Although I may get flamed for this I thought I would share my results of some tests I did with my Element fire extinguishers. I have no affiliation with any one who makes or market these type of things and would be happy if someone would also do a test so we can get some different results. When I first found out about these from Dave I immediately ordered 3 to test on ththe type of fire I have had at my buisness over the last 25 years. I was very excited to switch all my extinguishrs over due to the thousands I spend every year in recertification etc etc. Although the extinguisher does put out a gasoline fire relativly ok if the source is stopped my results on the other fires was not good. It does not put out enough product quickly enough to stop a hot fire. See results I did a test with these after buying 3 of them and they do not work well at all for an oil fire. The gasoline fire they were barely ok. My results were as follows Cut a 45 gallon drum top and bottom so they were about 12 inches or less tall Fire one had 4 inches of gasoline in it Fire two had about same or a little more(less than an inch) of diesal fuel Fire three had about 4 inches of asphalt heavy oil 200 300 pen Outside temprature was about 25F Torches were used to start all fires Took about 15 minutes to light the asphalt Took about 5 minutes to light diesal Gas went up instantly of course Let fires burn for about 5 minutes or less Results as follows Gas fire was put out in about 25 seconds and moved over to diesal with what was left of a 50 second Element Diesal fire was faught for rest on stick one and all of stick two with very little slowing down of fire My estimate would be you would need about 3 simultaneously to put out and would take less than 25 seconds The asphalt oil. Was very similar to the diesal but even harder to extinguish The 20 lb chemical extinguisher put out all three fires about 8 times each. We did not use extra chemical to put out each and all three were relit just by waving the torch near the top due to the fumes. With these Element extinguishers I feel they are definately better that nothing but likely will not put out an oil fire by themselves They will work on a gasoline fire if you get on it quickly, and the gas is no longer flowing but not a guarantee like a chemical extinguisher. Just thought I would share
Great info, and thanks for conducting this test. Regarding applicability, maybe they aren't very good for facilities and kitchen fires. What about cars and light trucks? Might be great for dash/electrical fires, but probably not for engine bay fuel fires (fuel still pumping scenarios).
Dash fires require lots of extinguisher to put out and most likely need to come back and hit again I keep halon or whatever they call it now fe3? And dry chemical as a failsafe backup 5lb of each Thanks for the test when I saw those stick flares I had to chuckle especially the crafted videos of fire that are not real world examples
Horses for courses!!! The look more like "hobby" fire extinguishers. I'm not surprised they couldn't put out your oil fire, that is a sizable quantity of oil and requires the right fire suppressant in the right quantities. As for engine bay fires with fuel still pumping, foam and lots off it! A "gas" extinguisher wont work too well as its not in a confined space, therefore can not get the correct concentrations. If you've had fires in the past first thing to look at is why, and sort that, then detection, then suppression.
