A fire extinguisher is an active fire protection device used to extinguish or control small fires, often in emergency situations. It is not designed Fact: date=August 2008 for use on an out-of-control fire, such as one which has reached the ceiling, endangers the user (i.e. no escape route, smoke, explosion hazard, etc.), or otherwise requires the expertise of a fire department. Typically, a fire extinguisher consists of a handheld cylindrical pressure vessel containing an agent which can be discharged to extinguish a fire.
Welcome to CWAnswers
CWAnswers is your guide to the sprawling world wide web. The directory aims to provide a useful guide made by users. You can share your knowledge as well - simply sign up and edit your first entry. For questions just contact the team at support - at - cwanswers.com.
Weblinks for Fire Extinguisher
Top 10 for Fire Extinguisher
Things about Fire Extinguisher you find nowhere else.
Select content modules
A fire extinguisher is an active fire protection device used to extinguish or control small fires, often in emergency situations. It is not designed Fact: date=August 2008 for use on an out-of-control fire, such as one which has reached the ceiling, endangers the user (i.e. no escape route, smoke, explosion hazard, etc.), or otherwise requires the expertise of a fire department. Typically, a fire extinguisher consists of a handheld cylindrical pressure vessel containing an agent which can be discharged to extinguish a fire.
There are two main types of fire extinguishers: Stored pressure and generated pressure. In stored pressure units, the expellant is stored in the same chamber as the firefighting agent itself. Depending on the agent used, different propellants are used. With dry chemical extinguishers, nitrogen is typically used; water and foam are pressurized with air. Stored pressure are the most common type fire extinguishers. Cartridge-operated extinguishers, contain the expellant gas in a separate cartridge that is punctured prior to discharge, exposing the propellant to the agent. These types as are not as common, used primarily in areas such as industrial facilities, where they receive higher-than-average use. They have the advantage of simple and prompt recharge, allowing an operator to discharge the extinguisher, recharge it, and return to the fire in an reasonable amount of time. Unlike stored pressure types, these extinguishers utilize compressed carbon dioxide instead of nitrogen, although nitrogen cartridges are used on low temperature (-60 rated) models. Cartridge operated types are available in dry chemical and dry powder in the US and water, wetting agent, foam, and dry powder(ABC, BC, or D) in the rest of the world.
Fire extinguishers are further divided into handheld and cart-mounted, also called wheeled extinguishers. Handheld extinguishers weight from 2 to 30 pounds (1 to 14 kilograms), and are hence easily portable by hand. They exist in both stored- and generated-pressure types and contain all types of suppressants. Cart-mounted units typically weigh 50+ pounds (23+ kilograms), are cartridge-operated, and typically contain either dry chemical, Purple-K, foam, Halon, Halotron-1 or CO2. Wheeled models are most commonly found at construction sites, airport runways, heliports, and temporary landing sites.
History
The modern fire extinguisher was invented by British Captain George William Manby in 1818; it consisted of a copper vessel of 3 gallons (13.6 litres) of pearl ash (potassium carbonate) solution contained within compressed air.
