From the "you learn something every day" dept or "did everyone know this except for me?"...
A safety heads-up as we in the NE are prepping for the start of the season -- Unlike flares, which have an expiration date printed on them, non-rechargeable fire extinguishers have only a gauge showing the current charge state and a date of manufacture. Grey Goose’s PO outfitted her (at some point…) with two fire extinguishers (as required by Coast Guard regs). Charge state was good on both and they appeared physically sound. Got to wondering and learned that non-rechargeable fire extinguishers should be removed from service after 12 years from the date of manufacture as per the Nat’l Fire Protection Association. Mine were from the mid-80s (surprised a surveyor wouldn’t note that, but that’s a different topic…) and will now be used to teach my kids how to use a fire extinguisher.
From Kidde…
“the date of manufacture can be located in one of three places:
* The bottom left corner where it says Made in USA (I.E. 2003).
* On the bottom of the unit you may have a 2-digit number engraved into the cylinder (I.E. 03).
* Below the label you may have a printed number (I.E.1205322022). The second 2 numbers from the end represent the year, in this example it would be 02 for 2002.
If your fire extinguisher was made in Mexico the printed number will read like this:
L2103071146
L2 = Production
line
103 = Day of the year
07 = Year
1146 = Time"
A fire is a bad time to find out your extinguishers are worthless – take a look.
