The fire extinguisher in my garage is almost 20 years old now and the pressure gauge is right at the edge of the red zone. That means it’s time to order a new one!
Decided to get two because it seems like a good idea to have one out by the grill (and they’re a better deal that way) 👍
Very excited because this means I get to play teach the kids how to properly use a fire extinguisher with the old one! Been a while since we used the fire pit out back…
I am a great fan of fire safety equipment. I keep one in every automobile that I periodically drive, and there’s even a mini one that attaches to my motorbike.
I have thought of bringing fire extinguishers as a present when going to housewarming parties. After all, who else is going to bring that as a present? And the best part is that if their housewarming gets too warm, then suddenly my present becomes immediately useful haha
Keep in mind that fire extinguishers have a safe storage temperature. It varies from type to type but is generally at the 120-130 F range. Ironic.
So your extinguisher in your car is potentially regularly reaching that if you live in a hot climate and park outdoors. Which means you potentially have degraded performance and could even see a pressure/leakage issue if it continues too much.
So probably not a catastrophic failure (I mean… it is a fire extinguisher) but nowhere near as safe as you think. External motorbike one is probably fine though.
I have one that I keep with my camping gear as “just in case” but don’t see much of a reason to keep it in my car’s emergency bag. I figure if my car catches on fire I am fucked anyway.
I have a fire extinguisher in the car I got for autocross (it’s mounted to the roll bar), but not my other cars.
I’ve always imagined that if I need to deploy my car’s fire extinguisher, it is in aid of a fire somewhere along the road. I’ve personally never been in a car on fire, but I’ve seen three car fires on the highway and maybe a half dozen brush fires.
Here in flammable California, the best approach to fire is to not start them, and the next best is to put them out in their nascent stages. If me having a fire extinguisher at the right time and place means preventing untold destruction and misery, then there’s little reason not to. Do I really expect to be that lone hero that stops the next catastrophic blaze? Definitely not, and I hope not to be. But it’s an ounce of prevention and I’ll do my part.
Oh hey, I’ve been that fire on the road! Luckily a good Samaritan came along with a fire extinguisher!
If it is a fire that you can see from the side of the road? It is probably big enough that one can isn’t gonna do it (and also understand that fire extinguishers have a lot of chemicals that may not be good for the environment. And that not all forest fires are bad and many actually are healing the forest so that there aren’t massive ones). Like, there is a reason that even the “My daddy and his daddy before him were fire fighters” guys are scared shitless of wildfires. They get REAL big REAL fast and they have a tendency to cut people off. Just call the fire department.
And if you somehow spot it while it is still tiny? Just use a jug of water in the back of your car which is a much better thing to carry around anyway.
Prevention is not roleplaying being a hero. Prevention is understanding what you can and can’t do and making sure those who can get the information ASAP. And deciding you are whichever Baldwin was in Backdraft and rushing in with a degraded fire extinguisher that will mostly just drip toxic chemicals in the forest ain’t it.
Great idea. I need to get more fire extinguishers and replace smoke detectors
I do it! I bring one and a CO/Smoke alarm.
I’m in the process of buying my first house.
Wanna be my friend?
FYI, in some places fire stations hand out free smoke and CO detectors.
Ha! In all seriousness don’t forget to get proper detectors and an extinguisher or two!
Also, just going to leave this right here
I have one…but it’s like 4 years old. Probably due for replacement.
I did consider the CO and smoke alarm too, but at least here in California, they’re supposed to check that those are present when transacting a house sale. Whether they have to be functional, idk. But maybe I’ll also bring a pair of 9v batteries for good measure.
From what I understand, smoke alarms now require a 10 year battery, no longer needing replacement.
CO detectors still seem to use replaceable though.
Depends on state and local ordinances as to whether the sealed are required
In my state for example (PA) there is no statewide law for them. Some municipalities like Philadelphia require them but more rural areas like where I live do not, so I can still buy 9v non interconnected detectors at home depot or wherever. But iirc new construction and renovation requiring permits around here requires interconnection (not sure about sealed)
It’s dumb not to get them though. Who wants to deal with a chirp? First thing I did when I bought my house was overhaul smoke detectors, add heat detectors to the attic and garage, fire extinguishers, and one of those collapsible fire ladders to second floor bedroom.
It’s mind boggling how people overlook this stuff. The old owner had 1 detector for the whole house and it was 16 years old by the date code. We have 6 now plus 2 heat detectors. I also added a relay and a Shelly trigger so if they go off I get a push notification through home assistant. It was like $800 for everything, c02 and smoke, extinguishers, the ladder, etc. a lot of money but it’s literally my life and the largest purchase I’ve ever made
Get some of the ones with long internal batteries. Or if you still get the 9v ones truly replace the batts every clock change and the unit every 5 years or so.
Ever since my family lost our VW Vanagon camper to an engine fire I keep one in my cars.
Oof, car fires are tough to put out.
Even if you do, odds are there’s still extensive damage.
Still better than it turning into an inferno, if nothing else for the safety of everyone.
Yeah, poor thing was totaled because the mechanic left an oily rag on the engine.
We got another one but it was an automatic and not a true Westfalia.
This is a great idea! We had them on our “to buy” list when we bought our house and they ended up falling by the wayside.
Fast forward 4.5 years where we had a small grease fire in the oven and now we have general use ones on each level, a kitchen specific one and a fire blanket in the pantry for stove top fires.