Do you have a fire extinguisher in your house?

vector

We all know that many businesses have to have extinguishers/hoses by law but does anyone really have an extinguisher in their house? I only have a fire "blanket" in the kitchen.

kadman

Most definitely, one large one in the hall out side my bedroom, and one in each of my sons bedrooms upstairs. Smoke alarms ,4.

kadman:)

dogg_r_69

A few smoke alarms, fire blanet in the kitchen and there's a couple fire extingishers around the house

Lex Luthor

2 fire extinguishers, one in my bedroom and one downstairs in the kitchen.
2 smoke alarms, one in the hall and one at the top of the stairs.

deisemum

2 fire extinguishers, a fire blanket, 1 battery smoke detector, 1 electric smoke detector, a fire escape ladder (rolled up) that is kept in the landing that just clicks into steel hooks on front and back window sills (upstairs) to escape if anyone is upstairs if fire breaks out, also whistle (for children) for evacuation

cormie

Only 1 smoke alarm here:o

We have an open fire and all, it's our exact "ah sure it wont happen to us" attitude that will end up with our house in flames. Think I'll suggest we get some now you mention it:)

byte

Currently don't have a fire alarm, but I intend to get one soon.

At the moment I have a fireblanket in the kitchen, and 3 mains powered fire alarms, all interconnected.

muletide

Fire Blanket in kitchen must get myself an extinguisher

WizZard

Where is the best (read: cheapest) place to buy a fire blanket/extinguisher?

Gandhi

Have four smoke detectors, two Carbon Monoxide detectors, and two fire extinguishers.

Brother-in-law is a fireman, so he cracks the whip on the whole family as regards fire safety.

Dellgirl

I got a fire extinguisher and fire blanket and alarms. We had a house fire when I was younger and it was one of the scariest things ever. My younger brother - who started it - hid in a wardrobe and couldnt be found. paranoid about it tbh.

Borzoi

Gandhi wrote:

Brother-in-law is a fireman, so he cracks the whip on the whole family as regards fire safety.

It's worse if it's the brother:rolleyes:

One extigusher, kept in the bedroom. 3 Smoke alarms, and a block fire alarm system.

netwhizkid

One smoke alarm, nothing else. It gets disconnected from time to time burnt toast and half a million decibels is quite annoying tbh. Very safety conscious though.

slave1

Fire extinguisher and fire blanket in the kitchen, and alarms in hallways and all bedrooms

civdef

It's well worthwhile having a small to medium size (2-6kg range) dry powder extinguisher in the house for anything water can't safely extinguish (electrical / oil based etc). The fire blanket is good for chip pan fires. these are for containing small fires, not tackling anything big (which is a good way to die from smoke inhalation).

For life safety it's more important to have enough well maintained smoke detectors and an escape plan that every member of the household knows. The fires that kill tend to happen at night when occupants are asleep.

http://www.nsc.ie/FireSafety/
http://www.firekills.gov.uk/

vector

Where can I get a fire exinguisher (lets say CO2 & dry foam), a woodies/B&Q type of place, or maybe a contract with a service company like businesses have!

civdef

You'll get decent extinguishers in most hardware shops, specialist suppliers also have them of course, but they normally angle towards the more commercial side of the market. There are a few good online retailers selling fire safety stuff, and of course ebay has some too.

Some places sell very small ones of less than 1kg in what basically appears to be an aerosol can - I wouldn't recommend them tbh.

CO2 hasn't too many domestic applications, might be handy in a workshop if you're into DIY, the main advantage it has over power is total lack of mess afterwards -but set against this, it's not as effective at extinguishing a lot of fires.

Foam is really only for oil type fires. (That's changing a bit now, but hasn't hit the domestic market really yet).

bro'

Is it correct that Fire Extinguishers need to be maintained to insure correct operation when required, i believe my work place has their extinguishers checked annually and wonder if this should also apply to private use?

delboy159

I'm in the fire protection game and to answer a few questions

1. You should not go for the cheaper options on the market, they really are very poor quality. For the sake of paying an extra €20/€50 (depending on size and type) you are getting value for the extra cash - why be a skin flint, when you've decided to pay the money for safety.

We can see some places (hardware shops etc.) selling crappy brands for less than we buy our stock in bulk from a quality manufacturer... When you consider the shops mark up and VAT etc., they must be buying the extinguishers for next to nothing.... You get what you pay for.

This leads to my next point

2. Extinguishers do need an annual service. The main reason is loss of pressure. If extinguishers aren't used for a time they can start to leak slowly. To be honest this can often happen within months of buying the cheapo extinguishers. Also, the dry powder in extinguishers can compact and become solid over time -especially if it is stored in a damp area. There are other checks that need to be done, but these are the main problem areas. Industrial/manuf businesses will have 3 month or 6 month services. Offices and homes 12 months.

I'm not trying to sell anything here, so I'll recommend the one product that is cheap and fairly reliable - smoke detector.

The key logic in fire protection is not to fight the fire, but evacuate. You'll see in a lot of office buildings that extinguishers are at doors/exits. The reason for that is to force people to go to the exit to get the extinguisher - this puts them 90% of the way to safety. If they go towards the fire with an extinguisher and see they are in over their heads, the door is just behind them..... Same logic with smoke alarms - get out before the fire really blazes. Get 3/4 alarms around the house, keep the batteries checked and run if your in trouble....

Any other questions - work away...

Gordon Gekko

Good post delboy, just one quick question.

I know the modern building regs require mains operated fire alarms, but in an old house, is using battery operated alarms okay? Retro-fitting mains operated alarms would be very expensive/messy!

Also, where, apart from the DIY superstores etc., would you recommend getting fire extinguishers? I have 1kg dry powder one, can't remember how much it cost last summer, maybe €30? Does that sound like a cheapo one to you?

Thanks in advance.

prospect

Yes Delboy, very useful post.

Can you please recommend where we could look for a good domestic extinguisher.
What is the best type?
What size?
What brands?
What we should expect to pay?

Also how many do you recommend, and where is the best place to keep them?
I figured a blanket in the kitchen, and 2 extinguishers, one in the downstairs hall and the other on the landing. Is this overkill or not enough.

Cheers.

civdef

I know the modern building regs require mains operated fire alarms, but in an old house, is using battery operated alarms okay? Retro-fitting mains operated alarms would be very expensive/messy!

Mains powered systems have the huge advantage of no battery to fail, but battery ones can be got in 10yr lifespan sealed versions now, which eliminate much of the problems.

In a domestic house built before the building regs required a interlinked mains powered smoke alarm system (1997), there is no legal requirement for smoke alarms, but of course it makes a hell of a lot of sense to have them.

Here's a handy gadget for a simple way to achieve a mains powered smoke detector system in a house not wired for alarms:

http://www.fireangel.co.uk/flash.html

iregk

I heard it was illegal to have a fire extinguisher in yoru house no?

that said as a house warming present I got a love fire extinguisher and a blanket kit. If i didn't get one I would have bought one myself anyway.

cormie

Lidl have some fire safety devices on sale on the 30th (clickhere)

Regarding Dellboys post, are these useless?

The tax man

Two powder extinguishers, two smoke alarms.
Another tip for those with the powder type extinguisher,turn it upside down every couple of weeks and make sure you hear/feel the powder dropping. As Delboy said the powder compacts over time or due to storage conditions.
No point trying to tackle a fire with a solid lump of powder in your extinguisher.
If the units small enough you can place it near to your ear and you'll hear the powder shifting inside.

Stay safe folks.