Fire Extinguishers

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Originally Posted by seano87

Just went and had a look at all 3 of my 1kg extinguishers - 2 in car, one for BBQ :twisted:

They were all pressure stamped to cope with a max 21 MPa - 3 different brands, although 2 were identical looking...

Their standard fill is usually around 1000 kPa, or 1 MPa, and state they should be checked to 2 MPa. The short point of it all is that they should withstand huge heat and still not leak/explode. Although if you want to be silly and shoot them... anything is possible!

I tried to find a date on them, and could only find a manufacture date on the cylinder, how long is it safe to keep them for? Or is it more a case of they should just be inspected annually and tested by suitably qualified people? I'm fairly sure the cylinders themselves are meant to be good for 10 years without inspection as per most pressurised cylinders.

Seano

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harsh environment they need to be tested every 3yrs
normal conditions every 5 yrs..........

Industry codes state they should be inspected by a qualified person every 6 months. This is not mandatory but recommended and widely followed.
They need to be replaced or hydrostatically tested every 5 years, from the date they were first put into service, not from date of manufacture. Generally they will be replaced as the cost of hydrostatically testing them is prohibitive and nearly the same as buying new.
The big thing with private extinguishers is to check them regularly and ensure they are charged and contents mixed for DCP.
If they are generally more than 5 years old I would consider changing them.