PFE-1 aerosol fire extinguisher - any good?

stuartwineberg

stuartwineberg

Well-Known Member
Joined
24 Oct 2007
Messages
1,814
Location
Romsey, Hants
Visit site
I hate dry powder, the extreme fine water aerosol extinguishers are huge and this one has appeared on the scene claiming to be small, easy to use etc etc. Also rated for electrical fires. The only deficiency I can see is that they are not rated for class A fires. Has anyone got a view on these or even bought one. I hope no-one has had to try one and that's the snag isn't it - always bought on faith until the crunch day

url is here - no reviews as yet
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/PFE-1-Por...er-/252308884882?_trksid=p2141725.m3641.l6368
 
Not sure it looks big enough to put out much of a fire?
Dry mist are certainly effective but most seem to be larger sized and I guess the extinguishing capacity is related to size and therefore duration of discharge.
We fitted the 6l size and they aren't too intrusive.
 
Cheaper on Amazon or use this optional link to Amazon with affiliate code (same price to you, I get about a quid while saving you four quid). Note: the Amazon seller is the well known SoCal (Southampton Calor Centre)

More info
http://www.cquip.com/shop_1082402786.php
http://www.stopfireaerosol.com/download/DKLSmallCompactPortableFireExtinguisher.doc

Also available with marine tax https://marinestore.co.uk/PFE_1_Portable_Aerosol_Fire_Extinguisher.html

[Edit] Just bought two, from Amazon naturally :)
 
Last edited:
Biggest minus seems to be they only work for 12 seconds. That gives very little time to put out a fire of any size. A standard CO2 fires for 30 seconds and is not reckoned good for much more than a small localised fire, so what chance of doing anything useful in 12 seconds?

Reports suggest it does work very well but I think you would need more than one to be safe. They work on class A fires, but are not rated for class A because they do not cool it sufficiently to ensure non reignition. PFEs work by flame inhibition so unless the flame is completely extinguished it will flare up again. Looks a good system for boat use, as long as you have enough extinguishers aboard to tackle real blaze!
 
I shall almost certainly buy some, both for the boat and for my work kit for one reason and one reason only and that is for use on electrical fires within an enclosure (because the only viable alternative is CO2 which is very bulky)

I suspect the PFE-1 would be virtually useless on most fires (as I've posted before, CO2 is to all intents and purposes a waste of time other than above and these aerosol extinguishes have neither the volume of gas output nor the duration of even the smallest of CO2 extinguishers)

I was curious about the active component(s) and after much Googling the closest I got was ...

"The PFE-1 incorporates potassium based aerosol forming compound as power source,these agent shall undergo a combustuin reaction .Its product contains solid and gas go though the special chemical coolant with high performance extinguishing substance after absorbing combustion reaction heat. The temperature of aerosol forming compound gas and discharge port is effectively reduced while increasing the fire-fighting capability and temperature within safe limits. These released products shall generate the super-fine micro-particle during its cooling and condensation period. These super-fine micro-partical shall absorb and neutralize the combustion freee radical efficiently to implment the chemical inhibition for fire extinguishing"

Which is gobbledegook!

One caveat, whilst the PFE-1 and PFE-2 have a CE mark, they by their own admission do not comply with any current EU / BSi standards for fire extinguishers (a new standard, they claim, is being written by the UK's Building Research Establishment, an odd claim because BRE does not write standards). Coded boats will certainly need to continue carrying a suitable number of dry powder or foam extinguishers and I'd be inclined to follow suit even on a boat that doesn't have to meet the coding standards
 
Having been to a presentation on fire safety on boats I am considering water mist extinguishers to replace my current ones.
A bit of searching found the BRE report which is only partly relevant as it is quite old and relates to installed systems rather than portable units; but does describe various small fires that were handled in a satisfactory way. https://www.scribd.com/document/23654348/Water-Mist-Guide-v2
There are draft standards from Europe and BSI and IMO but these all seem to relate to fixed installations.
Also https://www.thenbs.com/knowledge/fi...ntify-maintain-and-use-firefighting-equipment

I cannot find any standards relating to portable extingishers but might still go ahead bases on what I have read.
Any thoughts?
 
Bru said:
I shall almost certainly buy some, both for the boat and for my work kit for one reason and one reason only and that is for use on electrical fires within an enclosure (because the only viable alternative is CO2 which is very bulky)

I suspect the PFE-1 would be virtually useless on most fires (as I've posted before, CO2 is to all intents and purposes a waste of time other than above and these aerosol extinguishes have neither the volume of gas output nor the duration of even the smallest of CO2 extinguishers)

I was curious about the active component(s) and after much Googling the closest I got was ...

"The PFE-1 incorporates potassium based aerosol forming compound as power source,these agent shall undergo a combustuin reaction .Its product contains solid and gas go though the special chemical coolant with high performance extinguishing substance after absorbing combustion reaction heat. The temperature of aerosol forming compound gas and discharge port is effectively reduced while increasing the fire-fighting capability and temperature within safe limits. These released products shall generate the super-fine micro-particle during its cooling and condensation period. These super-fine micro-partical shall absorb and neutralize the combustion freee radical efficiently to implment the chemical inhibition for fire extinguishing"

....s
Click to expand...
Potassium?
Sounds like putting out oilwell fires with gelignite!
 
I have just bought two Aerosols. One is from Sweden and will work for about 12 seconds, the other is an Italian brand Mangiafuoco ( = fire eater ) which will work for 100 seconds. My bulky 2 kg powder ones have to stay on board, as they are legally required by the marine inpsector.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top