Fire Extinguisher maintenance...
 

I learned this from the CG Aux a few years ago. IF you grab your ext. and shake it you'll feel the stuff inside break free. THe dry chem gets packed in the bottom. You should shake it up twice a year just in case its ever needed. If the stuff is all packed together it won't work right. Thank TD for this tip as his B-day cake comment stirred the memory.

Airslot

Re: Fire Extinguisher maintenance...
 

Airslot,
My mother always told me as a young child, if I shake it to much, I'll go BLIND ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

Re: Fire Extinguisher maintenance...
 

I try to remeber to replace mine every 3 years or so. I have two on board, one new one old, So one is 6 years old before it gets tossed.

Re: Fire Extinguisher maintenance...
 

Try to get Halon extinguishers, they don't need to be shaken up like dry chem and are much more effective in open air than CO2.

Re: Fire Extinguisher maintenance...
 

I belive the fire extingusers now have an expiration date on them and the Coast Guard will frown if they find one on your boat.

To add to Airslots shaking method, if the powder is stuck in the bottom and wont moved, Take a rubber mallet and rap the sides while holding it upside down. Learned this when our extingisher guy came around for our annual maintenance.

Heres another good tip and use for the old replaced extingushers. Take your wife and kids out in the yard and teach them the PASS method of extingusher use. "P" pull, "A" aim at the base, "S" squeeze, "S" sweep back and forth.

This give them the real feel of what to expect. You can even start and small controlled fire and let them pratice putting it out.

Re: Fire Extinguisher maintenance...
 

TD, thats a great idea and I think I'll so just that here in a few weeks.

Airslot

Re: Fire Extinguisher maintenance...
 

You don't need to do all that. Just drive out in the ocean on a bumpy day :D

Re: Fire Extinguisher maintenance...
 

a small controlled fire ,huh? i cant stop thinkin of that "expert" shooting himself in the foot! slot, be real careful. this could end up on cnn real ez!

Re: Fire Extinguisher maintenance...
 

A little diesel in a pan in the middle of the yard, away from anything that can burn is fairly safe. Don't use gas. Be ready for your neighbors to call the fire department, diesel in a pan makes a lot of black smoke.

I did a little firefighting training myself. We used propane instead of diesel, California doesn't like the smoke. The cool thing is, as the propane expands as it comes out of the pipe, it gets cold. Propane is soluable in water, so it mixes with the water from our hoses and the cooling freezes the water. There were a bunch of burning ice cubes on the ground during the training.

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c8...00801172_l.jpg

For this particular exercise, we had to walk up on to the platform whose handrail is visible on the lower right edge of the fire and shut a valve.

Re: Fire Extinguisher maintenance...
 

Guys, I was thinking a campfire type deal, or, I burn bamboo several times a year. Now that gets exciting. Burning bamboo sounds like the 4th of July. All those air pockets go boom when they heat up.

Airslot