Extremely Close Call
The other night our neighbor and wife were watching TV with the electric fireplace on. All of a sudden flames shot out from behind the TV ( fireplace is below the TV). He ripped the TV off the wall an...
Forum Discussion
Houston Remodeler wrote:
A dry power such as salt, flour, coffee, coffee creamer, would all work to extinguish an electrical fire in a pinch.
Another whoa here! - Bad info!
FLOUR is *NOT* an extinguishing agent - even "in a pinch"!.:S
Finely atomized flour -as in thrown at/on a fire- will make a nice "explosion" - or at minimum - a larger fire out of a small one!
(Like sawdust or other product. For those in the Midwest, think grain silo explosions).
Way back when for a FP demo, we would place some flour in a coffee can with an ignition source in the bottom. Place lid on top, blow air via small attached hose to atomize the flour - and blooie, Louie!
Baking SODA (as in Arm & Hammer) = YES. - Baking Powder = *NO*
Sure if you were to carefully pour some of the products mentioned on a fire, they would *probably* smother it - just like a lid on a frying pan.
Easiest solution - skip the messy kid stuff, get a CO2 extinguisher in place of (or in addition to) the dry chem.
It won't have a class A fire rating, but will handle incipient class A fires - so A, B, and C are *all* covered.
A bit pricey - but compared to fire damage.....a bargain!
Another excellent choice is a 1 1/2 gal AFFF pressurized water/foam extinguisher. Re-fill & charge yourself as needed.
It will have an A & B rating - but would be OK for Class C fires such as what the OP posted.
(Available from Mac the Fire Guy - and other sources).
BTW - with power "off" - an electrical fire is no longer an electrical fire..;)
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On edit - called a halt to reading posts after the *bogus* info (in re: flour, etc.), said Yikes!! a few times and posted.
I see others have already done likewise.
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