fire extinguishers

Are they worth recharging or do I throw them in the trash and buy new?

Should have kept a better eye on them.

Rod

I could tell you how to recharge your extinguisher (or you could easily figure it out for yourself), but what would be the point? An appropriate fire extinguisher is an extremely valuable piece of safety equipment---more fires in commercial establishments are put out with fire extinguishers than any other way. Having a fire extinguisher that you couldn't be sure would work might be worse in some ways than not having one at all.

By the way, by "appropriate" fire extinguisher, I mean one that is right for the type of fire you think is most likely. A CO2 extinguisher, for instance, is great for liquid combustibles and electrical fires, but a poor choice for solid combustibles---it has no quenching capability, and, contrary to what navy enlisted men always used to claim, it doesn't have much cooling capability, either. In the shop of that company I worked for in Honolulu, there were virtually unlimited CO2 extinguishers waiting to be hydro tested, and we had a beer party every Friday after work. We always fired off the CO2 to chill our beer, and it never chilled it very much. On a complete footnote, I was later a bartender at a bar that catered to locals, not tourists, and a lot of locals drank their beer at room temperature, and others drank beer with ice in it. They're different there.

Stan

If you want to keep the ones that still show pressure, might want to turn them over and shake the powder loose once a year. It tends to settle and compact in the bottom.

To get the rechargeable ones, you'll need to get into the $60 range. They still need to be inspected annually, and tested every 12 years.

Repressurized, no chemical. $20.00

6 year service, $25.00. Shake chemical check gage, repressurize.

12 year service check pressure tank, check chemical, repressurize. $40.00

Can't be serviced if plastic valve. I think I'm out of luck. Probably have to buy new.

Greg

I prefer carbon dioxide extinguishers. They are heavy. They have their limits, but they can be used on nearly everything, and when done, the stuff just evaporates.

Good for "runaway" first=time=started engines. Deprive the engine of oxygen, provide plenty of carbon dioxide, and combustion comes to a halt, temporarily.

D.