How many fire extinguishers on-board?
Just got an additional auto\marine extinguisher for our fiver. I was wondering how many folks have multiple extinguishers inside? Do you guyz keep an extinguisher handy for an outside emergency? ...
Forum Discussion
Let me tell you a little story about that "useless" extinguisher by the door.
We left San Antonio heading west in the wee hours of the AM (dark) and were in the hill country when I saw something very bright on the rear view camera at the rear of the RV. I immediately puled over and ran back to see what was going on. What I saw was flames 3 to 4 feet high both inside and outside the rear cap directly over the exhaust pipe. I ran to the front door (40' coach) and got the RV fire extinguisher, ran to the rear and hit the flames with it. The fire was immediately put out. As I looked further for the cause, I found that the rag I kept in the engine compartment for checking fluid levels had fallen from it's nitch where I usually kept it, onto the hot exhaust stack. Further looking found that there was NO damage. Even the paint was unscorched and no wires or anything else beside the rag was burned.
Obviously, I no longer kept an oily rag in the engine compartment, and got the extinguisher recharged later that day. Of course this was only possible because the "useless" extinguisher worked well.
How many folks out there do a monthly check on their extinguisher(s) and agitate the powder to keep it flowable? Without a regular check and shake up, the extinguisher will be useless. If you don't know how to do this check, stop at your local fire station and they'll be happy to show you. A couple of minutes a month is all you need and you can check to be sure the emergency escape windows are free and operate correctly at the same time.
And yes, we also carry 2 other extinguishers, a Purple K ABC large unit and a Carbon dioxide one.
They all work well if properly cared for and are used the way they should be.
We left San Antonio heading west in the wee hours of the AM (dark) and were in the hill country when I saw something very bright on the rear view camera at the rear of the RV. I immediately puled over and ran back to see what was going on. What I saw was flames 3 to 4 feet high both inside and outside the rear cap directly over the exhaust pipe. I ran to the front door (40' coach) and got the RV fire extinguisher, ran to the rear and hit the flames with it. The fire was immediately put out. As I looked further for the cause, I found that the rag I kept in the engine compartment for checking fluid levels had fallen from it's nitch where I usually kept it, onto the hot exhaust stack. Further looking found that there was NO damage. Even the paint was unscorched and no wires or anything else beside the rag was burned.
Obviously, I no longer kept an oily rag in the engine compartment, and got the extinguisher recharged later that day. Of course this was only possible because the "useless" extinguisher worked well.
How many folks out there do a monthly check on their extinguisher(s) and agitate the powder to keep it flowable? Without a regular check and shake up, the extinguisher will be useless. If you don't know how to do this check, stop at your local fire station and they'll be happy to show you. A couple of minutes a month is all you need and you can check to be sure the emergency escape windows are free and operate correctly at the same time.
And yes, we also carry 2 other extinguishers, a Purple K ABC large unit and a Carbon dioxide one.
They all work well if properly cared for and are used the way they should be.
