fire extinguisher shelf life

[huffmuds9320]

I had a small fire extinguisher in the garage, according to the label it says it was manufactured in 1994. Anyways while I was working on the car in the garage I accidentally discharged the fire extinguisher for just 1 second. I was crouching down a bit and somehow leaned on the handle (the plastic pin was missing), my garage is kind of small. When it discharged I thought it was something from car and literally jumped. Anyways the gauge reads empty/discharged. So I figure why not see how much more I could discharge, pressed the lever an nothing comes out. Even when I initially discharged it not much stuff came out, it was just some gray and brown color sand stuff.

What is the shelf life of a regular household fire extinguisher? From what I find about 10 years then replace it. I always thought that if the gauge reads full then its good.

 

[Barkleymut]

I still have one that has to be 25 years old. Every 2 or 3 years i barely hit the trigger to see if anything comes out. Nowadays you can buy pretty generic looking ones at Sams or Costco for a pretty small amount. Just another one of those things I SHOULD do.

 

[mongo161]

You can bring your fire extinguisher to your local fire house and have them look at it and usually if it needs re-charging they will do it for you. They do this in the NYC area....so I'm sure they will in do the same in Frisco.

 

[Gary Allan]

I don't know the shelf life, per se~, but I take it this has no gauge. Once a dry chemical extinguisher has been discharged, even for a second, the seal is compromised by the chemical particles. It will soon be out of propellant.

 

[Eddie]

I googled to get a good answer. A home type dry chemical is listed as having a shelve life of 5 to 6 years. I have also read other sourses that even if the gage on a dry chem type shows pressure that the power can cake and not work properly. Reminds me that my garage DC unit is 12 years old.

 

[simple_gifts]

Quote:

I always thought that if the gauge reads full then its good.


I thought the dry chem ones were subject to caking. A good rotation every few months might be prudent.

 

[huffmuds9320]

Originally Posted By: mongo161
You can bring your fire extinguisher to your local fire house and have them look at it and usually if it needs re-charging they will do it for you. They do this in the NYC area....so I'm sure they will in do the same in Frisco.


I actually stopped by the local fire station and asked if they recharge or recycle fire extinguishers and they said they don't. So ended up just hauling it to the local disposal facility when I needed to drop off all my automotive and household waste.

Originally Posted By: simple_gifts
Quote:

I always thought that if the gauge reads full then its good.


I thought the dry chem ones were subject to caking. A good rotation every few months might be prudent.


Yeah I didn't know about maintenance anything back then. It does seem like a good idea to rotate it once in a while so the stuff doesn't clump up. So basically that thing just sat in the garage collecting dust.

 

[The_Jeff]

I think only the good ones are refillable, like the commercial duty ones. The $8 walmart ones are disposable. I don't trust the cheezy little gauges: they never move, so they might get sticky?

I used to work on a summer-only island that had heavy charged water ones that were just charged up with an air compressor and tap water. Every winter they'd get dumped.

 

[Spazdog]

The city makes us have our shop extiguishers "certified" every year.

It costs only about $5 less per extinguisher than just purchasing a new commercial fire extinguisher.

It appears that the "inspector" just hangs new tags on them.

 

[40xring]

As time goes by the dry powder in an extinguisher will settle to the lower portion of containment. Up side down, right side up, etc. This is caused by environmental vibrations.

When the "trigger" has been used as a test, the on-off mechanism will be possibily contaminated by the contents, causing leakage of pressure.

Test the extinguisher by tapping it on a hard surface.

Concrete floor, etc.

If it feels solid, rather than "rubbery", turn it upside down and tap it with a hammer, this will loosen the contents.

Try it again on a hard surface, if the extinguisher feels "rubbery", it may be useable, if there is propellant.

"Rubbery" is the only tactile sensation I can come up with to define when the contents of a fire extinguisher are viable.

If you need to use one, turn it upside down and bang it against a hard surface to mix up the components before use.

If you have many, and you should, do not place them where you think a fire will start.

What are you going to do when your extinguisher is in the fire???

Place them at the exits, because you now have a chance.

40xring