I have one and pressure is OK (at least if the gauge isn’t stuck). Is there anything else that you can check yourself instead of having it professionally inspected once a year? Does anyone know what they inspect?
Fire related: If you have smoke detectors there should be a button on it to check the battery.
Not fire related: You can check if your home first aid kit needs to be restocked. Sometimes you might take out some bandages and forget to replace them.
Followed by: do you have a functional fire extinguisher in your kitchen and can you reach it immediately?
Stove top fires are usually easy, just put a lid on whatever to put them out, but there’s always going to be someone who panics and dumps water on a grease fire.
Not too immediately. Take 3 steps back/towards the nearest exit, that’s where you want the extinguisher. Not right next to the stove that’s going to be on fire when you need to get to the extinguisher.
Keep in mind that a standard ABC extinguisher isn’t rated for grease fryers. If it’s just the fat needed to sautee something you’re good, but for an actual deep frying fire you want something in class K.
FYI you should turn over each of your fire extinguishers at least once every 6 months to keep them working right. That means pick it up, rotate it upside-down, and let the stuff inside slide to the top, then turn it back over. I learned this from a fire inspector that I had to guide through a datacenter once.
It really depends on the kind of fire extinguisher as to whether that matters. That said, my understanding is that if it is a dry powder that has settled it would be visible on the pressure gauge.
Really, that is about actually checking the pressure gauge every six months. If you tell someone to look, they never will. If you tell someone they have to do something, they might. Its the same logic behind “testing” a smoke alarm. The electronics are simple enough that you would REALLY need to try to damage them (and they are set up to piss you off with incessant beeping when failing anyway). But by pushing the button every six months, you actually check if there is a battery in it and so forth. Rather than hearing it beep in the morning, telling yourself you’ll fix it when you get home, and never doing so.
How does powder settling affect a pressure gauge? There has been no change to the internal pressure of the vessel, the change loose vs compacted powered will not change the volume of materials inside the extinguisher. The only way the pressure should change is if there’s a leak.
It very much depends on the specific materials which is why it is a “let’s not get into this and just say ‘better safe than sorry’” situation but: Even if the powder is settled, it is going to almost immediately get kicked up and re-mixed once you start spraying. Probably don’t test this for yourself for obvious reasons, but that is why a “fresh” can of spray paint will basically always work. It might not be even for the first few sprays but it rapidly becomes even.
Over simplifying (because molecular dynamics and shit) but think of it like a really crowded room. You basically can’t sit down, let alone lie down, if it is crowded enough. And even if you try, someone will nudge you (or kick you) and you will get going.
As the pressure decreases, the settled powder is less likely to be disturbed and you are more likely to wake up from your nap wondering why nobody else is waiting for the new Star Wars with you. And that is why paint cans have the shaker and so forth.
So if your fire extinguisher has settled/compacted to the point that it is not viable? It is almost guaranteed to be because of a pressure leakage and that would be reflected on the gauge.
Now, there is probably some variant where this can happen regardless. But that would be a bad product anyway because these need to work even if nobody can ever be bothered to find the key to the glass box.
Your logic is not correct. Powder and people are not the same. Volume is volume, and particles of fire retardant are not changing size or quantity. If pressure drops substantially in an extinguisher, it’s leaking.
A can of fresh spray paint works because the seals are all still good and the nozzle isn’t clogged, and cans of used spray paint can leak out pressure or have the nozzle or other plumbing jammed up with dried spray paint.
You’re right, the pressure gauge shouldn’t change without a leak or temperature change (Boyle’s Law and such). But it’s hard to have a 100%, no-leak extinguisher. There’s plenty of points of failure to keep the thing pressurized, and the leak could be imperceptible (over months) or a rapid failure
And you wanna keep contents from settling as well, so you don’t just spray gas when trying to use it. So you mix it a bit and inspect the gauge every so often, because you don’t want it to fail when you need it most
Ideally, it shouldn’t lose pressure. But also ideally, you don’t have a fire that requires an extinguisher in the first place
But yes, you’re right on that one. “Settling” of the fire-retardent wouldn’t cause a pressure change. It’s just part of the safety inspection to check the gauge as well as to “mix” it… keeping it ready to go
One for every room I intent for humans to survive in, plus one in each car. Also recently upgraded to hardwired CO/smoke detectors and each bedroom also has a combination alarm that uses Z-Wave to alert me anywhere, just as a backup. Also, we practice fire and earthquake drills monthly, along with a couple of other scenarios that are more rare/less dangerous.
Take a look at the fault lines around California. There’s lots of seismic activity, and we’re close to train tracks so we have gas mask drills too (added after what happened in East Palestine). Given the major large-scale risks in our area are fire, earthquakes, and a train derailment spilling chemicals, those drills seem prudent.
Yes the dry powder type which is most common, can go “bad” usually from excessive moisture in the pressurization gas. This causes the powder to clump and no longer come out.
This can be prevented by inverting the extinguisher a few times a year to make sure the powder is still “fluid” and to break up any clumped up powder.
As a gift to my friends who were going to be first time parents, I bought them a pack and play, a first aid kit, and a fire extinguisher. They laughed at my fire extinguisher gift and told their other friends who also laughed.
Just to be pedantic, I think most people who die in building fires perish due to smoke inhalation. Still bad though, and almost completely preventable!
Awh, that’s kind of crappy. I’m hoping they just took it as a gag gift; be prepared for anything, a bit like Jack Jack in The Incredibles.
I hope theynever have to use it, but I hope they do learn how important it is.
Same for cleaning dryer lint; before I was born the entire family who lived across the road from my mum perished in a house fire from dryer lint catching.
Also add Carbon monoxide detectors to that list of devices you never want to need, but should never be without
Dryer lint fires are so strange to me. Cleaning out the lint trap takes less than 5 seconds, and I do it with every load. I pulled the dryer hose off last weekend to clean it, and it was spotless, presumably because I clean the lint from the trap.
To tag on to all the good advice, you should DEFINITELY keep a decent sized fire extinguisher in your car as well. I’ve stopped one engine fire on a car not my own from spreading by having one. Pop the hood (if it’s safe to reach the latch) and unload that shit.
I suppose I should clarify. Pop it but don’t fully unlatch it, then send the extinguisher up through the new gap between grille and hood so it actually gets on top of the engine. Thru the radiator and underneath is often ineffective as most fires will be sitting up on top of the engine where most wires and fuel lines exist.
Those years of safety training finally paying off:
Do you know what types of fires your fire extinguisher is rated for? There are several different types. Most modern home fire extinguishers are rated for A (wood/paper), B (liquids like oil fires), and C (electrical), but you may have an older fire extinguisher or landlord who cheaped out on one that only works on some of those types.
If you have a fire that’s based on metals (like fireworks) or exothermic chemical reactions, have a different fire extinguisher or call the fire department with special instructions.
Always remember the acronym PASS when using a fire extinguisher:
Pull the pin
Aim at the base of the fire
Squeeze the trigger
Sweep the fire extinguisher side to side to cover all of the fire till the fire is extinguished
Currently have 6. I need to get more, and larger ones. We live in a log house, in an area that takes a minimum of 20 minutes for emergency services to get to, and heat with a wood stove. We absolutely need to practice fire safety all the time.
That’s the idea. The really big ones get pretty expensive though; a 30# fire extinguisher starts at around $500, and can get up to about $1500. But that size gets you about 20-30 seconds of continuous use, which is enough for a pretty big house fire.
If you look at the gauge, you can see that the ideal pressure is 1344 kPa or 13.44 bar. If you own a pump capable of using at least 14 bar, you are good to go.
Yup. We had one but after we had a smouldering fire in our outdoor trash can we got several for different points in the house. We also have escape ladders in the bedrooms.
After being directly adjacent to three separate apartment fires, we also have several fire extinguishers and escape ladders stashed around the apartment.
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