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Fire Extinguishers

24 January, 2017

Fire extinguishers are one of those items like most safety items that you only use when you really, really need them! I have surveyed many boats with extinguishers that are out of date and often have no pressure in left in the bottle so they are only good for ballast and in the case of the extinguisher in the picture, not even safe for that.

As a guide, extinguishers should be serviced annually to make sure there is no corrosion, that there is pressure in the bottle, and the powder has not 'caked' solid in the bottom. They should also be replaced every 5 years.

Getting only a few extinguishers serviced can be difficult as its not worth the engineers time to for the benefit. However most boats are kept in marinas and yacht clubs that all need extinguishers on the pontoons serviced so why not speak to the yard manager or secretary to see if yours could be done at the same time. If that is too difficult to arrange maybe a few boats clubbing together to bring a service engineer down would be more economical.