What Fire Extinguisher Should You Buy?

You may not give it much thought but a fire extinguisher is one of those tools you simply must have. It's not mandatory to keep one in the house but an office environment needs it and many more, in fact.

Fire extinguishers may be useless in the face of raging flames but their point is to keep fires under control, before they balloon into big problems. Depending on where one lives, maintaining these handy tools can be required by law.

There are several types of extinguishers, all of them colour-coded and designed for different environments and fires. It's important that they not be inter-used. Take a look.

•    Water extinguishers (red): These emit water which is quite effective at dousing small fires and, in fact, should only be used on class A fires (fires burning in fuels from materials like paper, wood, fabric etc).

Since water extinguishers use water, they mustn't be aimed at electrical components. They can work in such cases if additives are included. However, since not all water extinguishers contain them, you must make sure they do during purchase. Keep a canister at the office and at home but don't expect it to tackle large fires.

•    CO2 extinguishers (red with black band): Where water extinguishers can only be used on fires feeding on natural fuels, CO2 extinguishers are designed to douse flames licking electrical equipment. They may also work on class A fires though class B types are the typical recipients.

A unique feature of CO2 extinguishers is that they don't leave a mess. The gas is cold to the point of being able to cause frostbite and care must be taken that it doesn't damage electronics by freezing.

•    Foam extinguishers (red with blue band): Foam extinguishers are what we're most used to seeing. They emit white foam that prevents re-ignition and can be used on both class A and B fires.

The best way to achieve full efficacy with a foam extinguisher is to aim it away – but right next to – from the fiery object or area. It forces it to gently flow over the burning fuel and completely douse it by having the water float on top of the fuel as a protective layer.

•    Dry chemical powder extinguishers (red with white band): Designed for class B fires and identifiable by a white band around the red canister, dry chemical powder extinguishers can be used in environments with mixed risks.

A few such extinguishers may contain elements that permit them to be used on other fires like class A and even E fires (fires resulting from energized electrical equipment), known as class C fires in the United States.

Dry chemical powder extinguishers are also ideal for use in class F fires which are typically localized as they occur mainly in kitchens with fuel sources consisting of fats and cooking oil. Dry powder isn't the only agent to douse such fires either; even CO2 can so either one comes in handy during small kitchen fire hazards.

Wet chemical extinguishers can substitute dry chemical powder in case of unavailability. In fact, the two are equally effective at mitigating cooking oil/fat-fueled fires. Instead of a white band, look for a beige or off-white-grayish band. Keep in mind that wet chemical extinguishers contain alkali so they possess corrosive properties.

Fire safety is of prime importance and every home and commercial premises should be armed to handle any kind of fire threat. Browse this website to find fire safety equipment in Perth that can help save precious lives and property.