Fire Extinguishers

[Pops Soul]

Great Idea  With that I'll throw a Question out there! Fire Extingishers, Is there a a proper way to get rid of our old fire extingishers?  How long is a fire extingwisher good for even though it says good on the gauge and we have turned it upside down and hit the bottom of it to keep the powder loose?

[ped579]

There should be a date on the bottle some where.  The best way to get rid of the old extinguishers is to go to your local fire dept and give it to them.  A lot of companies will use then for demo purposes.

And I am glad you mentioned turning the bottle upside down.  This will fluff the powder on the inside and keep it from clumping.  You should do this at least once a year.

Happy Catching

Paul

[Jeffish]

Great Idea   With that I'll throw a Question out there! Fire Extingishers, Is there a a proper way to get rid of our old fire extingishers?  How long is a fire extingwisher good for even though it says good on the gauge and we have turned it upside down and hit the bottom of it to keep the powder loose?

Fire extinguishers should be checked every year by a certified inspector. (Check your local fire house)

If it hasn't been used in 6 years, the powder has to be removed, re-fluffed, and put back in. It has a tendency to get hard over time.

Turn it into a fire extinguisher service, not in the trash.

[Still Running]

Skip,
I have to get my fire Extinguishers inspected every year for the shop. When I take them in they look at the gauge and if it shows full charge, they put a new tag on it for another year. After six years I was told I have to trade them in for recharged ones.
So I guess every six years.

Maybe Chris (Eng5Lt) can help us on this.

[IrishAyes]

Manufactures say different things. Some say five years, some are as high as ten years. If the gauge is in the green it SHOULD be good. If not, replace it.

Try your local fire dept, they can possibly use them for training purposes.

[Last Call]

Fire Protection is the family business.  If anybody has any questions, needs inspections, pricing for equipment, etc. feel free to ask.

[ped579]

Very cool, used to work for Walter Kiddie many years ago designing Halon systems for commercial accounts.  Plus I use to give training to large commercial accounts like Ceba Geige where every employee had to be trained in the how and why's in the use of fire extinguishers.  Pretty cool.

We had a complete setup where we would run each employee through a classroom and then hands on training.  Refill the extinguishers during lunch break and do it all over again in the afternoon with a different crew.  This would be for a whole month.

[CapBob]

If you keep a log and have some expired fire exting use them in a drill to put out a controlled fire and note the training in your log.

I also do this with old flares as training for myself and my mate. Noting it in my log.

Or as has been said call your local FD to see if they would like them to use for training

[Last Call]

Paul,

We did alot of sprinkler work there.  Do you have any interest in doing extinguisher training?  We're always looking for experienced people that can do the training during the day.

[Pops Soul]

I spoke to a couple local fire chiefs that I know about my old fire extinguishers, I was told to hold them in a plastic garbage bag and discharge them and then to put them out in the trash. The idea of discharging them in the trash bag just to contain and save on a mess.