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Manager - N2MG
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Survey Question

Question

Do you have a Class C fire extinguisher within reach in your radio shack?

Results (1456 answers)

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Survey Comments

Good but now stale

The fire extinguisher survey was my suggestion, and I believe most readers found the idea and the results interesting. Unexpected events do happen fast in radio shacks! If it helps to save life or property, the survey wll have done well.

Now however, it is time for a new survey.

If it stays up much longer, in some of the more unstable readers, it may generate intense hatred of fire extinguishers!
Posted by AI2IA on 2005-11-19

Underwater Shack??

Humm, hoping you have a good supply of "floating wire" antennas from your local salvage yard. Might even be able to tune up on 160 meters but thats a bit high in freq probably.

oooooouuuuga ooooooooooouuuuuuuuuugggaaaaa

Rick
Posted by W7STS on 2005-11-17

It's time to move on...

It's time for another survey. This one is very stale!
Posted by KI4GPX on 2005-11-17

Cat, power supply: POOF!

I never thought of it, either. I have one right next to the wood stove, which is just a few feet from the kitchen. But now that I think of it, leaving the shack unattended even for a few moments could cause big troubles:

Like the cat(s) knocking over my big antique 125 watt soldering iron.

My humming power supply finally deciding to fry, and setting the rug it sits upon on fire.

A short in the wires connected to my two 13.8 marine batteries...BEFORE they meet the fuses.

The dog catching its tail on fire from the portable propane heater I use in the winter.

73, Bill - WA8MEA
http://HamRadioFun.com



Posted by WA8MEA on 2005-11-15

Cat, power supply: POOF!

I never thought of it, either. I have one right next to the wood stove, which is just a few feet from the kitchen. But now that I think of it, leaving the shack unattended even for a few moments could cause big troubles:

Like the cat(s) knocking over my big antique 125 watt soldering iron.

My humming power supply finally deciding to fry, and setting the rug it sits upon on fire.

A short in the wires connected to my two 13.8 marine batteries...BEFORE they meet the fuses.

The dog catching its tail on fire from the portable propane heater I use in the winter.

73, Bill - WA8MEA
http://HamRadioFun.com



Posted by WA8MEA on 2005-11-15

Cat, power supply: POOF!

I never thought of it, either. I have one right next to the wood stove, which is just a few feet from the kitchen. But now that I think of it, leaving the shack unattended even for a few moments could cause big troubles:

Like the cat(s) knocking over my big antique 125 watt soldering iron.

My humming power supply finally deciding to fry, and setting the rug it sits upon on fire.

A short in the wires connected to my two 13.8 marine batteries...BEFORE they meet the fuses.

The dog catching its tail on fire from the portable propane heater I use in the winter.

73, Bill - WA8MEA
http://HamRadioFun.com



Posted by WA8MEA on 2005-11-15

What Fire Protection?

Interesting series of comments here but I'm wondering if you are all worrying too much. Here in Budapest I've never seen a smoke alarm in someone's apartment (and about 90% of the housing stock are apartments). I've also never seen a fire extinguisher in anyone's home, not even the kitchen. Deaths from fire are however VERY low and it's a rare thing to see a fire truck racing through the streets.

I suspect that one of the reasons for the lack of fires is the electrical supply. The average apartment has a total of fifteen amps or so at 230 volts. Fuses are becoming a rare sight as they are replaced by breakers and every apartment or house has a residual current circuit breaker right next to the meter.

HA5RXZ
Posted by HA5RXZ on 2005-11-14

Huh???

Even though this is what some would consider as a normal safety measure, WHAT THE HE*L HAS THIS GOT TO DO WITH HAM RADIO???
Posted by K1CJS on 2005-11-13

Re: Huh???

Oh yeah, forgot the little smiley face on the end of the last post-- ;-) !
Posted by K1CJS on 2005-11-13

Fire extinguishers

My philosophy is don't leave your equipment on and unattended. With regard to cfc's its clearly evident that they are heavier than air. Therefore all the propaganda about them destroying the ozone layer is horse hockey. I believe it was either Finland or Sweden noticed a significant increase in liver cancer among employees working with the new "Ozone friendly freon". Its kind of interesting that only when the patents on the original freon ran out that all of a sudden we in the US had to switch over to something toxic while nearly all other countries still use the non-toxic stuff.
Posted by KD6WD on 2005-11-12

Home Owners Insurance

Heres a secondary reason to have extinguishers around the house.... Home owner insurance discounts. I get a 10% for having them here and I get another 10% for having a monitored alarm system.
Now if I could just get 10% off for having a Rotty, the darn insurance might almost be affordable.
Ed k3tj
Posted by K3TJ on 2005-11-12

Halon...

As others have pointed out Halon 1211 is obsolete/unavailable now due to its ozone depleting properties, its closest replacement is Halotron I. 2.5lb Halotron extinguishers can be had for about $100, 5 lb for about $180, however for an ABC rating, vs just BC you need at least a 10/11 lb unit (I believe same as w/ Halon) CO2 is another option for cklean BC rated extinguishers, but probably similar in price to Halotron. Both BC (sodium or potassium bicarbonate/purple K) and especially ABC (ammonium phosphate) dry chemical extinguishers while very effective are very messy, leaving fine dust or crusted extinguishing agents.
Posted by KB1LKR on 2005-11-06

Class AB?

The only rated *Class AB* extinguisher I know of is a wet foam extinguisher. You surely don't want to use one of those on energized electrical equipment.

The Class C rating for an extinguisher is only for the extinguishing agent's conductivity properties, as electricity doesn't actually "burn". The combustibles in a Class C fire can be Class A, B, D, or a combination of these three.

As for Halon, the traditional CFC halons have not been made in years, but existing Halon 1211 and 1301 extinguishers and fixed systems can continue to be serviced and used. There are a few Halon replacements, such as Halotron and FM200. The FE241 agent is only for use in unoccupied spaces. As the cost of a 5 B:C rated Halotron extinguisher is in the range of $130-150, most people choose the common ABC rated dry chemical units instead.

As said earlier, a small (5 lb) CO2 unit can be nice for use as a "clean agent" extinguisher. The advantage of Halon is less cold-shock to electronic equipment, compared with CO2.
Posted by K6IHC on 2005-11-05

Never thought about it!

I never really thought about because I have one in the kitchen and thats the room next to the shack BUT i DO have a SMOKE ALARM above my equipment setting on the power supply which stays own kd5jjp
Posted by KD5JJP on 2005-11-05

Why Take Chances?

I just built my shack underwater. Sure, I have to keep resetting breakers, and the acoustics are a little dicey, but why take the risk??
Posted by WO5I on 2005-11-04

Fire protection

You don't need one unless you use MFJ crap- In that case, have 4 water hoses, 3 FE's, and live next to a fire station- Oh yeah, a Virgin Mary statue sitting on one of their amps or tuners would help-
Posted by N0AH on 2005-11-03

CO2

I have a fairly good sized CO2 extinguisher in the shack along with two good sized dry chemical units in case the CO2 does not put the fire out.
Posted by KE3HO on 2005-11-03

Not At Home

I would never use a Halon extinguisher in a residential setting. It is totally inappropriate as any good commercial extinguisher sales company will tell you.

A plain AB class extinguisher is much better for home use and I have several in my house.
Posted by N3ZKP on 2005-11-03

More important than having a fire extinguisher is actually knowing it's capabilities and limitations and how to use it.

Fire extinguishers should be located in proximity to exit points and not hidden away in some corner for the sake of convenience. The last thing you want to do is jump through the flames to get to the actual fire extinguisher.

The installation of a smoke detector in a ham shack is just as important as the fire extinguisher itself.

Halon extinguishers are cleaner when dispersed but not as good as some other extinguishants in dealing with Class A fires. Although Halon is cleaner, they can be very dangerous if thier use is not clearly understood.

Suggested reding: "Health and Safety Hazards when using Halon"

http://erd.dli.state.mt.us/safetyhealth/brochures/halon.pdf

The current trend is to phase out Halon extinguishers and replace them with "multipurpose" extinguishers.

Every ham should be adequately trained and certified in the proper use of fire extinquishers.

If you don't know what P.A.S.S. means, then you most likely don't know how to properly use a fire extinguisher.

Training is most likely your best line of defense in dealing with fires. Here's some excellent basic training and information that I had taken when I was working EMS.

Suggested Fire Awareness Training:

http://www.ou.edu/oupd/fireprim.htm

Stay Safe,

Charles - KC8VWM
Posted by KC8VWM on 2005-11-02

Extinguisher Training

If you need to conduct classroom fire safety awareness and extinguisher training,feel free to use this link. 73

http://www.varaces.org/races-adv/Ops10.pdf
Posted by KE4SKY on 2005-11-02

Extinguisher in shack

I also have an old carbon-tet grenade. It looks pretty cool hanging from the ceiling! Some day I'm going to deactivate it....
Posted by WY3X on 2005-11-02

I only run class AB for ham radio, and class A for audio.

Bob
Posted by X-WB1AUW on 2005-11-01

More that one needed

I have a bottle in the shack/garage, under the kitchen sink, and in each of our vehicles. Protection in depth is best.

Dennis KG4RUL
Posted by KG4RUL on 2005-11-01

HALON

This stuff is NOT safe for non-comercial use. Inhailing this chemical can kill you. Not only does it replace oxygen but plays havoc with you liver and kidneys. But the heart is where it does the most damage. The ues of a standard AB is safer and just as effiecint. Equipment can be replaced. Your life or the lives of your family cannot.
Just a thought,
William Chapman RN - N2WEC
Posted by N2WEC on 2005-10-31

HALON

This stuff is NOT safe for non-comercial use. Inhailing this chemical can kill you. Not only does it replace oxygen but plays havoc with you liver and kidneys. But the heart is where it does the most damage. The ues of a standard AB is safer and just as effiecint. Equipment can be replaced. Your life or the lives of your family cannot.
Just a thought,
William Chapman RN - N2WEC
Posted by N2WEC on 2005-10-31

Lets see... All my equipment is fused and the reason for the fuse is to keep the insulation on the wires from smoldering in the first place. All my equipment is of the newer solid state construction so there is no high voltage in my shack. I just don't see the need for a fire extinguisher.
If I were to buy one I would in no way pick a Halon Model. Halon displaces ALL the Oxygen
in the area that it is used in. Use enough of it in a small shack and you could very well have drawn your last breath. There are other health concerns as well that have already been mentioned above by N2WEC. Yes AB or ABC extinguishers make a mess but they are much safer and cheaper.
Just my thoughts on the matter and you may have others.
73
Greg Dunn / N0MLR
Posted by N0MLR on 2005-10-31

Fires

FYI... A class C fire is only in that class when the power is still energized. Fuse blows, power off...smoldering insulation catches fire and then it is a Class A fire. Fuses are great for short circuit protection, but wires are/might be hot if the fuse is not sized correct. May or may not start fires. BTW, Halon is going to be banned...ozone layer depletion.
Just my 2 cents.

Rick - WA6ES
Posted by WA6ES on 2005-10-31

Different In California

Here in California, if it catches fire we just throw it in the pool.
Posted by KG6AMW on 2005-10-31

Extinguisher

What's wrong with good old CO2 extinguishers? Works on electrical fires, no mess to clean up....
Posted by KI8JQ on 2005-10-31

Where DON'T I have a fire extinguisher...

I have one everywhere that my callsign shows up on APRS...home, work, shop van, and personal van. There's even one at my digipeater site. That's not counting the one in the back yard near my antenna switch, put out there after having a fully involved lawnmower fire when a wheel caught in the weeds and the muffler started the fire.
Posted by N3EG on 2005-10-31

Class A,B,C

I have 5 large multiple use Fire Bottles in the house. I do not have ANY problem areas that need treating. Good Luck, get more multi-rated Fire Bottles.

Steve W4CNG
Posted by W4CNG on 2005-10-31

Never thought about it!

Honestly I never thought about it until now.Soooo that means before the sun sets tonight I will have one in my shack.Thanks for the knock on the head!
Rick - WA6ES
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Posted by WA6ES on 2005-10-30

Extinguishers for the shack

The best fire extinguisher for the shack is one that uses HALON. Halon is specifically made to use on electrical fires, and will not leave any residue after use like the powder-filled models. It evaporates and leaves practically no trace.
The Class A and B models use a fine powder, almost like talcum powder, and leaves one horrible mess to clean up afterwards. Of course there is the trade off of having a mess or your shack burning up, hi.. Go with the Halon models, you don't need one the size of a scuba diving tank. IF you have a fire and it cannot be contained by the use of a small extinguisher, call 911 and get the heck outta there! (you might want to grab a copy of your log on the way out, hi.)
BTW, there are also Class D extinguishers, but they are for flammable metals such as magesium.
Posted by WB4M on 2005-10-30

NO WAY! I have HALON (for those that do not know, HALON is the WHITE bottle, also, it does less damage to electronics - BUT DO NOT INHALE THE STUFF)
Posted by K8YS on 2005-10-30

NO WAY! I have HALON (for those that do not know, HALON is the WHITE bottle, also, it does less damage to electronics - BUT DO NOT INHALE THE STUFF)
Posted by K8YS on 2005-10-30

Halon

We had a small fire in the house and the cleanup from the typical AB extinquisher was worse than the fire. The powder is a gritty mess that blows everywhere and sticks. The insurance company paid (a lot) for the cleanup but we had a major mess on our hands for several days. Had the fire been in the shack, I am sure everything would be ruined.

Halon seems expensive, but if you ever have to use it, I think you will be glad you chose the Halon. That extra $40 or $50 will be well spent.
Posted by K4IA on 2005-10-30

You bet...

I don't anticipate ever needing it, but you never know. It's sitting there in plain reach, just in case. And the breakers are about 10 feet from the shack, easily accessible.

I don't anticipate it ever being necessary, but you never know...
Posted by KA9INV on 2005-10-30

Hmmm

Gee I never thought that radios themselves were much of a fire hazard. Maybe its the half asleep Ham with the Cigs and beer!
Posted by KK7WN on 2005-10-30