I bought off e-bay. That thing was great! Used it all the time putting out campfires and...uh...just for fun. :ashamed: All you have to do to recharge is put the water and add some compressed air. Unfortunately, I went to charge it recently and it had deteriorated so much I could not use it anymore...Got some practice with my air powered metal cutting saw cutting a stainless cylinder.

I'll probably buy a brand new one at some point...

CompactTractorFan · Apr 19, 2011

CompactTractorFan said:
We have a 5# and couple 2 1/2# ABC dry chem in the house. Also have a few 2 1/2# in the garage. I also had a pressurized water extinguisher I bought off e-bay. That thing was great! Used it all the time putting out campfires and...uh...just for fun. :ashamed: All you have to do to recharge is put the water and add some compressed air. Unfortunately, I went to charge it recently and it had deteriorated so much I could not use it anymore...Got some practice with my air powered metal cutting saw cutting a stainless cylinder. I'll probably buy a brand new one at some point...

Oh, and it was manufactured in the 1970's and spent it's preivious life in Dallas, TX.

niemeyjt · Apr 20, 2011

Another really great thread!

Fire blankets in kitchens are good too - you never want to put water near a burning fat pan.

CO2 are good in cars, I am told, if you ever get a run-away diesel engine - discharge it into the air intake.

It used to be that extinguishers here in UK were colour coded - red = water, blue = powder, cream = foam, black = CO2 and green = halon (now illegal). Sadly, the EU decided to 'harmonize' things now all types are red.

I have dry powder in workshop and on tractor - I have water ones that I emptied last winter and not refilled - I thought of adding anti-freeze but am not sure which type and concentration will be best - all thoughts welcome!

Also, another idea I have heard mentioned is to have a garden hose pipe in the house that you can connect say in kitchen and use to deliver continuous water (rather than just a burst from an extinguisher).

Another thing that fascinated me was the the Firexpress system - Firexpress A/S - Products - I guess it is similar to Cold Fire - with microdrops. I would like to find a way just to buy the lance and use a normal pump.

J