Fire Extinguisher Inspections: Simple, Informative, and How To

ZenFire

Fire Extinguisher Inspections: Simple, Informative, and How To

Field Service Management
April 4, 2024
9 Min Read

Fire extinguishers are tools of fire safety that should be in every household/office. If you don’t have a fire extinguisher right now, I recommend getting one. Fire extinguisher inspections are a process of maintaining fire extinguishers and making sure that they are ready to use when they are needed in a fire emergency.

This article is a guide on what extinguisher inspections consist of, what you need to do for these inspections, how frequently they need to be conducted, and the importance of why they need to be done.

What is a Fire Extinguisher Inspection?

A fire extinguisher inspection is an official procedure, mandated by OSHA to be conducted within frequent time intervals in workplace environments, buildings, and households. It is advised that fire extinguishers can be found in a residential home, for general safety against any fire accidents.

These inspections consist of three main steps that are executed in every fire extinguisher inspection,

Inspection Procedures
Fire Extinguisher Maintenance Inspections
Hydrostatic Testing Procedures

Each of these procedures occurs in different time intervals, according to when they need to be inspected. All of these procedures include different steps to follow, which we’ll be discussing in more detail further in the article.

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How Often Are Fire Extinguishers Inspected?

Fire extinguishers need to be inspected regularly to ensure their effectiveness and a proper inspection needs to be done in different time intervals for different reasons which I’ve explained below.

Monthly Fire Extinguisher Inspections

A monthly fire extinguisher inspection is needed to check if the fire extinguishers are in proper condition for usage and if everything is in working order.

As soon as extinguishers are installed, they need a first thorough examination. In the case where fire extinguishers may be found in environments prone to rusting or other external influences, they’ll need to be checked more frequently.

These inspections can be done by any competent person in the building or area. A certified individual, like a fire inspector, is not required for monthly inspections of your fire extinguishers.

Yearly Inspections

Annual fire extinguisher inspections are done as a maintenance check and should be done by a certified fire individual who knows what to check for.

Most fire extinguishers would only need external annual inspections but, according to the type of fire extinguisher, it may need an internal maintenance check as well.

Someone from the local fire department should be responsible for any annual inspection that needs to be done.

Internal Maintenance Inspection - Every 5, 6, or 12 Years

An internal inspection only needs to be over a gap of a few years and the number of years can differ based on the type of fire extinguisher cylinders you own.

A normal carbon dioxide fire extinguisher needs to be internally inspected once every five years, whereas any dry chemical extinguishers need to be inspected only once every twelve years.

Only a certified fire protection professional with the right set of tools is allowed to conduct an internal inspection, which usually involves hydrostatic testing.

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The Processes in a Fire Extinguisher Inspection

Every inspection process, differentiated over its own unique time intervals, has a set of steps that need to be followed, to ensure that the fire extinguishers are ready for any situation that may arise.

Here I’ve lined up what exactly needs to be done in every type of inspection so that you know what to do when the time comes.

Visual Fire Extinguisher Inspections

Monthly visual inspections of a fire extinguisher can be done by anyone who knows what to check for during the inspection,

-The extinguisher needs to be located at its designated spot.
-The fire extinguisher needs to be visible or there should be proper signs indicating in which direction the fire extinguisher is present.
-It needs to be in an easily accessible location.
-The pressure gauge needs to be in an operable positioning from the fire extinguisher.
-The fire extinguisher needs to be checked for full capacity by weighing it.
-The condition of the tires, wheels, nozzle, and hose need to be checked for wheeled extinguishers.

A dated inspection tag needs to be attached to the extinguisher after the monthly visual inspection, indicating the proper date and conductor of the whole visually inspecting process.

Download NFPA 10, Standard for Portable Fire Extinguishers

Maintenance Inspections for Portable Fire Extinguishers

Maintenance inspections are done every year and what needs to be done is usually included in the manufacturer’s service manual. This process specifically focuses on the working of all the basic elements of a fire extinguisher,

– Inspecting all the mechanical parts of the extinguisher, repairing and replacing if necessary.
-Focusing on the physical condition of the fire extinguisher.
-Checking if the means of expelling throught the extinguisher is working and intact.
-Proper amount of expelling agent still available in the fire extinguisher.

All of this takes care of the annual inspection by externally checking the extinguisher while a complete internal examination can occur if deemed necessary by the fire official conducting the inspection.

Internal Inspections for Portable Fire Extinguishers

An internal examination is done by following the process of hydrostatic testing on a fire extinguisher and ensuring that it is in a usable and fully functional state.

The testing begins with an internal and external examination of the extinguisher.
Then the parts of the extinguisher are stripped down until only the metal sheel and the hose are left.
The whole tank is then filled with water and kept at a specific pressure point for a period of time.
After this, the fire extinguisher is assembled back together and refilled with the proper expelling agent for that tank.

Hydrostatically tested extinguishers are the best way to find out whether a fire extinguisher is still viable or not. This not only includes the testing of the fire extinguisher itself but also includes the pressure gauge, signage indicating, the operable range, the pull pin seal, and all the proper tools with the extinguisher.

The process of hydrostatic testing can be a bit dangerous and only a certified fire life safety individual who knows what they’re doing should conduct one of these tests.

Our First Line of Defense - Fire Extinguishers

In many situations, fire extinguishers are our first line of defense for small fast-spreading fires and it’s these extinguishers that prevent these fires from becoming a bigger problem that could cause a lot of destruction and pain to humans and their personal property.

Keeping these tools of protection safe and in working condition is the first step we can take in fire safety and that means a regular inspection schedule.

Fire inspections have a lot of technicality and paperwork involved in the process of ensuring durability and effectiveness. ZenFire can help reduce the amount of work involved in this process and rapidly boost the speed of any inspection procedure.

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Fire Extinguisher Inspections: Simple, Informative, and How To

ZenFire