Fire protection systems work together to keep you, your team, and the general public safe from a fire emergency. It can be hard to recall all the details of fire safety rules and codes. However, our team here at Chesapeake Sprinkler strives to make fire safety easier to understand for our clients. Do you need to know how many fire extinguishers to place in your building? Do you want to keep your electronics safe from fire extinguisher foam? If so, Chesapeake Sprinkler is here to answer these questions and share the answers to five more fire extinguisher FAQs.
Consider these thoughtful questions.
How Many Fire Extinguishers Must I Have in My Building?
The short answer is: it depends. Building layouts are complex, and fire protection requirements vary. There isn’t a perfect rule for figuring out how many extinguishers you should have installed in your building. Instead, you can have one of our technicians look around your building to determine how many extinguishers you should have in your facility based on the building’s size, layout, and occupancy level.
How Often Does My Fire Extinguisher Need Maintenance?
Inspect your extinguisher each month to ensure it works correctly. Also, having one of our professionals inspect your extinguishers each year is best. Hydrostatic testing every twelve years (a pressure test in which the pipe or other components is pressurized to test the pipeline’s structural integrity) is also helpful.
Which Fire Extinguisher is Best for a Commercial Kitchen?
You might know that you should never use water to create a grease fire. The flames will spread and intensify. You should also use the appropriate fire extinguisher class. Class K fire extinguishers use a specialized process called saponification to put out grease fires by turning fats and oils into soap.
How do I Protect my Electronics from the Foam?
There are many fire extinguishers designed not to damage sensitive electronic equipment. Three of these include:
- Water mist
- Halotron I
- Cleanguard FE 36
Also, CO2 fire extinguishers suffocate the fire and remove oxygen from the air without leaving behind residue.
Should I Provide Fire Extinguisher Training?
You absolutely should. OSHA standards require any workplace with extinguishers available for employee use to provide an employee training program. Employees should be familiar with fire extinguisher basics and the hazards of not using them correctly.
How Do I Know if My Extinguisher Needs a Recharge?
The first way to tell is by lifting and shaking your extinguishers monthly and ensuring that you have all necessary maintenance done. Secondly, you could charge them to be on the same side after every use.
Why are There so Many Labels on Fire Extinguishers?
Here are what the labels and tags mean:
- The manufacturer’s label: Tells you the class, rating, chemical type, and weight, operating pressure, the date your fire extinguisher was manufactured, and a diagram of operating instructions.
- Monthly inspection tag: Contains the owner’s and space’s identity to record the date and status of the 11 required monthly inspections performed by the owner.
- Annual inspection tag: Displays information about the company and technician providing the yearly inspection, the date a technician installed a new extinguisher, and the date the last annual review happened.
- Hydrostatic test label: This label tells you about the company performing the test and the date your extinguisher(s) passed the hydrostatic test.
We hope we’ve covered some of the fire extinguisher FAQs on your mind. Please contact Chesapeake Sprinkler today if you have more questions about fire safety basics.
Contact Chesapeake Sprinkler Company Today!
Chesapeake Sprinkler Company is a leading fire sprinkler contractor in the region, which is now a 100% employee-owned (ESOP) company. As a full-service fire protection company, we offer design, fabrication, installation, testing, maintenance, and inspection of fire protection systems—everything you need from your fire suppression specialist.
For more information, please email or call our Odenton location at 410-674-7041, our Ashburn location at 703-729-5150, or for service/maintenance Chesapeake Protection Services at 410-674-7577. Feel free to keep in touch through Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn!