# Expired fire extinguishers?



## Nick potts (27 Sep 2020)

While on the hunt for a local supplier of co2 fire extinguishers one company has offered me expired units for £10. Good price but are expired units safe to use? I worry enough about having a pressurised container (SodaStream)and a hyper 2year old as it is 

Cheers


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## john dory (27 Sep 2020)

I've used them before.
Bloke said I could have as many as I wanted for free.
Went round the back of his house..and his garden was piled high with them.
Use in date ones,now though.
£10 swap and drop.


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## Jayefc1 (27 Sep 2020)

Yeah a lot of us use out of date FE @Nick potts there all good for an Aquarium


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## SRP3006 (27 Sep 2020)

Mine are all out of date, all good.


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## Nick potts (27 Sep 2020)

john dory said:


> I've used them before.
> Bloke said I could have as many as I wanted for free.
> Went round the back of his house..and his garden was piled high with them.
> Use in date ones,now though.
> £10 swap and drop.



I can't find a good source of reasonable priced new units, £58 for a new one from the same company.



Jayefc1 said:


> Yeah a lot of us use out of date FE @Nick potts there all good for an Aquarium



Thank you @Jayefc1, I am waiting to hear back from a welding supply place to see if they can supply 3,5kg cylinders but I think I will pick up a few of the extinguishers, it's a bonus that the place is 1 min from my house.


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## Jayefc1 (27 Sep 2020)

Where are you nick id have some if it was close to me


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## Nick potts (27 Sep 2020)

Jayefc1 said:


> Where are you nick id have some if it was close to me



I'm in Devon mate


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## SRP3006 (27 Sep 2020)

Nick potts said:


> I'm in Devon mate


If you are anywhere near Taunton there's a few places around, cheapest I've found is 5 quid for used ones.


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## Jayefc1 (27 Sep 2020)

Thats a shame can not find any near Derby at the moment


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## john dory (27 Sep 2020)

Bw fire engineering.
Moorgreen


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## zozo (29 Sep 2020)

Yes, they are perfectly safe, the reason they expire is that the seal can deteriorate over many years and slowly release the bottle's pressure. It obviously occasionally happened, there is a fire they grab the old extinguisher and darn it's all tho never used empty and the house burns down.

Thus from then on,  expire date is the next best solution to prevent that from happening again.

Nothing dangerous about it if it's not kept around forever to put out occasional fires. 

It's a rarety that it will ever happen, but with fires, you should take nothing for granted. Better safe than sorry.


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## ian_m (30 Sep 2020)

zozo said:


> Yes, they are perfectly safe, the reason they expire is that the seal can deteriorate over many years and slowly release the bottle's pressure. It obviously occasionally happened, there is a fire they grab the old extinguisher and darn it's all tho never used empty and the house burns down.


The reason they expire is nothing to do with seals, in fact generally there are no rubber seals at all exposed to CO2 in fire extinguishers it is either metal to metal valve or sometimes Teflon to metal. It is to do with pressure testing. Most pressure tanks will have a repeat pressure test date usually 5 to 10 years after date of manufacture. For a fire extinguisher cylinder it is 10 years, thus to use a fire extinguisher as an extinguisher after 10 years, it must be emptied and  the cylinder pressure tested. Generally it is not worth it and the extinguishers are scrapped or handed to fish keepers....


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## zozo (30 Sep 2020)

ian_m said:


> The reason they expire is nothing to do with seals, in fact generally there are no rubber seals at all exposed to CO2 in fire extinguishers it is either metal to metal valve or sometimes Teflon to metal. It is to do with pressure testing. Most pressure tanks will have a repeat pressure test date usually 5 to 10 years after date of manufacture. For a fire extinguisher cylinder it is 10 years, thus to use a fire extinguisher as an extinguisher after 10 years, it must be emptied and  the cylinder pressure tested. Generally it is not worth it and the extinguishers are scrapped or handed to fish keepers....



Then this website linked and quoted below likely is telling us fairytales... 💪

https://www.nachi.org/fire-extinguisher-maintenance-inspection.htm



> *Do fire extinguishers expire?*
> Fire extinguishers expire and they do this for a few different reasons. *One common way is that, over time, the seal on the neck will weaken and allow compressed gas to escape*. Extinguishers that have lost much of their pressure will not operate.


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## ian_m (30 Sep 2020)

zozo said:


> Then this website linked and quoted below likely is telling us fairytales... 💪
> 
> https://www.nachi.org/fire-extinguisher-maintenance-inspection.htm


A US only "scare" site, and it talking about other types of extinguisher leaking, not just CO2. Generally you can't use rubber seals of any type with CO2 as CO2 dissolves into the seal either hardening it or melting it, so seals are typically metal to metal. Teflon is allowed, which is what the washer supplied with your CO2 regulator is made of.


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## zozo (30 Sep 2020)

Good to know... 💪


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## Nick potts (30 Sep 2020)

Thanks for all the comments. I am picking up some extinguishers at the weekend.

Anyone local to Torquay, Devon whats the details let me know, everywhere else local won't sell me expired units and want £60+ for a new one.

Can't wait now as i can move my smaller SodaStream bottle onto one of my nano' s


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