[upstatedoc]

I've got two in the kitchen and one in the bedroom (no jokes please). They are all in the green and say they are full. they are all years old. should I trust them? what's the shelf life of these? they are not commercial grade, bought at home depot

[dmatre]

Originally Posted by upstatedoc

I've got two in the kitchen and one in the bedroom (no jokes please). They are all in the green and say they are full. they are all years old. should I trust them? what's the shelf life of these? they are not commercial grade, bought at home depot

The dry chem can settle & compact over time - leading to reduced output when most needed.

It's good practice to turn them upside down (nozzle down) and strike them with the butt of your hand or a RUBBER mallet, in order to loosen up the dry chem and move it about.

Others may have better info, but this is how we started each morning when working F&C at various race tracks around the southeast.

[BMWGUYinCO]

I'll tell you a true story.

One Thanksgiving night, my wife lit a candle in the centerpiece (which was plastic) on the table....I mentioned that I thought the candle was just for decoration, but she lit it anyways.

Fast forward to after dinner, my 6 year old son says "Daddy - there's light on the walls"...I look back to the dining room and realize the table is on fire. I go to under the sink, grabbed the fire extinguisher which was a few years old but the indicator was showing "Green", pull out the safety pin and.....

Nothing but a small puff of powder. Like it was straight out of a comedy movie or something, only it wasn't funny at the time. I managed to grab a blanket and smother the fire, but not after a decent amount of damage.

So the morale of my little story: replace those every 3 years.

[BMWGUYinCO]

Originally Posted by dmatre

The dry chem can settle & compact over time - leading to reduced output when most needed.

This ^^^

That is probably what happened to me.

[RickFLM4]

There have been some recalls. Check if they are made by Kidde. If yours are recalled, can get new for free.

Mine are old too and have thought about replacing but haven’t done it yet. Every 3 years sounds like overkill though.

https://support.firstalert.com/s/art...nguishers-last

[upstatedoc]

Originally Posted by RickFLM4

Check if they are made by Kidde. If yours are recalled, can get new for free.


https://support.firstalert.com/s/art...nguishers-last

all are kidde

[RickFLM4]

Originally Posted by upstatedoc

all are kidde

Not every Kidde was recalled, but some were. Check their website or give them a call. My wife called. The extinguishers we have we not on the recall list.

[j0oftheworld]

I have these in my track car and around the house/garage.
https://elementfire.com/collections/...ts/element-e50

Pretty impressive if you watch a youtube video or two!

[Banana Hammock]

My fire extinguisher has an expiration date stamped on it.

[vreihen16]

Go to any local commercial/government/school/hospital in your area, find a fire extinguisher, and look at the service tag strapped to the grenade pin. See who does their local service, and go buy all new *refillable* from them...with the same tags. They are inspected and re-tagged every August where I work, and I believe that they are removed every third year for a recharge at their shop.

When I had the local SCCA equipment trailer and ran the program, I brought all of our corner station extinguishers in to the shop that does our work ones for a complete inspection and refills every March. I'd rather spend the money on professional certification of safety equipment than have to explain why it didn't work on an accident report form after an incident!

Oh, and if anyone reading this does not have a refillable fire extinguisher in their car, please do me a favor and pick one up tomorrow for every car you own. You may also want to see if one of these works on your cars:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B015G3QXMY

You can thank me later, when you put your car-be-cue out before the marshmallows even have a chance to melt.....

[Admiral]

In the UK all fire extinguishers have to have an expiry date, I have one in the car, garage and kitchen and are replaced regularly before the "death date"

[MurrayB]

Fire extinguisher is not the item to cut a corner. Nobody wants to have to use one but if they are not ready to do their job why bother having it.

[Mason Hatcher]

Timely thread. I need to replace each of mine- kitchen- garage and car

[M_Six]

Kitchen, living room, downstairs closet, and garage. Kitchen and garage extinguishers are dry powder. Living room and downstairs extinguishers are CO2.

All probably need recharging. Good task for the weekend todo list.

[M_Six]

Originally Posted by vreihen16

Go to any local commercial/government/school/hospital in your area, find a fire extinguisher, and look at the service tag strapped to the grenade pin. See who does their local service, and go buy all new *refillable* from them...with the same tags. They are inspected and re-tagged every August where I work, and I believe that they are removed every third year for a recharge at their shop.

When I had the local SCCA equipment trailer and ran the program, I brought all of our corner station extinguishers in to the shop that does our work ones for a complete inspection and refills every March. I'd rather spend the money on professional certification of safety equipment than have to explain why it didn't work on an accident report form after an incident!

Oh, and if anyone reading this does not have a refillable fire extinguisher in their car, please do me a favor and pick one up tomorrow for every car you own. You may also want to see if one of these works on your cars:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B015G3QXMY

You can thank me later, when you put your car-be-cue out before the marshmallows even have a chance to melt.....

I'll have to check the extinguishers here at the university. If they're not behind breakable glass.

[vreihen16]

Originally Posted by M_Six

I'll have to check the extinguishers here at the university. If they're not behind breakable glass.

Fire code here requires an extinguisher mounted inside the door of any room with no windows and an occupancy of 10 (?) or so. I used to walk the service guy through our areas every August, and watch him inspect, weigh, hit, and re-tag every one, and hang loaners on the hooks wherever he had to take one back to the shop for its scheduled refill or a failed inspection. They are all hanging on hooks in the open, and people don't even notice them most of the time.

Fire extinguishers are one of those things where I value a relationship with a local business who specializes in them...cost be damned. In the event of a fire, does anyone think that they can subpoena Home Depot or Amazon to testify in court that your extinguishers were inspected and certified?????

[upstatedoc]

my 11 y/o son volunteered to test them all no exp dates on them, they all seem to work fine

[upstatedoc]

So I wiped all the dust off of them and put them on the counter to dry and I just noticed that all three of them now have their needles in the red saying recharge

[vreihen16]

Originally Posted by upstatedoc

So I wiped all the dust off of them and put them on the counter to dry and I just noticed that all three of them now have their needles in the red saying recharge

Don't make me have to drive up there and drag your butt to the fire safety shop!!!!!

[Samurai of 2day]

Originally Posted by upstatedoc

So I wiped all the dust off of them and put them on the counter to dry and I just noticed that all three of them now have their needles in the red saying recharge

is that AFTER your son performed the test drive...?

[M_Six]

Is it even worth having cheapo dry powder extinguishers tested/recharged? I'm tempted to just buy a few more and keep the old ones for standbys.

[eluded]

Always have a backup