Inspection and maintenance of fire equipment

As per the statistics, more than 10,000 house fires are recorded in Australia every year and more than 40 deaths are due to accidental house fires. Fire equipments are life saviors in the time of crisis; however, it is important that we maintain fire equipments with utmost care. Many people fail to understand the difference between Maintenace and Inspection. Consequently, they use them interchangably. It is very important to understand the difference between Maintenance and inspection.

Inspection will help you find out, if any part of fire protection equipment or fire protection equipment itself needs to be replaced. You can determine that by performing some checks. Any replacement made comes under maintenance. We bring you tips to inspect and maintain fire extinguishers, so that your life is safe in the time of crisis.

1. Always read user’s manual quite carefully after purchasing a fire protection equipment. User manual is for you to get better understanding of how it works, how it must be inspected and necessary steps to maintain it.
2. Parts of the fire protection equipment, e.g nozzole should never be blocked
3. Fire equipment’s pressure level should be appropriate as recommended by the provider. The testing process is referred to as “Hydrostatic testing”
4. Pin of the fire extinguisher should be intact.
5. Fire extinguisher should never be obstructed due to furniture or any other thing.
6. It should always be easy to find the fire protection equipment
7. Fire protection equipment should be kept away from kids, heat and fire sources.
8. Always recharge reusable fire protection equipment after it has been used; however, this shouldn’t be done by anyone, but only by a fire equipment provider. To be on a safer side, get your fire equipment inspected and fixed by fire extinguisher company after every usage.
9. Dry powder in dry powder fire extinguisher tool can clump together due to inactivity; it is important to shake it well at least once in a month.
10. Disposable fire extinguisher tool should not be used again, even if it was used once. it must be replaced.
11. Some types of maintenance works are quite easy to do. They can be done at home without any professional help. They can be referred as ‘Do It Yourself’ maintenance work. For example:- shaking your dry powder fire extinguisher can be done by any adult at home. In contrast to “Do it yourself” work, some maintenance tasks need professional expertise tools etc. For example:- recharging your fire extinguisher tool or its annual service.
    These easy to follow tips will always prevent your fire equipment tool from being dysfunctional. Afterall, you don’t want to cut corners on the safety of you and your loved ones.

Click here to read about how to choose extinguisher for your home- Expert’s guide on how to choose right Fire Extinguisher for your home