The end of the extinguisher servicing industry?

[lancsfirepro]

And yes you are right this is not a plastic extinguisher

You might want to check out what kevlar and polyethylene are.

[alwaysright]

Lancspro - This is a composite fire extinguisher and has been approved By BSI and carrys the Kitemark along with the ships wheel.

I visited our supplier of Kevlar last month and was amazed to see that they are now able to make motorway bridges out of the same material !

I wonder if you will drive over them

[lancsfirepro]

I don't dispute that.  I originally stated that the accepted maintenance standard for fire extinguishers makes no allowance for plastic bodied extinguishers.  You stated that the P50 is not plastic.  I suggested you check that because Kevlar and polyethylene are most definitely plastics.

[alwaysright]

Kevlar belongs to the aramid group of fibers family.

The issue regarding plastic fire extinguishers relates to what has been previously ben answered by Anthony and it relates to a ones sold by the likes of betterware in the 80's

[lancsfirepro]

Kevlar belongs to the aramid group of fibers family.

I don't care whether it belongs to the Partridge family; the point is it's still a plastic.

The issue regarding plastic fire extinguishers relates to what has been previously ben answered by Anthony and it relates to a ones sold by the likes of betterware in the 80's

Really?  Funny, I didn't see that mentioned in the standard.

You may have gathered that I won't be buying these nor recommending them to any of our clients, though this is mainly to do with the lack of an annual check that the level of cover is correct rather than them being plastic bodied. 

[alwaysright]

Lancs pro...You may have also have gathered i do not care if you buy them or not....

[AnthonyB]

To be fair I wouldn't see most extinguisher maintenance firms offering them (unless at a very high price) as it's self defeating if not serviced,you only see the customer once in 10 years....

A suitably rated 2 litre foam & 2 litre ABC Powder in a 10 year low maintenance format would be nice for transport and small business as since the loss of the Firemaster limited life EN3 kitemarked 1 & 2 kilo powder and BS5423 900ml AFFF aerosols there has been a gap in the market - these clients often don't want the cost or hassle of external maintenance (which would cost per year almost what the extinguisher did to buy) and a disposable unit that could be visually checked in house and replaced every 5 years was a good way to get them to install up to date extinguishers rather than have nothing or that mouldering 1970's water stuck in the corner.

[lancsfirepro]

Lancs pro...You may have also have gathered i do not care if you buy them or not....

Is this where you take your football home? Maybe if you listened to the comments of service companies then you may understand what we need from manufacturer's rather than producing something that we can neither sell or maintain.

[alwaysright]

No need to take the football home....I was just confirming your position

[supersafetyservices]

No, not yet, But not sure for coming future

[Tom Sutton]

The P60 is alive and kicking check out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-o57vPn3AQk#! and http://www.servicefreefireextinguisher.co.uk/dare-you-to-change-the-fire-extinguisher-revolution/#!

[nim]

Our engineers don't know whether to condemn or  leave them alone.

Interestingly we were supplied with a sample recently. I decided to carry out the user annual maintenance. Took the magnet out of the base and tested both gauges.

One gauge was stuck so it failed the gauge test.

Now I am guessing this is condemned.

One company is saying that the P50 F6 can be installed instead of a C2  because it is safe for use on electrical equipment.

Wouldn't Multiplicity of types apply for the P50 F6 installed on the same premises as any other F6. The electrical arrow is going to introduce confusion.

Customers often think foam is safe for direct use on electrical equipment.

[AnthonyB]

Yes, if it fails the test it's condemned, but should be returned to the manufacturer for warranty replacement.

Several manufacturers are toying with the lightning flash on wets beyond Britannia who already do this as it's been permissible under EN3 in mainland Europe for decades to allow them to be marked suitable for direct use on electrical fires up to 1000V, France and Spain do this.

And of course the 2 main brands of water mist are already so marked (the third, Amerex UK, doesn't as a nod to the 'British' way of doing things although the original US models are!)

[lancsfirepro]

Several manufacturers are toying with the lightning flash on wets beyond Britannia who already do this as it's been permissible under EN3 in mainland Europe for decades to allow them to be marked suitable for direct use on electrical fires up to 1000V, France and Spain do this.

The requirement in EN3 is that if a water based extinguisher has passed the 35kV test then it must state "suitable for use on live electrical equipment up to 1 000 V at a distance of 1 m".  If it has not passed the test then it must state "WARNING: Do not use on live electrical equipment".  Anything else would fail an audit to EN3.  The interesting thing is that EN3 states the following just after the above: "NOTE Attention is drawn to national regulations or practice."  Make of that what you will.

[AnthonyB]

Which is the get out clause for the BSI to say that wets cannot be used on electrical equipment and should not be marked as such (sells more extinguishers)

As far back as the 30's independent and scientifically accurate testing showed plain water extinguishers were safe on electrical apparatus, further tests in the 50's and 60's confirmed this - the big hazard was from the soda acid extinguisher which due to the salts formed in the solution during discharge were highly conductive and a positive danger.

In theory a general office could be provided with wets only and only specific electrical risks like switchrooms would need CO2. British Rail followed this philosophy and whilst admittedly electrical equipment was less prevalent in offices the guidance 'back in the day' was happy to have just water/gas extinguishers in these areas as the equipment wasn't much of a risk.