Fire extinguisher mess cleanup

[dieselbashdave]

Hi all,

After narrowly avoiding my house burning down after an out-of-control cooker elected to burst into flames, how do I clean up an ABC powder extinguisher?

Needless to say the majority of the powder is in the grill where the fire began, but a lot of it ended up filtering into the oven and behind the glass of the clock (the cooker clock - not the wall clock!). How do I go about removing 1kg of ABC powder from the cooker?

The floor and units are fine - I scooped the powder off using a wet dishcloth and hand-brush. The grill is covered in white/yellowy powder though! I even found powder in the salad crisper! Either that or the tomatoes have got mildew

I suppose I should be thankful that I have a white kitchen instead of a smouldering crater in the basement

Anyhoo, now that I have recovered from my ordeal will a wet cloth do to clean about 2 inches of powder off the grill floor?
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And another question - should I get a foam extinguisher instead of an ABC powder one next time?

 

[Lrd]

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=cleaning+up+abc+fire+extinguisher+

As for next extinguisher, I think dry powder would be best as it can be used on pretty much everything except from cooking oil (fryers etc). Foam shouldn't be used on electrical equipment or flammable gases.

 

[Crossover]

In a fire briefing, I was advised to "be wary setting off a powder extinguisher as if you were to, you'd be finding powder in every crevice for the next two years"

Not sure the best way to clear it out of the grill though, I'm afraid

 

[dieselbashdave]

That Let Me Google That For You is so cool

I'll hopefully get the mess cleaned up before Monday - you'd be surprised how much mess a fire extinguisher could make. It's shocking! First time I've ever seen it snow indoors, that's for sure.

I'll go to the safety shop on Monday - till then it's going to be takeouts from the chippy! It's amazing the chaos an overheated sausage can cause!

 

[Wyvern]

Foam is even more horrible than powder. A yellowish gooey mess.

 

[Yew]

Aha, I HATE powder extinguishers, as my dad runs a fire protection company I've cleaned out a few of them. Generally when we discharge them we do so into a sack to keep the powder from going everywhere.

Personally I think your best bet would be an old/cheap vacuum cleaner, an maybe a pc air duster (an old /cheap vac as the powder could kill it, maybe go to a car boot?)

Good luck in cleaning it, we hav a large patch of dead grass from escaped powder

 

[John Webb]

Sorry to hear you've had problems.

The best way of cleaning up DP is to vacuum it up - but use, if possible, one of the 'cyclone' type cleaners. Go through every nook and cranny twice to make certain it's all gone. This is important because the powder is alkaline and attracts damp and thus if not removed can become corrosive. Several years ago a church had one of these extinguishers discharged by vandals - it cost around £250,000 to clean the place up!

Regarding a replacement, an 'AFFF' (Aqueous Film-forming Foam) spray extinguisher, around 6 litre (or a couple of smaller ones) will be a good replacement. The foam is not the horrible yellow stuff mentioned by Wyvern, which sounds like the very old-fashioned chemical foam extinguisher. The AFFFs have a fine spray type application (so can be used on domestic electrics without shock risk in the initial application*) and are in effect a detergent so the mopping up afterwards is reasonable and can help the cleaning!
*But of course get the electrics off ASAP in any case as the foam will quickly 'pond' and short electrics out!

John Webb
(Retired Senior Scientific Officer, Fire Research Station, BRE)

 

[Wyvern]

Many thanks.

Useful to know.

 

[Lrd]

Many thanks.

Useful to know.

Indeed, great stuff Mr. Webb. Thanks.

 

[dieselbashdave]

I've had a good sweep with the dustpan and brush and most of the dust is gone. There is still a large pile that appears to be stuck to the oven and grill that I can't remove. The fire damage to the grill is at the point of needing a replacement cooker.

I'll take the advice and go for a foam one as that'll be a bit easier and hopefully won't release a huge cloud of choking dust. It was blinding and almost impossible to breathe! At least it tasted nice though.

 

[First class]

Anyone know whether you can still get Inergen, the inert fire suppression gas? I'm hopeful "John Webb" may know! My property (an old hospital building) has the tanks connected in the basement but they look pretty much past their prime... I don't have the manual release key either to test

Says "N2/Ar/CO2 - INERGEN"

 

[John Webb]

Anyone know whether you can still get Inergen, the inert fire suppression gas? I'm hopeful "John Webb" may know! My property (an old hospital building) has the tanks connected in the basement but they look pretty much past their prime... I don't have the manual release key either to test

Says "N2/Ar/CO2 - INERGEN"

I think 'Inergen' is still available, but it's not an area I was active in. Try Wikipedia and http://www.fire.org.uk which is an independent website with much useful information on it.

Cylinders of the sort you are talking about should, as pressure vessels, be subject to inspection and pressure testing every 10 years. If you don't really need the stuff I'd get rid of it.....