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Originally Posted by panjumbie

A couple of comments: First, I'm sorry if it appeared that I'm "lecturing". But there are issues that may not be apparent to people.

In addition to the potential hazard to health from the fire fighting agent, there is the issue of smoke inhalation. Any research of fire deaths will show that the most common cause of death in a fire is smoke inhalation. And there are more injured from smoke inhalation than die. Every one of those who died in the recent Bronx apartment house fire died of smoke inhalation, not from burns or other direct effect of the flames.

Firefighters who must enter an enclosed fire scene will wear self contained breathing apparatus. Even so, firefighters are often victims of smoke inhalation. Another reason to just evacuate while you can, not to try to put out the fire. You don't have their breathing apparatus. You don't have their firefighting gear which reduces their chance of being burnt. You don't have their hose with high pressure water which lets them fight the fire from a distance, probably a greater distance than one using a portable extinguisher. Finally, you probably don't have their training.

If you want to protect your property and stay safe, install a residential fire sprinkler system. Not inexpensive, and potentially a problem if you don't have a municipal water service, but it will almost always put a quick stop to most home fires, particularly the kitchen cooking fires that are the cause of more than 50 percent of home fires and the fires caused by cigarettes, the greatest cause of home fire deaths.

Incidentally, the dry powder extinguisher is very effective against most cooking fires, as long as they haven't already spread to the surrounding furniture. And the corrosion issue isn't going to be a problem in the kitchen. Anything close to the fire is going to either be burnt or so coated with smoke deposits it will end up in the rubbish. The dry powder won't spread into other areas of the home.

For electronics, the most important thing is to turn off the power to it. In many cases, the "fire" will stop by itself then. Then, yes a CO2 extinguisher is better than dry powder. But it is likely that the electronics is going to keep burning until it is de-energized. And do be aware that the plastic in consumer electronics and the interconnecting cables is a significant generator of very toxic smoke.

A little aside to that, if turning off the power requires running into the basement to turn off circuit breakers, don't. One does not want to be trapped in the basement because the fire spread to the only exit. It is interesting that the latest issue of the National Electric Code requires a power shutoff to be installed outside the home on new installations, near the service entrance, specifically so the power can be shut off in a fire situation. Now, I'll admit to misgivings about that requirement, from a home security standpoint, but I think it brings home the point about being able to safely turn off power in a building in the event of a fire.

My final thought. If you are serious about fire protection and are young enough and in good physical condition, consider joining the (presumably volunteer if you aren't in a city) Fire Department. You will be doing your community a major service, and incidentally you will receive training on how to safely fight a fire, be it a small "cooking fire" or a major conflagration. Beyond that, your fire department may offer classes in how and when to use portable fire extinguishers, when to get out, and other steps in fire prevention.

Please do not take this as a personal lecture, I just want anyone reading this thread, not just those who have posted, to think about the safety issues that may not always be generally understood.

No problem. I've had my share of sounding "lecturing" online I know your intensions were good.

But you made a big boo boo.

Halotron is NOT Halon and not banned, it is one of several new "clean agents" designed to address the banning of Halon 28 years ago (in 1994) !!! I bought my Halotron ones 5 years ago.

Halotron is arguably better than CO2 extinguishers because it can handle ABC fires (if sized large enough). Where CO2 can only do BC.

See this for comparison.

https://blog.koorsen.com/co2-fire-ex...-extinguishers

And for the record I didn't get the Halotrons to protect sensitive electronics, they did that at work for that reason. For home, I didn't want to trash the house because of something SMALL that needed to be extinguished (like a toaster oven). I don't consider Extinguishers a "safety" thing, in the home. They ARE in boat though. Because you can choose just to walk away at home. They are to prevent a small problem from becoming an unnecessary large one. And it's kind of dumb to walk out of the house and call the fire department for a toaster oven.

If you have serious smoke, it's already WAY too late for DIY.

The dry power extinguishers just makes the small problem even bigger in clean up. It's really nasty stuff.

The disadvantage of Halotrons are is they are much larger to handle the same size fire and 10x more expensive. But if you have to use it, the Halotron will save you money in clean up. Another advantage of Halotron is you can see what's going on.

I just looked back at your post and see you corrected it. I'll read up on the toxicity. But there are so many things that are toxic, in excess. I will consider a CO2. I might get a CO2 + a Dry Power one to cover Class A.

The old Freon was great stuff. For everything but the Ozone. Most new Refrigerates are great for Ozone, not so good for us Humans.