The end of Afff fire foam

[Yorkshire Andy]

Just been browsing for a new extinguisher to replace an old one... Well it appears the environmentalists have scored another goal on the totally bonkers scale..

AFFF (Aquarius film forming foam) is becoming extinct

Which is a pita as Afff foam is bloody good at putting out flammable liquid fires .. I've used it in training and on real fires (large tar burner kettle fire and a large industrial plant machine engine bay fire to name 2 ) it just works....
Apparently there's 10million us gallons of concentrate in the US military alone not counting fuel refineries and similar... All to be disposed of

But tptb have deemed it bad.. much like they did with bcf (halon) 30 years ago or so...

Many suppliers are discontinuing Afff extinguishers early so stock up if you need any...

The screenshots uploaded back to front from safelincs most are steering people to water mist which is ok but it doesn't seal a class b fire so fail to put it out fully and the extinguisher runs out it'll re ignite

[grenfell]

Thanks for the info although I haven't actually got any of these types , I have water , dry powder and CO2 doted around the house. Funny you should mention halon , I still have one in the van and even older still have a couple of pyrene extinguishers in the workshop. Thankfully I've never had to use any of them.
Slightly off topic but I always felt it a retrograde step to have them all red. Even more off topic I remember during a safety course the instructor asking what the large red extinguishers were for and getting the response "propping fire doors open" ...

[jansman]

I have simply,ABC dry powder. I know these work,as I have actually used them ,and successfully too.However,in the house I know they do leave a ‘mess’, although I consider an uncontrolled fire to be worse! Any recommendations? Or am I ok as the ‘mess’ doesn’t concern us?

[Yorkshire Andy]

I always thought red cylinder was a bit backwards..




If I could just afford / get one extinguisher for the home it would be a newer multiclass foam (which so far looks to be still available)

Covering class A, B , Ffires so burning textiles / carpet / sofa , flamable petrochemicals. Petrol lawnmower / car outside on the drive and F is a Biggie in some homes the chip pan / frying pan / cooking oil in the oven

https://www.simplysafetygroup.co.uk/3-l ... scQAvD_BwE

Not too heavy Been 3l but versatile enough to cover all bases it's also safe for accidental use on mains installations upto 1000v at 1m distance.


Dry power is useless on chip fat / veg oil or a deep seated fire with a build up of heat

https://youtu.be/qcGCqW05agE

[jansman]

I always thought red cylinder was a bit backwards..




If I could just afford / get one extinguisher for the home it would be a newer multiclass foam (which so far looks to be still available)

Covering class A, B , Ffires so burning textiles / carpet / sofa , flamable petrochemicals. Petrol lawnmower / car outside on the drive and F is a Biggie in some homes the chip pan / frying pan / cooking oil in the oven

https://www.simplysafetygroup.co.uk/3-l ... scQAvD_BwE

Not too heavy Been 3l but versatile enough to cover all bases it's also safe for accidental use on mains installations upto 1000v at 1m distance.


Dry power is useless on chip fat / veg oil or a deep seated fire with a build up of heat

https://youtu.be/qcGCqW05agE

So a deep seated fire would require what?

[Yorkshire Andy]

I always thought red cylinder was a bit backwards..




If I could just afford / get one extinguisher for the home it would be a newer multiclass foam (which so far looks to be still available)

Covering class A, B , Ffires so burning textiles / carpet / sofa , flamable petrochemicals. Petrol lawnmower / car outside on the drive and F is a Biggie in some homes the chip pan / frying pan / cooking oil in the oven

https://www.simplysafetygroup.co.uk/3-l ... scQAvD_BwE

Not too heavy Been 3l but versatile enough to cover all bases it's also safe for accidental use on mains installations upto 1000v at 1m distance.


Dry power is useless on chip fat / veg oil or a deep seated fire with a build up of heat

https://youtu.be/qcGCqW05agE

So a deep seated fire would require what?

Cooling lots of cooling to bring the material that's burning below auto ignition temperature water mist / Afff / water / class f foam . Depending on the class of fire

[jansman]

Thanks YorkshireAndy!

[Yorkshire Andy]

Thanks YorkshireAndy!

I've experienced it first hand a burning pitch kettle used for flat roofing gaffer had put a full bucket size block of pitch on top of an already full "bin"

Lit it and gone and sat in the office for an hour before work.... Thinking Eureka an hour's overtime...

Saw the smoke probably a mile before work....

Mate went and yelled him his response was er you best go out it out ..


9kg (the big) dry powder extinguisher did not work the fire kept reigning no matter how / what I tried ..

9l foam probably used about 6l to put it out but used the rest to cool / build up a layer of foam on top .. it did the trick

Used foam on a welder who "spontaneously combusted his overalls " having set fire to the floor soaked in oil and wood shavings. Dry powder wouldn't have been the best on a person .. it's horrid stuff to breath in as the wife will testify...

It's good (powder) in cars / unheated outhouses as it doesn't freeze

[grenfell]

I remember a plumber doing some burning on a roof ( lead burning , basically welding lead using an acetylene torch) and starting something smouldering and then using a dry powder extinguisher. What a mess that was...

[Yorkshire Andy]

I remember a plumber doing some burning on a roof ( lead burning , basically welding lead using an acetylene torch) and starting something smouldering and then using a dry powder extinguisher. What a mess that was...

They work and work well but the damage they can do.... Imagine a supermarket or open plan office full of computers the clean up costs more than the fire damage one powder extinguisher let off in a church by vandals cost Ecclesiastical Insurance £240,000!

https://vlex.co.uk/vid/chubb-fire-ltd-v-804084041

You can see why the revised bsi Installation of extinguishers restricts the provision of powder to essential use (fuel refineries / filling stations,,)



My mate works for one of the big UK insurance firms for the home cases they couldn't care less as even if the average living room needs a full refit (carpet curtains / sofa TV sky box) it's still cheaper than a full rebuild + damage to the neighbors ...

I've done several fire courses at work one at the fire service training place we played all morning with every extinguisher going I loved the old foam jet extinguishers which were superseded by Afff foam spray both work well for the task



These probably paint 1000 words of water mist / water or foam Vs powder

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=WTG8frusJVo

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=QiAllu_tMMQ