How About A Maintenance Free Fire Extinguisher ?

We have been hearing a lot about the Maintenance Free Batteries for Cars.  Are they really maintenance free? What is the definition of maintenance?  Is checking the terminals considered maintenance?

A friend of mine have designed a fire extinguisher which he claimed to be maintenance free.
The product carries a 10 year manufacturer warranty and claimed to be service free for 10 year.
The inventor also claimed it is 100% recyclable and 100% UV protected.
The best thing is, there is no corrosion risk.

I know the inventor personally, so i manage to get some reliable information on the manufacturing process of this fire extinguisher.
I cannot dispose much more information here, as i believe the design of the product is protected by law.
If you would like to know more about this product, you can logon to http://www.britannia-fire.co.uk/extinguisher-range.aspx?id=6

From the look, it is just another fire extinguisher, but after reading the literature, i start to think if this might be the turning point of fire extinguisher era.  Remember the old mini used to have a strong chromed bumper, then comes the Jap who use a moulded piece of polymer, then never before i see those shinning chromes anymore, except only on collection item cars.  I believe, this will be the envy of every fire extinguisher manufacturer in the world, to start getting panic worrying their current designs will be phased out very soon, if not immediately.

However, it is not without reservation in me.  Having some experience in polymer materials, i will predict the internal polymer (if such material is used), will somehow react in a certain way to the liquid in contact with.

I always believe nothing escapes the mother nature law of degradation, including the UV from the sun.  So, i do not buy the idea of 100% UV protected.  Well, UV stabilized sounds better to me.

Coming to the 10 year service free claim, i will agree that the foam liquid will stay intact, but how about the polymer seal used in the control valve.  As i am aware, the valve seat is compressed under tension by a spring to keep the valve closed all the time, until it is depressed to open the valve for discharge.  A rubberized material depressed for a long period of time may need some attention though.

Finally, i am very confident that this new design of Maintenance Free Fire Extinguisher, the Britania WorldFire, will change the fire industry and give a new perception to everyone towards how a fire extinguisher should be.  It will also change the behavior and practice of the servicing and maintenance personnel.  Maybe the Fire Extinguishers Standards of every country will have to be re-written, to make way for this innovation, for those who neglect will find themselves left behind.

Fire Extinguisher For Moving Vehicles

Recently i was involved in a committee that writes a standard specification for fire extinguishers meant for use in moving vehicles, such as cars, buses trucks, trains, boats and ships.

Interestingly, after many years our country has developed, with so many high rise buildings, so many cars on the road, and worse of all, so many casualties of fire involving road accidents, and we are talking about drafting a code of practice for this.  Well, this does not mean we do not have standards to follow before this, it simply means there were not enough specification to take care the conditions found in moving vehicles, such as vibration, sudden impact, extreme heat, corrosion and so forth.  When it comes to sea going vessels, the first thing cross my mind is the corrosive environment, which did not present in our normal conditions, where these extreme was not tested in extinguishers not meant for sea conditions.

To give you an idea how extinguisher (which not designed for corrosive environment) will look like, if it is exposed to winds of sea, photo below was on a ferry i took sometime ago.

This photo is just an example of how a piece of nicely chromed metal can be rusted, which may compromise the strength can cause failure.  I have seen worse ones.

It is commonly seen extinguishers mounted on trucks, especially oil tankers, normally 2 pieces of 9 kg Powder Type, mounted at the back of the prime mover, or, in this case, behind the tanker.

Unfortunately, in this case, they are chained, making it not easily accesible when in need.

I once received a complaint from somebody who claimed that his fire extinguisher leaked, when i took a look, what i saw was astonishing.  The extinguisher, i suspect, was kept in the car rear boot without a good mounting bracket, so it rolled back and forth whenever the car moves or stops, causing a rubbing action which rubbed away the paint and eaten away the metal, until a puncture developed on the body.

Oops, No Photo of this case, i hope you can imagine.

Back to the committee, i hope to see the government will publish a good guide line to be followed and the regulatory bodies put them into good practice to make fire safety more accesible to everyone.

A fire extinguisher installed in a vehicle is not only for it's own use, but also can be used to rescue other vehicle on fire.  It is not always possible for the vehicle on fire to retrieve it's own extinguisher for use, for such cases, other road users' extinguisher can be used, with the help of others.

If you are interested to obtain a copy of this standard, of course, when it is released, yuo can check the availability from Malaysian Standards Online, search for MS1539 Part 7.

If you like to comment on this Draft Standard, you can check the DMS For Public Comment Site