What Do You All Do for Fire Extinguishers?

[MartyO]

Firday night we were working in my home shop.

We had a back fire through a carb on a car we were working on and there was a small fire. Luckily the car was outside the shop in the driveway. We could not snuff the fire out with rags, so I had to resort to using one of the fire extinguishers in the shop. It was a 4A 10:BC unit and made quick work dousing the fire before it was a problem for the car or surrounding property.

This incident got me to thinking, what is enough fire protection?

How many, what size, and what type extinguishers do you have around your shop?

Thoughts/comments/discussion please.

 

[nissan_crawler]

I have 3 abc units in the garage, and one in the house. I also found a nozzle for the garden hose that doesn't leak (had it for 9 years now), and it stays on all the time, ready to go. The hose has came in handy several times, haven't had to use an extinguisher, yet. I also have an extinguisher in every vehicle.

I only have a 19x23 garage.

I also never run an engine without an air cleaner. I haven't came across anything that required me to do it yet, other than saving a few seconds. I learned that lesson. Yeah, it's a bit of a pain, but the air cleaner goes back on now, every time.

 

[5lima30]

I have an ABC rated fire extinguisher in both the house and garage. They are both commercial serviceable types. I also keep a good sized squirt water bottle near the welder for the minor welding type fires. (That saves the ABC for the serious stuff.) YMMV.

 

[Vicegrip]

5 pound dry ABC at the entrance to landry room another is at the top of the steps to the downstairs another one in the kitchen brom closet. 3 in the shop. A small ABC dry powder on the tool cart, a 5 pound dry next to the door and a CO2 on the welding cart. 2 pound dry in the PU truck and both track cars have built in 10 pound Halon systems.

Over a hundred at work. 5, 10 and 20 pound ABC dry, a mix of CO2 and four large type D for metal fires.

 

[ptschram]

I have four 2-1/2# dry chemical strategically placed around the shop. A 10# ABC right by the main entrance door. A 50# CO2, a 25# dry chemical, and a few 15# dry chemical around the shop.

I don't want to have to go more than ten feet to find a fire extinguisher in my shop.

I too have a garden hose that's on all the time with two spigots, one in front, one in the back.

I also have a 2-1/2 gallon "hudson" style tank sprayer filled with water and labeled "FIRE" on it. when welding or cutting, it's really handy to have such a thing nearby, I encourage everyone to hit their local big box vendor to get at least one as they are so handy.

Quite often, "take-outs" are available on eBay inexpensively. I bought four 2# dry chemical fire extinguishers that had come out of a college dormitory after only two years.

I don't think you have too many fire extinguishers, especially if you're in an old barn like I am.

 

[Stephenw]

http://shopngarage.com/2010/12/fire-extinguisher/

 

[ARAMP1]

I've got several fire extinguishers throughout the house and garage and one in each vehicle. You never know when it's going to be needed.

 

[mikester]

Ive got a few dry chem extinguishers around but I have a halon in each truck. Now that you cant get them refilled I hope I never have the need to use them !

 

[BHR4CE1]

I got those ceiling mounted units from Griots. I put 4 on the ceiling in the garage; spaced as recommended. See pic below...

 

[Stephenw]

I got those ceiling mounted units from Griots.

By the time the flames are high enough to open the heads on those, do you think they will be able to have any effect on the fire?

 

[holdover]

All vehicles have a dry chem, in my garage I have seven - one on each side of the garage door, next to the people door, two near the work bench, one each midway down the side walls, plus a water fire extinguisher where I weld and a few squirt bottles of water. In the lein-to attached to the garage one in the front and one half way down the wall. Plus a waterhose in the garage. Some might say bit of an overkill, but being a firefighter, we respond to a lot of garage fires, don't want that to happen in my garage.

In the house I have halon(so there won't be a big mess to clean up) in the kitchen, laundry room, top of the basement stairs at the bottom of the stairs, near the work bench downstairs and one about 10' away from the oil burner. Never had a fire, but I'm ready

When I think about it the garage is the most expensive room I have, '65 mustang, '67 mustang, RX7 Hot rod, 2012 mustang, 2002 explorer, 2003 ranger, 2004 ranger, 2005 miata, two 4 post lifts, lathe, welders, drill press compressor, and a ton of tools and supplies. It all adds up to big money and thing that would be difficult to replace

 

[Warrenator]

I keep a halon and a dry chemical, I had to use a dry chemical one at work a few years ago and it was a real mess to clean up, like half an hour of wiping to get up all the powder. The powder is gritty and would probably destroy an engine if it went into the cylinders.

The Halon ones are best to use around machiniery, no residue, CO2 is better if you think you will use it much because it is much much much cheaper to refill. Also no residue, if you use either one in an enclosed garage though GET OUT INTO FRESH AIR it doesn't take much CO2 to deaden you.

 

[Ray-CA]

By the time the flames are high enough to open the heads on those, do you think they will be able to have any effect on the fire?

From the web site "This unit releases the dry powder when the room reaches a temperature of 155° F." They are not dependent on flames for release of the chemical fire retardant but temperature.

Ray

 

[DoyleDee]

I have a few abc extinguishers and two refillable water extinguishers (uses air pressure to spray out the water- they are very effective for welding fires...even had a "fire" training for my kids with small live fires)( I also had my water hose,several abc units and both of the water extinguishers on hand for that- they only used the water extinguishers)

 

[Stephenw]

From the web site "This unit releases the dry powder when the room reaches a temperature of 155° F." They are not dependent on flames for release of the chemical fire retardant but temperature.

Ray

I should have worded that better.

I meant...

By the time the fire is big enough to activate the fusible link in the heads, do you think they will be able to have any effect on the fire?

 

[ddawg16]

I should have worded that better.

I meant...

By the time the fire is big enough to activate the fusible link in the heads, do you think they will be able to have any effect on the fire?

Heat rises.....any fire is going to raise the temp up there real fast....I bet the hard part for the manuf was how to make them so the 'didn't' open too soon.

I think it's a good setup.....

I have 2 in the garage....one at the man door and one at the spiral stairs accessable from from either floor...

1 in the kitchen....and one in the jeep.

Of course I'm of the mind set that I would rather not have a fire in the first place....I'm real carefull about what I have that could cause a fire...one of the reasons I'm close to getting rid of my gas mower in favor of a cordless one.

 

[ptschram]

I keep a halon and a dry chemical, I had to use a dry chemical one at work a few years ago and it was a real mess to clean up, like half an hour of wiping to get up all the powder. The powder is gritty and would probably destroy an engine if it went into the cylinders.

The Halon ones are best to use around machiniery, no residue, CO2 is better if you think you will use it much because it is much much much cheaper to refill. Also no residue, if you use either one in an enclosed garage though GET OUT INTO FRESH AIR it doesn't take much CO2 to deaden you.

We've rebuilt two trucks that were fire victims. The material in a dry chemical extinguisher is a horribly corrosive salt that will rust everything instantly. Imagine a salt on hot metal and how quickly it will rust.

Sodium phosphate, maybe ammonium phosphate, IIRC.

 

[frank_c]

got a couple in the garage and a couple in the house. one under the sink, and the other right at the foot of the steps in the basement.

you may have heard about a little Ohio town that had a gas line problem back in January...that was here. the pilots on my boiler and water heater blew out and were flamethrowers. called the FD before i knew the whole town was affected, and they were already on other calls, so i grabbed the kitchen extinguisher and put out the pilots. after that i bought two new extinguishers and left one downstairs. it was probably a once in a lifetime thing, but you never know.

i have a couple of the old water/air pressure ones, too, but those are now heavy-duty Super Soakers. had 'em about 20 years or so, got 'em from the old building we worked in.

 

[tolken4]

Front of garage

Back of garage by door to house.

 

[KrisKustomPaint]

Sand works great for magnesium fires. Isn't Halon super expensive? I'd rather use that for the garage and the ABC's for the kitchen. Every had to clean up fire extinguisher mess from an engine bay? No thank you. Who cares about the kitchen that's women's work.

 

[Jack Olsen]

The one car I keep in my garage has a lot of magnesium in it. I've got a hand-held extinguisher and a full three-outlet Halon system built into it. But that's really only there to help long enough for me get out of the car after a fire or crash.

The garage itself has six extinguishers. Two 10-lb Amerexes by each exit corner, one 5-lb at the back, and one pressurized water unit under a bench for welding flare-ups.

I hope I never have to use any of them.

 

[KrisKustomPaint]

Not to get too far off topic, but aren't they trying to phase out Halon?

 

[NUTTSGT]

Not to get too far off topic, but aren't they trying to phase out Halon?

Halon is basically gone. Anything that had Halon in it will get it's replacement when it's recharged or serviced /hydro tested.

I believe I remember reading, that there a couple places that Halon could still be used but it's extrememly rare, aerospace or computer industry, someplace where 99.99% of will never go. It's been awhile since I read that though and maybe that has changed.

I have a few extinguishers in the garage. along with my small collection, which I think I posted a picture of in a similar thread.

If you're going to buy an extinguisher, know how to use it. A small one in the hand of an experienced person is better than a big one in the hands of somebody that does not know how to use it. Something as simple as a wet rag or squirt bottle of water can make a big difference in the extinguishment of a small fire. (how most of them start)

 

[Charles (in GA)]

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=57455

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=61428

A couple of previous FE threads you might find useful.

Charles

 

[55chevr]

I have the basic general purpose ABC 5 lb bottle plus a 10 lb CO2 for engine fires. I also keep a pressurized water extinguisher to squirt the kids with or who knows, might need it if the other 2 run out ...

 

[copterdoctor]

we've got one under the kitchen sink, one in the laundry room (gas dryer), one in the mechanical room, 2 in the garage. All ABC.
I've also got about 25-30 small halon extinguishers. They're from a company I used to work for that was just going to get rid of them once they found out halon couldn't be recharged. So I grabbed them. there's 2 of those in each car. the rest are in a box in the garage...

 

[Gooman24]

The one car I keep in my garage has a lot of magnesium in it. I've got a hand-held extinguisher and a full three-outlet Halon system built into it. But that's really only there to help long enough for me get out of the car after a fire or crash.

The garage itself has six extinguishers. Two 10-lb Amerexes by each exit corner, one 5-lb at the back, and one pressurized water unit under a bench for welding flare-ups.

I hope I never have to use any of them.

The one thing I wanted to add to this was brand. I only saw it mentioned in your post. My local sprinkler and fire service company's owner has told me many horror stories about kiddie and other lower cost extinguishers. Plastic parts in side. Poor quality fit leading to failure when they are needed. Amerex is one of the brands he recommends. He has shown me the insides with all steel parts and what looks like high quality construction as well as showing me the insides of the ones I used to own(kiddie). The kiddie did hold up real well as both an exstinguisher and a battering ram(I took a door down with it in the one fire I was ever in) but I am told I was lucky and from the looks of the insides and construction I believe it. Your best bet is to check with a local service co. Talk with the people there and you will be able to tell if they know their stuff or not and then go from there. The company I deal with inspects every unit going out the door before it is sold(new ones) right in front of you. Last I knew HD and lowes just put them in the cart. Once I dealt with a real fire equip. CO I never looked back.

 

[gabeancounter]

Opinions on the following fire extinguishers? Which one is better? Ok to buy used?

 

[Mike662]

gabeancounter, the quick answer is that both are good.

Quick lesson (and other GJ firefighters, please jump in here)....

Fire extinguishers are rated according to their ability to put out certain types of fires. Class "A" fires are "ordinary" combustibles (wood, paper, plastic, etc), class "B" fires are flammible liquids, class "C" fires are electrical, and the (much less common) class "D" fires are combustible metals (magnesium, sodium, etc).

So, an extinguisher referred to as "ABC" is effective in fighting A, B, and C type fires.

There will also be a number before some of the letters, like "1A10BC". The higher the number, the greater the amount of that kind of fire that the extinguisher will put out. So, a "5A" extinguisher will hypothetically put out an ordinary combustible fire 5 times larger than a "1A" extinguisher.

There are two kinds of extinguishers in the CL add. The one on the left is a dry chemical, and the one on the right is a CO2 (carbon dioxide). ABC dry chem is a very good all-around choice, with the disadvantage of being really messy. CO2 extinguishers are usually fairly effective against flammible liquid fires (and somewhat less effective against other class fires), with the advantage of not making a huge mess.

So, together these would make a good combo. IMHO, if you only have one kind of extinguisher in your garage, it should be an ABC dry chemical.

Oh, one more thing about buying used. In either case, I would have the unit checked by a shop that does that sort of work (check the yellow pages or ask your local FD who they use). Also, there is a gauge on the dry chem, but CO2 units don't have gauges (never understood why that is). So you won't know by looking at it if the CO2 is charged or not.

 

[gabeancounter]

Mike, thanks for the reply.

We have our annual fire extinguisher inspection at work next month. I guess we have around 100 extinguishers. They charge $7 each to inpsect and retag the units. I am sure I could pay the $7 fee and have these certified.

I guess I will pickup 5 of these for the basement, garage and kitchen.

 

[Professur]

The CO2 doesn't have a gauge because it's a liquid, not a compressed gas. You check it's fill by weight, not pressure.

One thing I'd like to append it that there is a cooling factor with a good extinguisher... to help prevent re-ignition. A powder extinguisher lacks that effect. My usual extinguisher is my spare 10lbs CO2 welding tank.

 

[White 99]

I did a little research and I think I will be looking for a couple B, C type with Purple K and have a water type A to go along with them and get rid of the ABC cheapies. The A, B, C, ones are a real mess and will corrode metal and is very hard to get off. The chemical is designed to stick and will melt into seams. CO2 would be real nice or the Halon replacements; but a little more expensive.

As a little note the C part means it won't conduct electricity as opposed to an electrical fire; probably spliting hairs here. I think most will qualify as C rated.

I havn't look much but I think I can get used larger units at the local extinguisher service place. Ebay has some used units but it seems hard to tell the quality. I am watching craigslist also.

 

[NUTTSGT]

The lower brands or plastic ones are not complete junk. They are what they are, a cheaper line of home defense. Where the higher dollar ones with metal nozzles shine is they can be refilled and used again.
Even the good ones from Amerex can have problems, the dry chem in an extinguisher can settle and clump up over time. This the exact same thing that a cheaper one will do to. That is why we recommend that once a month, take the extinguisher, turn it upside down and shake for 5-10 seconds. You can feel the dry chem moving around inside. Also make sure nobody has stuck anything inside of the hose/nozzle or horn of the extinguisher, this could cause a failure when it's needed the most.
Those extinguishers in the Craigslist ad are priced right if they have been serviced and up to date. I'd have no problem buying a used extinguisher, if it's a good one. Just take a look at it. Is the pin in it with the plastic keeper ? Does it have a tag with a date of service tag on it? Is the hose/nozzle or horn in good shape ?

 

[Professur]

If you're looking for good and cheap .. watch for businesses going under, auctions and the like.

 

[BBQ&Love]

Heat rises.....

Side note. Pet peeve. Heat doesn't rise in of itself. Hot liquids and hot gasses rise but heat in of itself goes in any direction it can.

Sorry in advance to be ****.

 

[eldirector]

If you're looking for good and cheap .. watch for businesses going under, auctions and the like.

Good advice. I picked many of mine up from a shop that closed. 2 10# ABCs at the front of the garage, a 5# by the man door, a 2.5# under the bench, and a couple of small one-shot cans over the bench. I also have a spray bottle of water handy for the little stuff, and a bucket of sand (good for spills, too).

The attached garage has two more (a 10# and a 5#), the kitchen has a CO2 under the sink (and a huge box of baking soda nearby), a 2.5# in my home office, and a 5# in the master bedroom.

And I still have about 5 more "empties" I need to get inspected and filled. Got all but 2 of these (and the one-shots) for under $200 on Craiglist from a machine shop that closed down.

 

[Brad54]

I'm finally getting the interior of my shop set up after 8 years of "getting by" in it.

Shop is 32x40; this is the 40-foot wall, in my work area. The rest of the wall is a sink, urinal, and 10x10 office, so I don't think I need another one here. I will be doing fabrication work in this area, so sparks, welding and torches are the source of fires. I also have a simple spray bottle of water for when I weld, and my welding cart will have an extinguisher on it.
This bottle is a small 2.5 pound ABC. A 5 pound might be better.

I have this same set-up on the opposite wall of the shop.

I also have a 7 pound ABC I need to have recharged, and a big old CO2. I will keep the CO2 extinguisher hung on the wall in the same manner, over by where I work on cars to do engine swaps, etc.

The walls are 12 feet tall, so the "Fire Extinguisher" arrows are about 8 feet high, so everyone in the shop can see them over the top of cars, etc.

I know where my extinguishers are... my friends who come over and work in the shop with me do not, and my son probably isn't real up on it either. So the big reason for the red boxes and the signs is for people who come over to hang in the shop.

I have a lot of signs on the walls (they're not up on this wall yet), so when people come in, they always look around and see what's hanging up. For this reason, the red rectangles and the Fire Extinguisher signs will get their attention very quickly when they get into the shop, and they'll know where the extinguishers are hanging.

The rectangles are 10x20 inches, red Rustoleum rattle can.

For scale, the metal on the wall is 4 feet tall, that's a 4-inch tall chair rail, and the top of the drill press is 6 feet tall. The vise table is three feet long. The shelf is seven feet tall.

-Brad

 

[Professur]

Has anyone ever tried the Cold Fire extinguishers?

 

[slickgt1]

I have a bunch of ABC serviceable ones.

Saved my *** once. I was using my roofing torch, on the roof, and some old tar caught fire *********. Tried to smother it, nope. Grabbed the extinguisher, and about 1/10th of my roof was white. Messy as hell, but did quick work of burning tar. I always have two on hand just in case one fails. Plus a last chance effort 5 gal bucket of water.

 

[Corins]

Side note. Pet peeve. Heat doesn't rise in of itself. Hot liquids and hot gasses rise but heat in of itself goes in any direction it can.

Hot smoke, or hot air would be a hot gas would it not? The heat in the attic in my garage after installing my new heater would argue with your idea that heat doesn't rise. Heater on blast, temp in garage ~10C, temp in attic ~18-20C, temp outside ~7C.