Are you shopping for fire extinguishers for your Houston-area business? You may feel overwhelmed by your options, but navigating the types, sizes, and weights of different fire extinguishers is easier than you think. Use this guide to help you find the right portable fire protection equipment for your building.
Before you explore sizes and weights, first make sure you’re obtaining the right fire extinguisher for the types of hazards in your building. There are five fire extinguisher classifications, including:
ABC multi-purpose fire extinguishers are the most common in use today. They fight fires in a majority of residential and commercial applications, including homes, office buildings, retail stores, hotels, schools, and more.
Once you understand what classification you need, it’s time to consider the size of your fire extinguishers. As you might have guessed, the bigger an extinguisher is, the larger the fire it can contain. If you’ve ever looked closely at a fire extinguisher, you’ve probably noticed numbers alongside the classification letters. These tell you the size of the fire extinguisher—provided you know how to read them.
One common example you might find is 2A:10B:C. This is the minimum acceptable fire extinguisher size for many commercial applications, but canisters can be much larger than this. Here’s how to read this label:
When shopping for fire extinguishers, bigger is usually better. However, if you purchase a 50-lb canister, your employees may find it difficult to operate in an emergency. Here are some common fire extinguisher sizes and their corresponding weights:
The weights listed here indicate the amount of fire extinguishing agent the tank can hold. Expect the gross weight of the entire canister while fully charged to be a bit heavier.
If you’re not sure what type, size, or weight the fire extinguishers in your building should be, don’t risk making an incorrect guess. Kauffman Co. can help you buy the right extinguishers for your fire protection needs. Then, we can install your extinguishers and perform ongoing inspections in the years to come.
To shop for fire extinguishers in Houston, please call Kauffman Co. at 713-893-1090 or contact us online today.
Fall can be a great time of year in the Houston area. Most of the heat of summer is gone,…
A fire at a commercial property can create devastating losses for the business owners, as well as uncertainty for employees…