Even extinguishers that save us from firecomes with an expiry date. You were responsible enough to buy and maintain a fire extinguisher. Similarly, it is your necessary responsibility to take care of their final rituals.
Life of Fire Extinguisher
When properly taken care, both portable and disposable Fire Extinguishers lasts for 10-12 years depending on the company, usage and conditions.
They should be constantly refilled and when it reaches its peak life, it is recommended to get it hydrostatically tested to test the strength of the outer case. You can use it for few more years if it qualifies the test.
For business or large-scale users, fire extinguishers and other fire protection systems are serviced together annually. This is the time they check either for its refilling or replacement. The on-site service engineer who take care of all the fire safety and service often take responsibility of collecting and disposing the fire extinguishers.
There are some special companies too that collect expired extinguishers in bulk for disposal or recycling. Business users who dispose the expired fire extinguishers in large amounts contact the expert services of the department and get them picked up.
How to check if the extinguisher is expired?
You can find them showing some of these problems if the fire extinguishers near its expiry date:
- The pressure inside the extinguisher gets lost even when left not being used for a long period of time.
- Parts of the fire extinguisher starts to misbehave: nozzle gets cracked, handle or pin gets broken.
- You can find cracks or damages on the outer shell.
- You find the inspection tag missing
- It doesn’t qualify the hydrostatic test
Replace your extinguisher if it shows 1 or more qualities from the above.
If your extinguisher is new and you find some of the parts missing or damaged, you can get them fixed or replaced.
What if you found out that the fire extinguisher is expired?
Your fire extinguisher might be old, some of the parts may be completely damaged and even reached the expiry date but you can’t simply throw them away.
They can turn out to be very destructive when mishandled after they reach its maximum service time.
This is what you do: Check if it is empty or partially or fully charged.
- If empty, squeeze the lever to make sure the presence of pressure. Remove the head to make it clear that it is not charged. Drop off the steel canister in the steel recycling facility.
- If it is partially or fully charged, try disposing the pressure in the cylinder by releasing it into an open area or contact the fire department for their drop off facilities or take them to a hazardous waste disposal facility.
You can also dispose them in your regular trash bag if you let it sit for a few days to leave all its pressure and when you are confident enough that there is no pressure left.