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No problem, gotta live up to my name a look out for people.
Yes I fire extinquisher in my home all the time
Yes; yes.
I have 2. One in the kitchen and one in the garage. It’s a cheap insurance
One in the kitchen. One in living room next to the fireplace.
Not directly in my home, but there‘s one in the stairway
I’ve never had to directly deal with a fire, but after an incident where a roommate took the only extinguisher in the house when he moved out and an electrical short from an old crappy dimmer switch, I’m big on having a couple on-hand.
I also have way too many hobbies involving stuff that can easily catch fire and they’re so cheap that I have multiple on each floor. 2 on the upper floor where my sim-rig, 3D printers, reloading supplies, and electronics soldering bench are. One in the kitchen and one in the master bedroom. 2 in the garage (excluding the one that’s mounted in my old MG), and finally one in the basement since there’s basically nothing down there.
I take the “Two is one, and one is none” mindset on it. I don’t think most people need to have 2 on every floor like I do, but I still would be very concerned about having any sort of shop and it not having its own dedicated extinguisher. I’ve got the little 2.5lb guys in the house, but I want a 10lb’er anywhere with fuel sources. They’re so cheap and take up so little space, I really don’t get why you wouldn’t want more than one.
I’ve never really had anything more than some brake cleaner residue catch fire or a flare up in the kitchen, but it’s just such a cheap form of insurance that I’d rather have “too many” than too few.
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.
Yes, one in the basement and one in the kitchen
no, because my family insists it’s not worth it.
That tends to be covered by code.
if ANYTHING happens in your home and they either send someone out or a responder makes a note of it, you get dropped and they laugh.
So it’s not my business but I’m curious… You can get smoke detectors for like $10/each, you seen to acknowledge that having 0 smoke detectors is kinda dangerous… why not install a couple smoke detectors? I always thought they were annoying until a Chinese cheap battery self ignited in the next room while I was sleeping, it would’ve burned my apartment building down if there wasn’t a smoke detector in the room.
I used to live in Germany where smoke detectors where mandatory at some point. It was also the landlords responsibility. So what you had was a some company coming into your home once a year to check all the smoke detectors. I found that to be very intrusive.
Not sure of this process has been digitised since (in Germany probably not), but I don’t really miss it. (I live in Switzerland now, and here smoke detectors are not required by anyone (might depend on Canton)).
You don’t need anyone to come inspect anything. It’s literally a small plastic device you can buy online or at a store, put a battery in, and forget it exists until it tells you it needs a new battery or it saves your life.
When it’s required and the landlord’s responsibility, they’re liable if a fire happens and the detectors don’t do their job. So they’re gonna send someone out periodically to make sure it’s still functioning properly. There’s nobody there to check yours if you just buy your own.
Seriously, if that’s your only hold up, please get some smoke detectors in your house. Having smoke detectors isn’t something that you “miss”, it’s something that you hope you never have to have needed but the one time you do need it, it can save your life, your loved one’s lives, everything you own.
Falls asleep with a cigarette in his mouth every night
Got to make sure you put a lit candle down on top of your oil soaked news papers. Otherwise they’ll blow away.
Yes I have 2 of them.
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.
It’s* the same logic
'Tis*
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
Those in the biz call it “fluffing” the FE.
TIL, thanks
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.
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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.
I don’t use permanently pressurized fire extinguishers anymore, as they are hard to maintain and rarely reach a life span of 20 years.
Make sure to check at least once every 3 years if the pressure is still in the green. If not, replace it immediately.
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.
Absolutely it is one of these products that you probably never need. But when you do you are so happy you had it standing around.
I do routine inspections once a year when I do my fire alarm testing so every time I switch to daylight saving time.
Just caused an oil fire last week and fortunately it was working. I’ve since replaced also.
