fire extinguisher

Neither. I have a Water Mist extinguisher, safe on a wider range of fires including electrical up to 1,000V. Dry powder does too much damage and CO2 is not to be used on A Class fires (wood, paper or anything that produces ash).

Water Mist Fire Extinguishers - For Most Types of Fire

Water mist fire extinguishers are suitable for Class A, B & C fires and safe for live electrical equipment. Free delivery on selected products. 5-year warranty.
www.safelincs.co.uk www.safelincs.co.uk
 
Not sure what's best but dry powder makes a hell of a mess and you never ever get rid of it ... ever! Nowadays the slightest sight of it by customs would ensure that you got up close and personal with some of the the Drug Enforcement officials! :oops:
 
Pausim said:
Neither. I have a Water Mist extinguisher, safe on a wider range of fires including electrical up to 1,000V. Dry powder does too much damage and CO2 is not to be used on A Class fires (wood, paper or anything that produces ash).

Water Mist Fire Extinguishers - For Most Types of Fire

Water mist fire extinguishers are suitable for Class A, B & C fires and safe for live electrical equipment. Free delivery on selected products. 5-year warranty.
www.safelincs.co.uk www.safelincs.co.uk
Click to expand...
Ditto for sure. A bit mor expensive but if needed to be used then saves lots of damage to the fabric as well as putting the fire out

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Dry powder for me every time, yes it makes a mess but it does clean up (I have done so on many occasions following training and public demonstrations) and is very efficient no matter who uses it, water mist are good but cost and size for same level of effectiveness is higher, the main issue with CO2 is they do not last long and when used by untrained people they are generally wasted due to the shock of the noise when activated, they also need to be correctly directed to the base of the flame to be effective.
 
Got rid of powder ones after reading reports of horrendous mess, as well as damage caused by intake to the Diesel engines of boats. Moved to Firepal nano (similar to water mist?).
 
I use Firetool extinguishers in both my vehicles. Compact, and safe for use on any type of fire. Fire Safety Sticks are very similar.
I also carry a powder extinguisher in the cab of my van, as a cheaper backup, and I have a fire blanket.
I did a training course with the Fire Brigade on operating various types of fire extinguishers as I was a fire marshall at a previous job.

firetool.co.uk
 
Just a few month ago a longish thread covered your question, with some answers from professionals....worth searching for it..

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Tonks said:
I use Firetool extinguishers in both my vehicles. Compact, and safe for use on any type of fire. Fire Safety Sticks are very similar.
I also carry a powder extinguisher in the cab of my van, as a cheaper backup, and I have a fire blanket.
I did a training course with the Fire Brigade on operating various types of fire extinguishers as I was a fire marshall at a previous job.

firetool.co.uk
Click to expand...
Just looked at Firetool's videos ... can't say I'm that happy with it taking longer to extinguish a fire than the C02 and that you need to get closer to the fire to use it efficiently, also that once the container is empty that's it whereas with a C02 one you can continue if needs be.
 
Water mist is the way to go these days. The one extinguisher that does it all. Solids, liquids, gas, fats, electricals without leaving a mess behind that it sometimes worse than the fire. CO2 are pretty hopeless. They extinguish things immediately, but don't actually cool things down (despite the ice on the nozzle). Therefore, as soon as you stop, up it goes again. If mist is too expensive, I'd go for AFFF.
 
I think the reason why CO2 should not be used on wood, paper etc is that it can blast hot ashes out of the area which might spread the fire. I would welcome a fire experts view on why they are not suitable for as many types of fire as water mist ones.
 
Pausim said:
I think the reason why CO2 should not be used on wood, paper etc is that it can blast hot ashes out of the area which might spread the fire. I would welcome a fire experts view on why they are not suitable for as many types of fire as water mist ones.
Click to expand...

They blow things around and don't cool the fire. Most extinguishers work on two principles, removing oxygen and removing heat, which stops the pyrolysing of solid material into gaseous fuel which readily burns. CO2 has very limited cooling effect, so the hot fuel continues to turn into gas, ready to reignite once the oxygen returns when the CO2 runs out.

Water based extinguishers, including water mist, AFFF etc, provided significant cooling effects as well as excluding oxygen, which means that after the extinguishant has dispersed, the fuel is too cold to support immediate re-ignition.

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Minxy Girl said:
Just looked at Firetool's videos ... can't say I'm that happy with it taking longer to extinguish a fire than the C02 and that you need to get closer to the fire to use it efficiently, also that once the container is empty that's it whereas with a C02 one you can continue if needs be.
Click to expand...
The Firetool extinguishers (the 2 smaller ones) have a discharge time of 12+ seconds against a 2kg CO2 extinguisher's discharge time of 10seconds, so not much in it, and you can discharge the Firetools from 10' away from the fire which is plenty. If the fire is too big to fight at that distance, you're past worrying about hand held extinguishers.
CO2 extinguishers don't cool the fire, they suffocate it, which means fires can re-ignite when the CO2 expires. They can also spread the fire/embers about, effectively spreading the fire and increasing the damaged area.
I saw the Firetools at a motorhome event a few years ago, and bought mine as a result. I'll probably change them when their shelf life has expired for Fire Safety Sticks as the latter have at least a 10 second longer discharge time depending on which you buy. At the motorhome converters I was at recently, I noticed they were using Fire Safety Sticks on all their installations.
That said, I do also have a powder extinguisher in the cab of my van. It was given to me as a gift!
Fires in motorhomes/vans spread frighteningly quickly. If you need longer than you have in the extinguisher to put the fire out, you should really get out of the vehicle, even though that will often go against what you want to do. I know I'd find it very hard to leave mine to a fire... :cry:
 
Minxy Girl said:
Not sure what's best but dry powder makes a hell of a mess and you never ever get rid of it ... ever! Nowadays the slightest sight of it by customs would ensure that you got up close and personal with some of the the Drug Enforcement officials! :oops:
Click to expand...

Mel

When you say the 'sight of it' do you mean the extinguisher, or the powder remnants if you have had to discharge it?

Geoff
 
Tonks said:
The Firetool extinguishers (the 2 smaller ones) have a discharge time of 12+ seconds against a 2kg CO2 extinguisher's discharge time of 10seconds, so not much in it, and you can discharge the Firetools from 10' away from the fire which is plenty. If the fire is too big to fight at that distance, you're past worrying about hand held extinguishers.
CO2 extinguishers don't cool the fire, they suffocate it, which means fires can re-ignite when the CO2 expires. They can also spread the fire/embers about, effectively spreading the fire and increasing the damaged area.
I saw the Firetools at a motorhome event a few years ago, and bought mine as a result. I'll probably change them when their shelf life has expired for Fire Safety Sticks as the latter have at least a 10 second longer discharge time depending on which you buy. At the motorhome converters I was at recently, I noticed they were using Fire Safety Sticks on all their installations.
That said, I do also have a powder extinguisher in the cab of my van. It was given to me as a gift!
Fires in motorhomes/vans spread frighteningly quickly. If you need longer than you have in the extinguisher to put the fire out, you should really get out of the vehicle, even though that will often go against what you want to do. I know I'd find it very hard to leave mine to a fire... :cry:
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I understand the difference methods they use to put out a fire, it was just an observation about he time and 'distance' you need to be to use the stick as opposed to a 'normal' type of extinguisher. How do they rate against a powder one I wonder?

As for having a fire in a MH ... we've experienced a 5ft blowtorch in a previous one ... that's not an exaggeration either so I totally understand the need to get out if it starts getting out of hand rather than try to keep battling on, fortunately we were able to stop it but it did do some damage but getting rid of the powder was a nightmare afterwards and we were still finding it when we px'd it a few years later!

www.motorhomefun.co.uk

Have you got a fire extinguisher!

I have recently been getting quotes for my campervan and was asked by one company if it had a fire extinguisher to which i replied "of course" :Wink: I expect you lucky people with shiney new vans will all have the said item but i was wondering if mabe some of the more 'mature' vans like mine...
www.motorhomefun.co.uk www.motorhomefun.co.uk
 
nicholsong said:
Mel

When you say the 'sight of it' do you mean the extinguisher, or the powder remnants if you have had to discharge it?

Geoff
Click to expand...
No the remnants of the powder on the floor, in the cupboards etc :giggle: ... once you've use one in a MH you will find bits of powder all over it for years.
 

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