Types Of Fire Extinguishers
What are the different types of fire extinguishers? We don’t know when we will encounter accidents and disasters in our home. Among the many different calamities, the one we don’t want to experience are fire. You see, a fire can take everything you have. Everything that you have worked for will be gone if the fire eats it. Therefore, it is important that we make sure that we avoid fire as much as possible. And the very first thing that we should do to protect ourselves from fire is to make sure that we have fire extinguishers at home. There are many different types of fire extinguishers. They are made out of different materials and substances. The most common types of fire extinguishers are water, foam, and dry powder.
The cheapest types of fire extinguishers are the water fire extinguishers. These are also the most basic. These are fire extinguishers that are, well, made out of water. This is also the most commonly used types of fire extinguishers. This is mainly because of their availability in conjunction with their price. There are different classes of fire. These types of fire extinguishers are only suitable to kill fires that are categorized as Class A. Class A fires are fire that are composed of different solids. These solids include wood, paper, plastic, and the like. Keep in mind that these types of fire extinguishers should not be used in fires that are under Class B. Class B fires are those that contain flammable liquids. These liquids include petrol, oils, paraffin, and the like. Also, these types of fire extinguishers should not be used when there is electricity involved in the fire.
Next, we have foam fire extinguishers. These are types of fire extinguishers that are made up of, well, foam. These are known to be a bit more expensive than the water fire extinguishers. However, these are the fire extinguishers that can kill fires under class A and class B. Much like the water fire extinguishers, these should not be used when the fire has any electricity involved. However, if worse comes to worst and there are only water fire extinguishers and foam fire extinguishers available, keep in mind that it is still safer to use this than the ones that are made up of water.
Dry powder fire extinguishers are the multi-purpose types of fire extinguishers. These can be considered the best among the three. This is mainly because these types of fire extinguishers can kill class A, B and C fires. Class C fires are those that are composed of flammable gasses. Examples of these flammable gasses are butane, propane, methane, and many others. There are also some dry powders that are effective in killing class D fires. Class D fires are those that are composed of metals such as aluminum, titanium, magnesium, and many others. Beware, however, when you are killing class C fires. Make sure first that the gas supply is isolated as they can be dangerous when you don’t know where they are coming from.
