Yes, I bought 3 in 2009 and will replace them with same when out of date. Box, markings ec. were all identical to those in Swindleries. Can't remember exact prices but I think I saw them in one chanlery for £27 each and think another had an even higher price.
I think I only paid £6.99 in 2009 so even at £27 I saved about £60 vs. chandlery price.
They do seem to fly off the shelves when Lidl get them in stock.
I've recently used these guys and found their prices and delivery excellent
http://simplyextinguishers.co.uk/
What I have also realised is that there is a large difference (at least in theory) between one 1kg Powder extinguisher and another one of the same weight. I'm about as far away from being an expert of these things as you are lilkely to find but looking at the Simply Extinguishers site the ratings vary greatly from one model to another (these being the equivalent in gallons of water and surface area when multiplied by a factor they can extinguish e.g 5A 38B) Have a look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire_extinguisher for an explanation
What I do know is that they charged me less than £140 for one of these http://simplyextinguishers.co.uk/2kg-automatic-fe36-extinguisher.html whereas most of the chandleries charge over £200. They also have a 2kg Powder extinguisher for £11.99 which seems pretty reasonable (subject to the comments about rating of course!)
They used to be soda ash ( or was it bicarbonate) but they were just for B & C fires (???) .If memory servers the powder will probably just be fine soda ash.
Much debate in the past about their service life ... mine are not marked with an expiry date!
ABC powder apparently mono-ammonium phosphate. (BC powder bicarb)Many years since I found out they had Soda Ash (or might have been bicarb) in them so it could be different material now.
I think that mechanism wrt Soda Ash was to scavenge free radicals in the vicinity of the flame/air interface and this killed the reaction. Oxidiation stopped or slowed but heat still there so the fuel could re-ignite.
I didn't ever follow this explanation up to investigate the reaction in detail so can't prove that's what happens.
Melting phosphates sounds interesting as an alternative. A lot of organo-phosphates decompose readily on heating and some of the inorganic ones have quite low melting points and also decompose fairly readily.
The Lidel ones I have on the boat were date stamped, and due to be replaced this year, might just get down to Lidel early on Thursday.
sealed boxes and date stamped april 2011![]()