Facts About Fire Extinguishers

Fire extinguishers are fascinating products. You may store them around your home for years in anticipation of 30 seconds of use, if you ever use them at all. After just one use, they must either be refilled or replaced.

A few facts about fire extinguishers:

• There are three common classes of fires: Class A, B and C. It’s likely your extinguisher contains dry chemical foam that works on all three types (your extinguisher should say on the label what types of fires it can put out).
• Different fire extinguishers work to remove the different ingredients of fire: water extinguishers remove heat, while carbon dioxide and dry chemicals remove oxygen.
• Most extinguishers only carry a small amount of fire-suppressant material, which can be used up in a matter of seconds.
• The tank of a fire extinguisher is made of highly-recyclable steel, while the spraying mechanism contains brass and plastic.
• An empty fire extinguisher is completely recyclable (assuming the top is off), while a filled extinguisher should be treated as hazardous waste.
• The hazardous classification of fire extinguishers comes more from their potential to explode if compressed (in a truck or a landfill) than the ingredients inside the extinguisher.
• In the U.S., there is a fire code requiring maintenance of fire extinguishers once per year to make sure they are charged and in working order.
• You can refill a fire extinguisher once its contents have been discharged.