best fire extinguisher for garage?

[wibble_puppy]

ello

i plan to get a fire extinguisher for my open-fronted garage where I'm working on my van. No welding, just putting everything back together.

What's the best type of fire extinguisher to get?

Dry powder sounds appropriate, but presumably it leaves messy powder all over everything afterwards? (better than foam, I suppose)

CO2 seems possibly the best but it's pretty expensive.

Any views?

wibble

ps I already have an extinguisher for inside the van

[gairlochrosie]

999

[alex_holden]

That sounds about right, I got a dry powder one for my workshop.

Whatever you get, put it next to the door so that if you come back to the garage to find something has caught fire in your absence, you don't have to go into the building and past the fire to reach the extinguisher.

[JimK]

Ask your local fire service. They will be very please to give you that sort of advice if it means they won't have to come and see you afterwards

[plastic_orange]

Ideally, you should have a couple of different types of extinguishers as you can have several different types of fire in a car - electrical, interior, and fuel.
A dry powder will cope with all 3, but is pretty messy - especially inside, but is very efficient.
I would recommend a CO2 extinguisher for fuel (under bonnet) and electrical fires, and a Dry Powder for any running fuel fires and if you've set a tyre on fire. I would also keep a bucket of water handy for general use.
A few years ago, I would have recommended a Halon extinguisher, but these are not environmentally friendly - but is fire?

Pete

[wibble_puppy]

thanks very much for your advice everyone - alex your tip about situating the extinguisher near the door is very sensible, thank you

I've called the local fire service and am waiting for someone to call me back with advice, both on which type is best and, I guess, where the cheapest place is to get them

[moggyminor16]

were abouts are you
as i know that i can get some 6 kg ones dry powder there all fine just that on or fuel trucks they need to be younger than 5 years from made

[Packedup]

A few years ago, I would have recommended a Halon extinguisher, but these are not environmentally friendly

IIRC they're not very economy of loo roll friendly either...

[wibble_puppy]

hi all!

okay I had a conversation with our local fire officer (thanks for the idea, JimK ). He said:

A smallish dry powder one is best all-round for typical home garage situations. Anything larger than the size of fire this can cope with is going to have to involve the fire brigade anyway. We discussed CO2 extinguishers too, but he feels that the way the dry powder coalesces around the source of the heat and/or flames is very effective at starving the fire, better than CO2.

There you go!

And off I go to buy one

[moggyminor16]

well i can get you one if you are near me i have got a 2 kg one here if you want that

[minor_hickup]

Nice one Wibble, getting a fire extinguisher is something I'd never even thought about.

[Welung666]

I took my dry powder extinguisher into school this morninng as it was service day for the whole school, so got mine checked and refilled for free

[wibble_puppy]

well i can get you one if you are near me i have got a 2 kg one here if you want that

That's extremely kind of you, moggyminor16! I'm down near Brighton though so the carriage might be pricey... whaddaya reckon?

What a lovely offer

[moggyminor16]

i recon it would be but if you wanna day out in gt yarmoth give me a call

[plastic_orange]

What you have to remember is that Dry Powder needs to be kept 'dry' - if your garage is damp it may not work due to soggy powder - hence my recommendation for a CO2 as well - just in case.
When I used to train folk in the use of extinguishers, the greatest failure rate was dry powder extinguishers, but I have to agree with Fire Service advice - they do work well (was always mine too).
Make sure you get it checked annually - realistically just give it a shake every so often to keep powder loose.

Pete