Source for CO2 fire extinguishers?

Beyond the Manual
53

I’m going to get an extinguisher blanket I think. Might be the cleanest way. (And we already have a fire extinguisher for the big stuff.)

54

I’m wondering if my best bet would be to use the company that services our church’s extinguishers. Especially since I’ll be using the Glowforge on church property. I’d pay the extra to ensure that I am following best practices. Will check into it. They come once a year to check them all.

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55

Well I hope they don’t try to milk you like one I called up asking about an 11 lb. Halotron extinguisher. The company I called wanted $600. I laughed as I dropped the receiver…

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56

Nope, but has to be insurance.regulatory, because looking at McMaster-Carr, you can see the water based extinguisher is $139, and you don’t get more environmentally friendly than water… (comically a spare mounting bracket is $1.16)

CO2 for a 5lb (~2.25kg) is the same price and they go ip to $260 for a 15lb version (and the bracket is 3x as expensive :grinning:). However water is Class-A only, while CO2 is actually B-C only, so given that many people will be cooking wood and cardboard CO2 is actually not recommended. (just be glad you don’t need a Class-D for a welding shop which is $510!). ABC come in cheap (dry chemical) $49-289 or expensive wet-chemical (Halotron) $382-467

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57

Early in my scientific career, I played a role in developing the rationale for a new ozone sparing halon extinguisher. I developed computer models (on a 286 computer in those days) to predict the effect of chemical structure on ozone depletion potential, effectiveness against fire, and toxicity. The research challenged the prevailing view that halons had to have ozone depleting bromine or chlorine in them to be effective as fire extinguishers. A full 50% of the fire fighting capability comes from the formation of a diradical called difluorocarbene, which is non-ozone depleting. Since most halons are low boiling liquids, 20-30% of the remaining extinguishing capacity comes from the cooling effect of the material evaporating in the fire. Bromine and chlorine in the structure of halons did provide some additional extinguishing capacity, but mainly served to make the halon molecule unstable so that it would fall apart to difluorocarbene. I heard about an early test of a halon fire suppression system in the analytical department of my first post college job. They hadn’t accounted for the over pressures developed from a large release of halon and the test blew out the concrete block wall at the back of the lab.

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58

So I pulled the trigger and bought this fire extinguisher today on Amazon based on everyone’s opinions on this topic. It has the 9sec discharge which I think would be appropriate for the laser (maybe I’ll buy a CO2 one as well as a back-up)! At $84.33 with free shipping (Prime member), I thought it was a good deal (the link shows $99.50 for some reason…non-Prime pricing?). I put this into CamelCamelCamel and it showed it was only $5 above it’s lowest price and a bunch lower than its highest. If you’ve never used that website, it’s great. It’s where I keep my Amazon wishlist and it sends notices when an item has fallen below the set price you’re willing to pay!
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009WUGRXS/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

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59

Awesome, I may have to pull the trigger on this. For some reason, your link goes to a 3rd party vendor. The Amazon one is $84.33.

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B009WUGRXS/ref=ox_sc_mini_detail?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

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60

I like that one too. When I started this page, I had thought I wanted a CO2 extinguisher but the discussion just evolved into the Halotron type. Thank you for your post.:grinning:

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61

We have them at the office.

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62

Thanks for the link. Ordered one and my safety glasses.

Good to hear @dan

63

Have you had a chance to verify their effectiveness in real world fire control yet?:smiley:

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64

Amazon.ca doesn’t sell these but I’m in Seattle at PAX next week. Anyone have experience with the Amazon lockers? Do you need a PRIME membership to use them? I have PRIME for Canada but not for the States.

… and I see they aren’t shipping for two to three weeks… bummer

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65

The price on Halotron extinguishers has dropped a little @ Amazon, if you haven’t gotten one yet. I just ordered one of these:

2.5lb Halotron Extinguisher

$84.33 w/prime

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66

Unfortunately for us Canucks, Amazon.com won’t ship these to Canada, and on Amazon.ca, the cheapest price on this exact model is well north of $350! A little bit of exchange rate, and a whole bunch of greed. grr.:rage:

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67

There are alternatives to halon-style gas extinguishers.

Found this for <$190 CDN…
https://www.amazon.ca/Fire-Extinguishers-Hg250b-Clean-Agent/dp/B005JV8ZXO/

Edit (so, so many edits…): If you don’t mind spending a bit more, there’s some brick’n’mortar places that have it for almost the same price.

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68

@lcuellar63 Thanks! I have been meaning to get an extinguisher. Hopefully all it will ever do is gather dust.

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69

So as an update, I ordered one of these from the above Amazon reseller.

And although I don’t want to say they played it fast and loose with exporting it from the US, I definitely did not receive my $19.00 “safety bracket for car” which was “repair and return”… :speak_no_evil:

70

Look a little like this?

611×818 145 KB

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71

You got the wrong instruction manual too? Mine also came with a free fire extinguisher attached to my bracket. I can only assume someone fell asleep in the shipping department… :innocent:

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72

I just assumed the free fire extinguisher was included to make sure the bracket retained its shape and didn’t get crushed during transit. :wink:

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