# Fire extinguishers. Single use or reusable?



## Ultrarunner2017 (Oct 1, 2008)

Hey guys;
I am looking for a fire extinguisher(s). I definitely want one in/near the kitchen that would be effective on grease fires (as well as other types), and I think one upstairs in the hallway that would be effective on all types of fires, including live electrical.


I have done a lot of reading about the different types, and I believe I have a good understanding. But what I am having trouble deciding on is whether to buy a more expensive rechargeable unit or a throw-away.


I have been trying to find a place locally that will recharge them, but so far I haven't found anyone. I called my FD and they don't do it themselves, and could not recommend anyone. They told me to check the documentation that comes with the extinguisher, as it may have a phone number or website to find a local business that does the recharging.


I don't think it's worth the extra money for a rechargeable if it's going to involve a lengthy drive to get to the place, and if cost is more than 1/2 that of a new extinguisher.


I live in Northern NJ.

What are your thoughts / experiences.


Thanks
Ultrarunner


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## joed (Mar 13, 2005)

I can't answer you specific question but have info regarding where to put the extinguisher.
Do not put the kitchen one near the stove. If it's on fire you won't be able to get to it. Put it near the door so that when go for the extinguisher if you turn around and decide it too much you can exit quickly. You don't want to be trapped with the fire between you and the door.


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## Nealtw (Jun 22, 2017)

Phone a local hotel or apartment building ask who looks after their equipment.


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## LS-6 (Nov 26, 2019)

A single use extinguisher would be best unless you have a lot of kitchen fires then buy two of three. lol
Don't get the smallest one because they don't last long.
The most important thing is get the pan of oil off the burner ASAP. Otherwise the oil may re-ignite. A pair of welding gloves is good for that to avoid burning your hands/arms.
Just for the record I have never had a kitchen fire. How many times does that really happen?
The key is not to turn the burner up too much. Sometimes people turn the burner up because they don't want to wait for the oil to heat up then start preparing food and forget to turn it down.
An ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure. :wink2:
Hope this helps. :vs_cool:


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## lenaitch (Feb 10, 2014)

I just replaced all of our last year - some of which were embarrassingly old. we do have a safety supply company but I determined that it would cost pretty much the same to have them recharged than to buy new, and 'recharge' never goes on sale. After the bottle gets to a certain age, they have to send it away for pressure testing. A company that looks after commercial properties might not be interested in residential work unless you know a business owner and can jump on with their inventory.


One thing our local FD suggested for dry chemical is once every 6 months or so, hold the extinguisher upside down and give it a couple of whacks with a rubber mallet or dead-blow hammer. Over time the chemical powder can pack at the bottom like flour and might not be picked up by the release of pressure.


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## Nealtw (Jun 22, 2017)

lenaitch said:


> I just replaced all of our last year - some of which were embarrassingly old. we do have a safety supply company but I determined that it would cost pretty much the same to have them recharged than to buy new, and 'recharge' never goes on sale. After the bottle gets to a certain age, they have to send it away for pressure testing. A company that looks after commercial properties might not be interested in residential work unless you know a business owner and can jump on with their inventory.
> 
> 
> One thing our local FD suggested for dry chemical is once every 6 months or so, hold the extinguisher upside down and give it a couple of whacks with a rubber mallet or dead-blow hammer. Over time the chemical powder can pack at the bottom like flour and might not be picked up by the release of pressure.


You have that test half right. If you can't hear it move on it's own it i not serviceable. Shocking it to wake it up may still leave lumps.


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## Old Thomas (Nov 28, 2019)

Either rechargeable or single use will work. Single use often have plastic valves while reusable have higher quality brass or metal valves. The next time you are at a public school or other public venue, take a pic of the tag on an extinguisher. If it has been inspected as required in NFPA 10, it will have a tag identifying the company that services it.


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## Ultrarunner2017 (Oct 1, 2008)

Thanks guys for your good advice.
I recall a while back I had a home extinguisher recharged by taking it to work on the day our guy came in. He told me he 'wasn't supposed to do this' but recharged it for me anyway.


It's amazing how many people will put an extinguisher right next to the stove, or other potential source of fire.
We usually keep baking soda in the kitchen - not near the stove, but actually closer to the exit. 

The only fire I can remember was when I was a child - maybe 10 yrs old - when a small hand towel hanging over the oven door handle caught fire when something splashed out of the oven. It was easy to put out - my mom just threw the towel into the sink and turned on the water. I seem to recall standing near the exit, which was where we also had a wall phone. I think I was getting ready to call the FD.
But now that I'm an adult, I realize that calling FD from inside a burning house is not the thing to do. One of the great advantages of cell phones... if you've got it on you, which I usually do.


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## SeniorSitizen (Sep 10, 2012)

Ultrarunner2017 said:


> It's amazing how many people will put an extinguisher right next to the stove, or other potential source of fire.


 It's also amazing what the code is for a range gas valve.


And how many valves are behind the range. Now wouldn't that be fun attempting to move a burning 200lb. gas range out from the wall to shut the gas off.


EDIT: EDIT:


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## Ultrarunner2017 (Oct 1, 2008)

SeniorSitizen said:


> It's also amazing what the code is for a range gas valve.
> 
> 
> And how many valves are behind the range. Now wouldn't that be fun attempting to move a burning 200lb. gas range out from the wall to shut the gas off.
> ...


 Our stove is a countertop, and the shutoff is accessible underneath by opening a cabinet door. I would prefer though, that the shutoff be down in the basement, as I wouldn't want to be anywhere near the stove if there were a fire.
That said, I could just shut off the main valve in the utility closet. Need a wrench to do that, but my wrenches are easy to find.


About the fire extinguisher:
Do you think buying one with a metal valve (rechargeable) would allow the extinguisher to last any longer than one with a plastic valve?
I'm thinking perhaps, even if I'm not going to have it recharged, that I may be better off spending a bit more on one with the metal valve.


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## SeniorSitizen (Sep 10, 2012)

Ultrarunner2017 said:


> About the fire extinguisher:
> Do you think buying one with a metal valve (rechargeable) would allow the extinguisher to last any longer than one with a plastic valve?
> I'm thinking perhaps, even if I'm not going to have it recharged, that I may be better off spending a bit more on one with the metal valve.


 In that application i'm not seeing an advantage of metal. Lets take a look at freon bottles for instance. Metal body and plastic stem and they seem to do a good job for a long time.




EDIT: EDIT:


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## Ultrarunner2017 (Oct 1, 2008)

SeniorSitizen said:


> In that application i'm not seeing an advantage of metal. Lets take a look at freon bottles for instance. Metal body and plastic stem and they seem to do a good job for a long time.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


OK. Thanks.


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## Old Thomas (Nov 28, 2019)

Baking soda is a good idea. A pressurized blast from an extinguisher can blow burning grease all over the wall, and that usually has a negative outcome.
When I was a kid a lightning bolt hit our tv antenna (remember those?). The tv burst into flames. My father tossed a blanket on it, picked it up and threw it out of the front door. To the day he died, he never stopped unplugging his tv when a storm occurred.


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## lenaitch (Feb 10, 2014)

SeniorSitizen said:


> In that application i'm not seeing an advantage of metal. Lets take a look at freon bottles for instance. Metal body and plastic stem and they seem to do a good job for a long time.
> 
> EDIT: EDIT:



Agree. We had single-use extinguishers in our police cruisers and many would not get used from one vehicle to the next. The gauges were (supposed to be) checked weekly and the rare occasion I had to use one I never had a dude. Ever rattle cans in the shop seem to hold pressure for just about ever.


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## SeniorSitizen (Sep 10, 2012)

Old Thomas said:


> A pressurized blast from an extinguisher can blow burning grease all over the wall, and that usually has a negative outcome.


Although not the particular subject here, that blast blowing grease all over is from a lack of fire extinguisher training. If a person was to read even the simplest brochure on fire extinguisher use that info. would probably there and may even be printed on some fire extinguishers.


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## Ultrarunner2017 (Oct 1, 2008)

SeniorSitizen said:


> Although not the particular subject here, that blast blowing grease all over is from a lack of fire extinguisher training. If a person was to read even the simplest brochure on fire extinguisher use that info. would probably there and may even be printed on some fire extinguishers.


 Aim at the base of the fire and use a sweeping motion. There is an acronym, but I cannot recall it at the moment.


And I'll bet most people don't know what to do with a lithium battery fire.
One thing NOT to use is water! 
I recall my science teacher dropping a small chunk of lithium into water, and watched it sizzle and burn.


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## SeniorSitizen (Sep 10, 2012)

Ultrarunner2017 said:


> Aim at the base of the fire and use a sweeping motion. There is an acronym, but I cannot recall it at the moment.


 IIR we should begin about 6 ft. back and advance toward the fire with the sweeping motion to prevent blowing burning grease from the container.


For the cost of a throw away extinguisher parents in the know can teach most 10 year old children the use of a extinguisher with a small heap of paper for class A fires and a old shallow skillet containing a 1/4" of gasoline for class B. Class C, D and E fires are a little more difficult, even for some adults that probably need that training.




EDIT: EDIT:


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## Old Thomas (Nov 28, 2019)

In college the fire extinguishers were changed from CO2 to dry powder because someone figured out that he could chill beer with a CO2 extinguisher.


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## daveb1 (Jan 15, 2010)

Ultrarunner2017 said:


> Our stove is a countertop, and the shutoff is accessible underneath by opening a cabinet door. I would prefer though, that the shutoff be down in the basement, as I wouldn't want to be anywhere near the stove if there were a fire.
> That said, I could just shut off the main valve in the utility closet. Need a wrench to do that, but my wrenches are easy to find.
> 
> 
> ...


For your gas shut off I would buy a cheap adjustable wrench and chain it near the shut off. This would save any time to find a wrench, no matter how easy they are to find. 

When I took my extinguisher with plastic fittings to get recharged, none of the recharge places would do it because their equipment tended to strip the plastic threads. I guess that would be the advantage of metal fittings.


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## Oso954 (Jun 23, 2012)

> For your gas shut off I would buy a cheap adjustable wrench and chain it near the shut off.


I agree on concept, but would worry that a cheap adjustable may freeze up over the years on an outdoor shutoff.
This wrench is cheap, needs no adjustment to fit my shutoff, and no one has stolen it.
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Ready-America-Emergency-Gas-Shut-Off-Wrench-3333/202214441


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## u3b3rg33k (Jul 17, 2018)

LS-6 said:


> A single use extinguisher would be best unless you have a lot of kitchen fires then buy two of three. lol
> Don't get the smallest one because they don't last long.
> The most important thing is get the pan of oil off the burner ASAP. Otherwise the oil may re-ignite. A pair of welding gloves is good for that to avoid burning your hands/arms.
> Just for the record I have never had a kitchen fire. How many times does that really happen?
> ...


I was told it was better to put the lid on the pan as moving a pan of low viscosity burning oil is likely to get YOU covered in said burning oil. which will then burn you twice, once by being on fire, and also by being covered in hot oil.


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## ratherbefishing (Jan 13, 2011)

Oso954 said:


> https://www.homedepot.com/p/Ready-America-Emergency-Gas-Shut-Off-Wrench-3333/202214441


I'd never seen that before. Five in stock at the Home Depot half a mile from here. At four bucks each, I'll be buying two later today. One for the kitchen and one to leave outside, near the meter.


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## Porong (Oct 14, 2020)

I will say having used both an old reusuable rechargable type extinguisher and disposable type on a small fire I would say that a resusuable type will probably last longer refills can be expensive my cousin said that both the resuable one and disposable one were about 25 years old the disposable ones are ususally supposed to be disposed of after 12 years but I will say to answer your question one problem with kitchen fires is that you have grease there is avialable data saying the abc multi purpose type is less effective on grease fires and is most likely to re-ignite bc ( baking soda type do to the way the agent puts out the fire woudl be a better choice for kitchen as it is less likely to damage property Purple k (also a} bc type) should not damage property but it is the most expensive ( though its probably the most effective for home use ) the only dry chemical agent acceptable for paper liquid and electric is the abc type ( not generally abc is good at preventing re-ignition but not on grease fire do to it being an acid ph about 4.5) while bc types purple k and baking soda have a ph about 10 both of the bc types are probably more effective on grease due to being an alkaline it more likely to form a soap it contact with hot grease ( I am pretty sure thats right ) ABC as mentioned above is Ph about 4.5 an acid so I think it is harder to extinguish the fire by forming a soap in contact in with hot grease and is the most likely to re-ignite but even with bc type you must always shut off burner to complete extinguishment I would not reccomed the kidde bc extinguisher with a cone nozzle as it seem the out put would make a big mess a disposable extinguisher is only meant to be use once but I would say if you wheather you have a disposable or re-usable extinguisher the best approach to minimize property damage in your kitchen would be try 3 bursts of agent if it still has not gone out than discharge the entire unit but if you get it out with a little bit of agent you will have minimized property damage. remember though an extinguisher is probably only expected to last approximately 8 seocnds.


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