I saw in a article once that because our RV's bonce so much going down the road that once a year that we should remove our RV fire extinguisher and pound on the bottom of them to make sure all the stuff inside is loose. This would also be a good time to make sure it is still full. Because many of us are starting a new camping season I though this would be a good time for me to post this. Have a Nice Day P.S. sorry for the poor grammar and punctuation.

I pound mine once every month year round. Someone on this forum who claimed to be an expert recommended monthly shaking or pounding.

RoyF wrote:I pound mine once every month year round. Someone on this forum who claimed to be an expert recommended monthly shaking or pounding.I turn the dry chemical fire extinguishers that I have in my home and in our garage upside down once a year and hit them with a hard rubber mallet several times. I can see and understand why it may be a good idea to do the same to dry chemical extinguishers in an RV more often like suggested. From the jostling they get while traveling down the road, the dry chemical powered will settle more quickly and pack to a pretty hard substance. Once that happens, if you need to use the extinguisher, basically all you will get out is compressed gas.

In commercial use the facility will have a fire prevention service come in and inspect, and certify their extinguishers per a schedule (I think monthly) and yes, they do that for Dry Chem types.. Wet chem types (Contact Mac The Fire Guy) do not need this type of service and may actually do a better job on most fires.(Mac explains way better than I do). Of course the best place to be in a fire...ELSEWHERE, but that's not always an option.I have the 5 pound toy that came with the RVA 25 pounder I need to get serviced when I get back to MI.And two Wet Bottles (About a pint each) from Mac the Fire Guy.And a water bottle.. Compressed air over water, Re-filled and re-compressed when needed,, This is my "Campfire" extinguisher so it gets a lot of use.Modified garden sprayer (I added an automotive valve stem so I can "pump it up": with my air compressor instead of elbow grease).

I got rid of my dry power little extinguisher and bought three Foam type extinguishers to distribute around our motor home. In most cases, the Foam type extinguishers are superior to the dry chemical type. I'd recommend anyone concerned about fire and their response to go to this web site for information and products. Mac the Fire Guy

The best thing to do would be to replace the miniature extinguishers provided with RVs with one of suitable size and purpose.Bruce

Fire Extinguishers | Good Sam Community

colliehauler
Explorer III
Apr 08, 2016
Good point Tachdriver, not to mention how toxic the smoke is. Personal safety should be your top priority.
Tachdriver
Explorer
Apr 08, 2016
richms wrote:
Good info here on turning fire extinguisher upside down and fluffing chemical. Please don't confuse dry chemical with dry powder. Two different agents. You want to make sure you buy a dry chemical for your RV. Never have understood why manufacturer's provide a $5.00 extinguisher for a $40,000.00 RV.

Its a bare minimum, although once an RV/TT gets to a certain level of fire, may as well get out and let it go. They are built with such flammable materials such as the paneling etc.

They go fast and need to get on it quickly if you can. I guess the MFG. can say they supplied a fire extinguisher.
richms
Explorer
Apr 08, 2016
Good info here on turning fire extinguisher upside down and fluffing chemical. Please don't confuse dry chemical with dry powder. Two different agents. You want to make sure you buy a dry chemical for your RV. Never have understood why manufacturer's provide a $5.00 extinguisher for a $40,000.00 RV.
colliehauler
Explorer III
Apr 07, 2016
Shearwater wrote:
How is jostling different from pounding? I would think they would have the same effect.
Are you talking about jostling going down the road? If so it settles the powder where it is packed together into a solid. Turning it upside downs and taping / pounding the bottom frees the solid back into a powder.
colliehauler
Explorer III
Apr 07, 2016
I would recommend a extinguisher with a metal valve over one with a plastic valve, the plastic tends to lose pressure. Remember to use the PASS method.

Pull the pin
Aim at the base of the fire
Squeeze the handle/trigger
Sweep from side to side

Would not hurt to practice on a small controlled fire outside so you know what to expect, fire extinguishers are cheep. People panic in a real fire.

At work we had fire training ever year.

We were trained to only fight the incipient fire (beginning stage).

If the fire is beyond a small fire get out, not worth losing your life over.
Shearwater
Explorer
Apr 07, 2016
How is jostling different from pounding? I would think they would have the same effect.
SCVJeff
Explorer
Apr 07, 2016
Dtank wrote:
SCVJeff wrote:
There's nothing wrong with them but they do need frequent beating or they won't work. I replaced mine with an AFFF by the door and sent the factory powder outside to a storage bay. I also added another much larger powder on a cranny for "that" time just in case. Additionally, AFFF in the bedroom, Halon in the kitchen, and three automatic AFFF & Halon in the fridge and engine.

The beatings happen today

Good advice - especially for extinguisher SELECTION!

However - there *IS* something wrong with those dry powder (or "dry chem") extinguishers that get their regular "beating"..

Dry powder (or "dry chem") make a heck of a mess!..:(

Visit - Mac The Fire Guy's site for better choices.

Mac The Fire Guy

From another 30 year F/F - his info is accurate and excellent.

Lots of threads on the subject - here's a good one from "back when" -

"Fire Extinguishers"

BTW - you spent a lot of $$$ on/for your RV - invest some money for quality extinguishing agents to protect *your* investment.

Keep that dry powder extinguisher handy for that "other guy's fire..;)
~
if you noticed, everything first on the release list are Halon or AFFF. If something is bad enough for powder, at that point I don't really care about the mess since its holding back a bigger one
Gjac
Explorer III
Apr 06, 2016
Thanks for posting this reminder, I never gave it much thought. But now that you got me thinking about it mine are stored horizontally so I guess I would have to rotate them on occasion and the dirt roads and potholes should keep the chemicals from sticking together.
Dtank
Explorer
Apr 06, 2016
SCVJeff wrote:
There's nothing wrong with them but they do need frequent beating or they won't work. I replaced mine with an AFFF by the door and sent the factory powder outside to a storage bay. I also added another much larger powder on a cranny for "that" time just in case. Additionally, AFFF in the bedroom, Halon in the kitchen, and three automatic AFFF & Halon in the fridge and engine.

The beatings happen today

Good advice - especially for extinguisher SELECTION!

However - there *IS* something wrong with those dry powder (or "dry chem") extinguishers that get their regular "beating"..

Dry powder (or "dry chem") make a heck of a mess!..:(

Visit - Mac The Fire Guy's site for better choices.

Mac The Fire Guy

From another 30 year F/F - his info is accurate and excellent.

Lots of threads on the subject - here's a good one from "back when" -

"Fire Extinguishers"

BTW - you spent a lot of $$$ on/for your RV - invest some money for quality extinguishing agents to protect *your* investment.

Keep that dry powder extinguisher handy for that "other guy's fire..;)

~
loggenrock
Explorer
Apr 03, 2016
If you are using AFFF just don't leave them out in freezing conditions...! ST