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Posted by Oren on April 4, 2008, 6:32 pm
wrote:
>salty@dog.com wrote:
>> wrote:
>>
>>> salty@dog.com wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> I have several small ABC Kiddie fire extinguishers. Most are mounted
>>>>> near an exterior door. I have one in the kitchen, basement shop,
>>>>> garage, and truck. The pressure dial shows the extinguisher has
>>>>> pressure and should be periodically inspected. An open box of
>>>>> baking soda near the stove is very effective for grease fires. The
>>>>> thing to keep in mind is to have the extinguishers ready and easily
>>>>> accessible. Hopefully, you won't ever have to use one.
>>>> Here's another good tip: Every month or so, take each extinguisher off its
>>>> bracket and shake it vigorously until you can hear the powder moving
inside. If
>>>> they hand for long periods, the gauge will still say they are good, but the
>>>> powder will haved settled itself into a solid lump and the extinguisher
will not
>>>> work.
>>>>
>>>>
>>> It takes a lot longer then a month for the chemical to compact to a non
>>> flowing state. Follow the instructions on the label that contains the
>>> listing mark. You only need to take it off of the hook once every six
>>> months. You then simply invert it and wait for the powder to fall
>>> loosely to the top of the cylinder. You can feel the powder drop. Do
>>> not pound or shake! If the powder doesn't fall loose on it's own the
>>> extinguisher should be serviced or replaced. Turn the extinguisher
>>> right side up and put it back on the bracket.
>>
>> So, you are claiming that stirring up the powder more frequently to
>> PREVENT it from caking is not as good as waiting to do it until after
>> it already starts to settle and cake? Okay!
>>
>
>I'm saying that the powder will not cake in that short a time unless
>there is something wrong with it. Some examples of the something wrong
>are moisture in the cylinder, mixing of incompatible powders, or over
>charging of the unit with too much chemical.
>
>Shaking the extinguisher seems to make sense at the intuitive level but
>it is not, in fact, best practice. By shaking the extinguisher you may
>break up the caking into lumps that will plug the nozzle orifice during
>use preventing the extinguisher from discharging at the point when you
>need it most.
>
>By doing as I've described you have an opportunity to detect a problem
>with the extinguisher prior to a need arising. If you shake or bang the
>extinguisher around you are more likely to conceal a defect then you are
>to clear one.
>
>I base this on three years of work as a fire extinguisher technician in
>California were the fire code requires that all extinguishers be torn
>down annually instead of at the National Fire Protection Association
>recommended interval of six years. During that time I found many
>extinguishers that had been rendered inoperative by an incompetent
>service technician's work the previous year but I never found one
>inoperative due to chemical caking except were the extinguisher had been
>improperly charged with damp air rather then dry nitrogen and when
>incompatible chemicals had been mixed. I serviced literally several
>thousand extinguishers during that period. I have been involved in the
>fire and rescue service in many capacities since that time. I've
>personally inspected hundreds of fire extinguishers using the method
>I've suggested. I've found two, that I can recall, were the powder
>would not fall of it's own weight and both were in need of servicing. I
>only did the follow up work on one of them and found that the
>extinguisher had been improperly charged with incompatible chemicals.
>On the other one the follow up was done by the Fire Marshall's office
>because it involved a day care center. I never heard what the cause of
>that one needing service was. I do know that during subsequent company
>in service inspections of that premise that extinguisher behaved as it
>should have with the powder falling loose of it's own weight.
>
>It's just a suggestion sir. Do it however you like but you won't find
>one manufacturers recommendation or one set of "labeled" maintenance
>instructions that directs the shaking or striking of the extinguisher.
Thanks for posting.
I've inspected thousands of extinguishers over years and years. They
had vanilla cards; dates and initials were required for the inspection
date. We followed the safety managers policy. Never once did we shake
a unit. They were rotated as necessary.
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