Fire extinguishers

[David_J]

I have two 1kg Draper dry powder hand held extinguishers (in addition to engine room units) on board They have no expiry date shown but do say they should be inspected every year. They have no pressure gauge either.

They are now five or six years old and not serviced or maintained. What do you think, should they go back to Draper for a check, do they do such a service? Or should I replace them. No problem with that but how to dispose of the old ones.

What do you do to ensure serviceability of these small hand held units?

 

[CLB]

In reality you can pick up new 1kg dry powders for a little over £10 so it really isn't worth having them serviced. I have a few old extinguishers from my boats at home in my garage. Did actually use one once when something got a little out of control . It was well out of date but worked fine.

 

[jimmy_the_builder]

I replaced all the 1kg handheld extinguishers on my boat with these:

http://www.toolstation.com/shop/p82202

As CLB says, it's not worth getting your existing ones serviced because of the very modest cost of replacement.

Check your engine room system though, pressure gauge needs to be in the green, annual evidenced inspection, 10 year hydrostatic test and recharge (10 year date is stamped on the cylinder).

 

[Momac]

I don't think the 1kg dry powder extinguishers can be serviced.
I have the extinguishers with a pressure gauge which gives some indication of the extinguisher being okay.
something like this
http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/7001583.htm
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[Alpha22]

We have a 'tame' pro that comes to our club each year and 'services' all the members hand held extinguishers.

He weighs them, checks the little gauge is still in the green then writes on the service sticker. If they fail either of the 'tests', he sells you a new one for £12.
£2.50 for the test and the service sticker.... keeps the BSS man happy.

He recommends you shake them up from time to time to stop the powder settling into a lump.

 

[Anders_P42]

I bought four of these at SIBS. Can be used on fuel or electrical fires, has shelf life so no servicing required. I spotted some rust on the one by Cockpit door, so a quick lick of Vasaline applied on the discharge end.

http://www.nrgmarine.com/aerosol.html

 

[Gwylan]

I have two 1kg Draper dry powder hand held extinguishers (in addition to engine room units) on board They have no expiry date shown but do say they should be inspected every year. They have no pressure gauge either.

They are now five or six years old and not serviced or maintained. What do you think, should they go back to Draper for a check, do they do such a service? Or should I replace them. No problem with that but how to dispose of the old ones.

What do you do to ensure serviceability of these small hand held units?

Watch out for offers in Lidl or Aldi

 

[Dipper]

I bought four of these at SIBS. Can be used on fuel or electrical fires, has shelf life so no servicing required. I spotted some rust on the one by Cockpit door, so a quick lick of Vasaline applied on the discharge end.

http://www.nrgmarine.com/aerosol.html

I've been thinking about those and wondering how effective they were. The video looks very convincing.

 

[Anders_P42]

I've been thinking about those and wondering how effective they were. The video looks very convincing.

They look as effective as CO2 but much smaller and no risk of CO2 poisoning while using. Need to watch out for the initial flare up though as seen in vid.

 

[rafiki_]

They look as effective as CO2 but much smaller and no risk of CO2 poisoning while using. Need to watch out for the initial flare up though as seen in vid.

CO2 is not poisonous, CO is the killer.

 

[Anders_P42]

Perhaps poisonous was wrong word, but CO2 fire extinguishers are not recommended for confined spaces as they can cause asphyxiation. I don't know what their definition of confined space is, but boats are fairly confined.

 

[Dipper]

Perhaps poisonous was wrong word, but CO2 fire extinguishers are not recommended for confined spaces as they can cause asphyxiation. I don't know what their definition of confined space is, but boats are fairly confined.

You were correct. Carbon dioxide is indeed poisonous but nowhere near as poisonous as carbon monoxide. Carbon dioxide poisoning was one of the very real concerns for the astronauts returning to earth in the damage Apollo 13 capsule. They had to improvise with a DIY carbon dioxide scrubber to survive the return trip.

 

[AndieMac]

........He recommends you shake them up from time to time to stop the powder settling into a lump.

Yes indeed, give them a good pounding with a rubber mallet whilst rotating the unit and inverting it as well, once per season.

 

[aquapower]

We have a 'tame' pro that comes to our club each year and 'services' all the members hand held extinguishers.

He weighs them, checks the little gauge is still in the green then writes on the service sticker. If they fail either of the 'tests', he sells you a new one for £12.
£2.50 for the test and the service sticker.... keeps the BSS man happy.

He recommends you shake them up from time to time to stop the powder settling into a lump.

BSS also say change every 10 years, I have a local guy who does the test for £2.50 and fills out the test sticker.

 

[Machaseo]

Check the small print on your insurance, mine says all fire extinguishers and fire fighting equipment must be inspected annually by a qualified inspector.
One of the club members usually organises a company to come down and do a group of boats at the same time, he issues a report for each vessel.
Even new fire extinguishes have to be inspected if they are on board when he is there.
I keep my inspection certificate at home, just in case.

 

[David_J]

I replaced all the 1kg handheld extinguishers on my boat with these:

http://www.toolstation.com/shop/p82202

As CLB says, it's not worth getting your existing ones serviced because of the very modest cost of replacement.

Check your engine room system though, pressure gauge needs to be in the green, annual evidenced inspection, 10 year hydrostatic test and recharge (10 year date is stamped on the cylinder).

Thanks to all for excellent comments. I will just replace the ones I have as suggested. The choice will be no more technical than they need to fit in the existing mountings to save drilling any more holes!!!

Thanks in particular to JTB about engine room systems. I have already started investigating this.
My original fit system was two 2lb dry powder extinguishers fitted to the front of the engine bay and operated by Bowden cable from the helm.
These now need replacing due to date stamped on them.
A bit of research on the net brings a few horror stories about dry powder and engines. eg never ever discharge the powder until engines stopped as ingesting the stuff into engines is very bad news.
What type of extinguisher have you got? does everyone use dry powder in the engine room?
Are yours automatic or remote manual release like mine?
If automatic they could discharge before engines stopped.
My existing ones have a brass diffuser type fitting at the discharge, presumably to create a wide dispersion rather than a narrow "jet"
I spoke to a company called Safelinks which have a 2kg dry powder unit that has a 10 year warranty and is "marine approved" but it is not remote manual discharge (the bowden cable)
Any comments or suggestions?

 

[jimmy_the_builder]

My installation (twin Volvo Penta D6-350's) has a Seafire FD500M which is an auto/manual system using FM-200 as the extinguishant. These systems seem to be sized by the volume to be protected, rather than the engine installation per se.

http://www.support.sea-fire.com/product-results.asp?series=FD&category=FM200#resultsNav

http://www.safety-marine.co.uk/fire...-fm200-automatic-engine-fire-extinguisher.htm

Getting my FD500M tested and recertified is one of my winter refit tasks.

 

[propnut]

One of the most dangerous things on a boat is a fire extinguisher that does'nt work.I know from personal experience.I had a boat at the yard that the owner was trying to start but flooded it.It when BANG.I grabbed the extinguisher from the boat I was working on and rushed over.That did'nt work,grabbed the one one the boat that was on fire,that did'nt work.
Luckily the lad in yard came running with one of the yard ones that did work.It was a close call,there where people on the boat who were in shock and immobile.

If in dought replace regardless of cost

 

[David_J]

One of the most dangerous things on a boat is a fire extinguisher that does'nt work.I know from personal experience.I had a boat at the yard that the owner was trying to start but flooded it.It when BANG.I grabbed the extinguisher from the boat I was working on and rushed over.That did'nt work,grabbed the one one the boat that was on fire,that did'nt work.
Luckily the lad in yard came running with one of the yard ones that did work.It was a close call,there where people on the boat who were in shock and immobile.

If in dought replace regardless of cost

I certainly appreciate your comments and there was never any question about a proper review of all systems and doing what is needed. For me safety equipment is not cost limited. It is more a case of determining the optimum solution.

 

[prv]

I'm not at all a fan of powder extinguishers. They do put the fire out quite effectively, but they also create a smokescreen in the cabin:

http://youtu.be/aL_VdzjM-24?t=9m46s

Also, although the priority of course is dealing with the fire at the time, the question of cleanup afterwards is still a real one. If someone lets off a powder extinguisher on a minor galley fire you're in for a big job. Reputedly the powder eats varnish, so you do need to remove it fairly quickly.

I prefer foam and/or the new water-mist. Though I must admit I still have several powder extinguishers on board that I haven't yet got round to replacing - heading to the safelincs website now

EDIT: Actually http://www.nationwidefireextinguishers.co.uk seem to have some better prices...

Pete