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Do you have a fire extinguisher on hand? (lemmy.nz)

submitted 11 months ago by luthis@lemmy.nz to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

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This is going to be more of a life pro tip, but trying to reach the largest audience here.

Just had a frantic neighbour knocking at my door saying there is a fire in her oven.

I was over there in under 60 seconds with the fire extinguisher. There was a pot of oil on fire wedged between the element and the rack. No way to quickly and safely remove it, so I blasted it.

If I had tried to remove the pan, it's likely it would have ended up spilling burning oil everywhere and making the situation much worse. Now they just have a house full of dust to clean.

Will replace our extinguisher today and am considering buying a few more to gift this Christmas.

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[–] gullible@kbin.social 9 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Fire extinguishers are worthless to most. Now hear me out. Most fire extinguishers go bad after ~a year of immobility and tend to be kept for several years after. When a fire breaks out, every second matters and fetching a worthless fire extinguisher costs time that no one has.

If you buy someone a fire extinguisher, you have to take on a degree of stewardship and explain the issue. You become fire extinguisher tech support. Set a calendar for them to periodically turn their fire extinguisher or it’s a paperweight. My father burned down the kitchen in an oil fire but luckily had a hand-me-down fire extinguisher to frustratedly shake for a minute. If you give, expect to educate.

[–] ExLisper@linux.community 5 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I don't think that's true anymore. It used to be the case in older types that the powder inside would clamp after some time but the new powders don't do it. You just have to make sure that the gas is still pressurized inside.

[–] gamermanh@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Every fire extinguisher we use at my workplace has to be recertified yearly, even the brand spanking new ones

Fire guy doing it has told me that even modern ones still can go bad from just sitting there for a year

[–] ExLisper@linux.community 5 points 11 months ago

I've just looked it up and as I've said: extinguisher can last up to 20 years and you only have to check the gas pressure and if there is any psychical damage. But I know that in old extinguishers the powder inside could clamp up and proper way to use it was to shake it first. Hasn't been the case for quite some time now.

[–] luthis@lemmy.nz 4 points 11 months ago

Good tips, but FWIW ours has been sitting around for probably over a decade and it worked just fine