FIRE! (um, Extinguishers)

[Lassen Forge]

After putting it off for way too long, I took 2 of my old and faithful extinguishers - both 10 pound chemicals, and had them for years - to the FE place to have them tested and charged. Used to get it done at work for free every year (when they did the work ones, they'd let us bring ours in for free - as long as they weren't the el cheapo kind) but that's been years, so bit the bullet. Didn't know just how big the bullet was...

He looked at the first one, and said "It's a General". I said so what, he tells me they went out of business - 13 years ago. No parts available, sorry, no can do. I tell him it worked last month... he says I'm lucky. I said... "Drat". (Ok, you know that's not what I really said...)



So he grabs the other one - an old Amarex that used to live in my truck box - and as he goes to take it to the back to do the deed... something caught his attention, he turns it over, sees this dent in the side, and tells me... "See this dent? I can't pressurize it, sorry, it's a dead soldier as well". Again, I said Drat. More like Drat Drat!. And phooey, and fiddlesticks, and all kinds of other interesting things.



So I have a pair of shiny new extinguishers (one's a Class A, and it *is* shiny)... the guy said "I'll throw the bad ones out for you... unless you want to keep them". Not being one to throw away something I spent a hundred bucks apiece on, I kept them... but then I started thinking - What DO I do with them?

So I thought of my buds here, thinking "Y'all'l know what to do with these things". Any ideas what I can use these allegedly deceased 10 pounders for?

 

[jakemac]

After they're depressurized and cleaned, you can turn them into lamps.

 

[oscar80]

Bell?

 

[Rogue1987]

I've got an old dry powder extinguisher I painted blue and fill with water and pressurize to put out any annoying fires that may start when welding. Maybe an option for one you don't want to really use for true fire extinguisher service?

I'm surprised the shop didn't have any used and rebuilt units to sell to you since they were for home use and not commercial use. Our place has done that with extinguishers that were manufactured before the cut off date (thought it was in the 80's, someone here will know).

 

[signcrafter]

At a certain time point are fire extinguishers considered "junk"? I have a half dozen decent quality ones that I have had in the garage for 10-15 years. They all say "charged" or "good" or whatever the green part on the dial says. Are they still good as long as the needle is in the green part of the dial? Or after so many years are they just boat anchors?

 

[Farmall 1066]

I made a couple into water type by dumping out powder and drill/tap for a Schraeder valve.
Used for mammoth water fight on Seniors last day of high school.

25 years later, they ride on my tractor and baler, for fire protection. One on portable welding rig too.

Police chief had NO sense of humor when we soaked him!
Also recall we made these in shop class, with full knowledge by our instructor as to the intended purpose!

 

[cattoon]

One of the risks with dry chemical is that over extended time hanging the powder has a tendency to clump and not flow. Not a bad idea to occasionally turn them upside down and shake them to loosen the powder. If they are indicating pressure they should be reliable, in theory, as long as the pressure guage needle isn't hung.

 

[RedneckWelder]

One of the risks with dry chemical is that over extended time hanging the powder has a tendency to clump and not flow. Not a bad idea to occasionally turn them upside down and shake them to loosen the powder. If they are indicating pressure they should be reliable, in theory, as long as the pressure guage needle isn't hung.

I like to turn mine upside down and smack them with a deadblow hammer to loosen the powder.

 

[mrtoolfool]

I like to turn mine upside down and smack them with a deadblow hammer to loosen the powder.

++

As long as the hydo date is OK the fire equipment company does this every year when they come to inspect and tag the ones at my store,

If the hydo is out of date it is about as cheap to replace with new ones.

 

[Lassen Forge]

Out here IIRC the "cut into little pieces" daye is 30 years, UNLESS you can get someone to do a rebuild and restock "under the table"... Plus, since I do welding, hot work, AND work on vheicles I wanted a commercial unit. (Once you've dealt with a car fire or 2, you find you want everything you can throw at it!)...

I almost went with foam units, but they were 2x as much. The old Halon ones worked awesome (we used to keep one in the trunk of each car), too bad they're banned, but they *will* (OK, *did*) put out a car fire *right now*, and cool stuff to where you can cut main cables.

Thanks for the ideas... I like the water extinguisher idea, may have to paint them silver or something (so I don't dump one on a gasoline or electrical fire), but that seems like the best idea. Wasn't sure if that works, but if someone else is doing it and they work, hey, works for me! Like usual... you guys rock!

 

[Wrenchinfool]

Bullets vs fire extinguisher...

 

[Farmall 1066]

They work great, Lassen Forge. Water gets a slight rust tinge to it, and they obviously need to be kept from freezing. I sometimes use them to wet down an area before welding or cutting outside too.

 

[NUTTSGT]

We've had people bring us the el cheapo ones with plastic heads asn ask about servicing them. The local places won't refill them so we dispose of them for the citizens. Empty them into the dumpster and then toss the FE in when empty.

The older extinguishers that belong to the city go to the city auction when they are condemned.

 

[NUTTSGT]

I like to turn mine upside down and smack them with a deadblow hammer to loosen the powder.

I might add "carefully" or "lightly" as some people tend to take smacking them as beating the hell out of them resulting in the bottom of the extinguisher beaten in.

 

[airrj]

One of the risks with dry chemical is that over extended time hanging the powder has a tendency to clump and not flow. Not a bad idea to occasionally turn them upside down and shake them to loosen the powder.

Actually there is no risk of the agent clumping in a stored-pressure extinguisher. That is only a risk in a cartridge extinguisher. Inverting or tapping has been done historically, but it is not required by NFPA 10 for the monthly or the annual inspection. Checkout here for an explanation from Amerex:

http://amerex-fire.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Extinguisher-Myth-1.pdf

 

[michiganman18]

... we might shoot them.... in a safe environment of course

 

[Rarified27]

I've had a few made into lamps and some just cleaned up for show.

However, these were all the kind with the rivets that they banned since people were being injured by them.

 

[kellykungfu]

I've seen old ones turned into wind chimes, no kidding. I actually have a few in the garage but no time to do it myself.

Heres some generic pictures from google:
https://www.google.com/search?q=fir...a=X&ei=PaorVfjEAcL8oQTk34GgCg&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAg

 

[ezover]

nothing here to read, keep going