So what does one do with spent fire extinguishers?
I’ve got a small extinguisher for the kitchen, and a medium sized one for the garage that are both sitting at empty. The garage one just seems to have depressurized over time. The kitchen one I had to use to put out a small fire in the oven that started up from stuff spilling over.
The kitchen one says “Discard/Replace extinguisher if pointer reads empty” on the pressure gauge. The label also says “Must be discarded” in tiny bold letters (it’s a small label), so I take this to mean that this particular extinguisher can’t be recharged. So what’s the proper way to dispose of one of these? It’s probably still got chemicals in it, so I’m hesitant to just toss it in the trash. Plus it’s made of metal, so it could probably be recycled.
The pressure gauge needle on the garage one is sitting in the Recharge zone, and says “MUST BE RECHARGED” in slightly larger bold letters, so I assume this particular one can be recharged. I figure I can probably find a place in the phone book that does fire extinguisher service.
I should make a trip to the fire station down the road. I bet they can tell me what to do.
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There IS a firefighting equipment place on Meeting Street Extension.
I took a fairly large one there and they “recharged” it and put a tag on it that expired a few years ago. It was not cheap.
In fact, go to Lowe’s and buy a few new ones and you’ll still come out cheaper. I have some that are 7-8 years old and still show the arrow “in the green.”
The professional extinguishers have to pass annual inspections but you, as a home owner, do NOT have that situation. When they “go flat,” just throw it away and start over. See if the firemen agree.
Do you have smoke detectors and fresh batteries? Some FDs provide them free.