Fire extinguisher out of date?

[RichardS]

This was bollocks the last two times you said it, and it's still bollocks now.

Pete

I was wondering a couple of days ago whether KellysEye just likes to try and wind us up. This was also after one of his favourite mantras ..... "anchor chain on seabed broken by crevice corrosion". He has a number of these one-liners which we are all very familiar with and each time he gives us one he gets shouted down by all and sundry. But a month or two later, out it comes again.

Surely this must be his version of tossing a hand-grenade into a crowded room and standing back to witness the carnage?

Richard

 

[Norman_E]

I let off a very old one with no gauge but bought for the kitchen of the first house I owned, which made it close to 20 years old, just to see if it worked. It was just fine spraying powder quite a distance, and the mess was spectacular.

 

[LittleSister]

To further debunk the 'automatic engine fire extinguisher will cause the sky to fall in' claim -

My automatic (powder, IIRC) fire extinguisher has lived inches from the alternator/water pump bell for years without going off.

It also has a facility to stop the engine (and show a warning light) in the event that it goes off (though I've never actually wired this up).

 

[Momac]

For a boat interior the spray mist type is better than dry powder , as was demonstrated by a test somewhere on youtube. .
I see the water mist type is available in 1 litre size.
http://www.safelincs.co.uk/1-litre-water-mist-fire-extinguisher/
.

 

[pagoda]

For a boat interior the spray mist type is better than dry powder , as was demonstrated by a test somewhere on youtube. .
I see the water mist type is available in 1 litre size.
http://www.safelincs.co.uk/1-litre-water-mist-fire-extinguisher/
.

TBH for engine room fires Halon is probably technically best. Not people friendly. Not messy but interferes with and suppresses combustion very effectively,
Powder is admittedly messy, but is very good at knocking down fires. Unless you have a red hod bit of ironwork below your fire (to re - ignite it) powder is likely to work well. I have done numerous fire fighting courses with all sorts of extinguishers. Horses for courses......
Had to put out a car engine (petrol) fire years ago. Used powder . Worked! Out before the Brigade turned up. Don't discount powder. Bangs per buck it's good stuff

 

[Strikeliner]

Here's the deal. Portable fire extinguishers (less than 20Kg in weight) should technically be serviced by a qualified technician annually. Those with coded boats will know this and also that a basic service on a portable extinguisher is not too costly, around £10-£12 quid.

As has been said elsewhere many people don't bother with this. The next grade of service occurs at 5 years and is known as an extended service. Here the basic service is "extended" by having the extinguisher operated and emptied and the inside inspected.
It is then refilled of course. This is a little more expensive and varies according to the medium inside. In the case of say a 1Kg dry powder, the cost is probably similar to a new extinguisher . Replacement may therefore be a better option.
Extinguishers do not require pressure testing until they are 10 years old. In the case of CO2 extinguishers the "extended" service is not required at 5 years.

All this is of course useless if as the O.P. found you cant find the manufacture date. Try looking on the base of the cylinder or possibly the shoulder. There really should be one somewhere. Added to this is the fact that when sold for the first time the extinguisher should have a commissioning label stuck on to it completed by a competent person. This will include the date of commissioning and the next service due date. This will be updated at each successive service. If yours has no commissioning label try returning it to where it was purchased from and ask them why no label was attached. This needs to be (and can be rectified). If it was obtained from one of the swindlery groups then of course they will not have a clue what you are talking about. They will also not have a competent person. You may be able to have a quiet laugh to yourself though... If you bought it on line then hard luck.........
Hope this helps

 

[Momac]

Halon (mentioned above) hasn't been available for some considerable time . In the UK the use of a Halon extinguisher other than for certain critical use (in aviation) was banned in 2003 . But I believe it was banned elsewhere well before that.

However other inert gas automatic extinguishers are permitted. My boat has a Seafire inert gas automatic in the engine bay . However the Seafire system is very expensive .

The use of dry powder extinguishers in an interior space like a boat accommodation space may well snuff out the fire but it also may well may choke the user and could impair escape from the boat. Not to mention making a mess.
At present my boat interior extinguishers are all dry powder but I am thinking a spay mist would be worth having to replace one of the powder extinguishers . Only slight concern is a water based extinguisher and sub zero temperatures might not be a good mix so perhaps need to consider removing it over the winter layup.

Also don't forget fire blankets which are not expensive and do not have an expiry date .

.

 

[ghostlymoron]

Mine are not Chinese junk (I thought that was a type of boat) as I said they are from Kiddes who are a reputable supplier. Maybe I should ring them for advice.

There should be a date of manufacture on any CE certified extinguisher. You either haven't found it yet, or you have an extinguisher so old it predates the requirements, or you have a piece of Chinese junk. If either of the last two, you should buy new anyway. It is sort of self-embossed, so not always obvious.

 

[Caladh]

>To be fair, so does a fire! I would rather have efficient extinguishers on a boat, and get the fire out, rather than worry about subsequent clear up problems afterwards.

The problem with powder is if you use it in the engine room it destroys the electronics which is why automatic extinguishers are gas. I never fitted an automatic extinguisher because the smoke from a slipping fan belt will set it off. We carried both gas and powder extinguishers.

So where's the evidence that auto-fire extinguishers in the engine area "set off" because of, for example a slipping fan belt. Surely the glass buble pings when the temperature gets too hot ?

 

[doug748]

I was examining my dry powder fire extinguishers yesterday. They are 1kg Kidde models. I can't find a date on them anywhere but the pressure gauge is still in the green zone. Will they work if required?
They were on the boat when I bought it last year so I don't know what vintage they are. I thought they normally have an expiry date.

Aldl do them now and again for under £10ish, they have a pressure gauge but no expiry date, guaranteed 6 years.
Someone said they do CO2 as well but I have never seen those.

 

[Chalker]

I cannot believe that a slipping belt can possibly set off a 'melting fuse' type of auto extinguisher. A Webasto hot air heater will if the outlet hose drops off and mounted nearby! And the gas certainly stops a generator.

 

[Momac]

Aldl do them now and again for under £10ish, they have a pressure gauge but no expiry date, guaranteed 6 years.
Someone said they do CO2 as well but I have never seen those.

I had a look at the Aldi dry powder extinguisher last year. I thought it looked not quite good enough quality and in particular the bracket looked a bit feeble. So I decided against.