Your fire extinguisher cost: are you getting what you're paying for?



Fire extinguishers are an essential item for any household, apartment block, or office building. They are also required to be installed in any industrial area, and around in area where there may be a naked flame or heating elements that can be prone to heating up. Fire extinguishers can be used to put out or reduce the severity of flames from a fire, and can be a good way of holding off a fire while you're waiting for the fire department to arrive with the appropriate equipment.



There are a variety of different fire extinguishers on the market. Each of these fire extinguishers will contain different chemicals or materials, and is designed for a different type of fire or situation. The cost of the different fire extinguishers can vary significantly depending on the type of material contained inside, as well as the size and aim of the extinguisher itself. For example, heavy duty industrial fire extinguishers may be larger and more comprehensive than smaller fire extinguishers designed for home use. As a result, these will likely be more expensive to purchase, although often the cost of these will be absorbed by workplace budgets and cuts to insurance costs.

One of the most common types of fire extinguisher is a regular water-and-foam based fire extinguisher. As its name indicates, this type of fire extinguisher is filled with water and with foam, and can be used to put out an array of fires. The types of fires that these particular extinguishers can be used on are those known as Class A and Class B fires. These are fires from ordinary combustibles such as paper and wood, as well as flammable liquids fire such as gasoline and paint. Note that these extinguishers cannot be used on fires begun from fats and oils, from electrical fires, or from combustible metals. These extinguishers are quite common and they tend to cost a few hundred dollars each.

Another type of fire extinguisher is the wet chemical fire extinguisher. These are quite specialized and are designed for use in cooking environments where fires are likely to be started from fats and oils. The fire extinguisher cost in this instance can be a little higher than that of regular extinguishers given that they are more specialized and tend not to sell to such high levels as ordinary extinguishers. Dry chemical extinguishers, on the other hand, are effective on Class A and B fires, as well as Class C fires, which are those that involve electrical equipment. They are an effective all-rounder type of fire extinguisher can be useful in both the home and the office. However, the fire extinguisher cost of these can be a little greater than simpler extinguishers such as water or foam extinguishers.