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Mon Feb 10, 2025 4:57 pm

30 x 48 metal building, wood,metal ,mechanic work, would two 10 lb. Abcd units suffice ?

Any suggestions??

Mon Feb 10, 2025 6:17 pm

calvinater wrote: 30 x 48 metal building, wood,metal ,mechanic work, would two 10 lb. Abcd units suffice ?

Any suggestions??

Really depends what kind of materials and work is performed in that building.

A D rate extinguisher is designed to put out metal fires, such as magnesium fire. It is an uncommon type outside of some particular industries.

ABC is one of the more common types.

The rating number that accompanies the letter types gives how big an area of fire of that type can be expected to cover

see link...
https://www.guardianfireprotection.com/blog/numbers-fire-extinguisher/

Also consider where you place the extinguishers, you may find it is wise to place more given the size of the building, number of people inside, number of exits, subdivisions, etc...

If you have high voltage machinery in there, you need an extinguishing media that is non conductive for sure (C type) If you have lots of flammable gasoline, solvents, paints in there then you need a good rating for liquids (B type) If you are doing wood working, and have lots of saw dust, wood scraps, then you need a good A rating and so forth. If you are machining or sanding magnesium, you will want to have a D rating in addition to the A rating

A is for general wood, paper cloth fires, B for liquids, C for electrical, D for metal fires some are multitype.

You also have the halon types which leave no residues, which is important if you have sensitive computers or disk drive for instance that cant get water, or be exposed to the dry powder which often is corrosive, it can ruin a computer for example, so computer rooms will have halon for example, which is an ABC type, but dry powder is also an ABC type, but ius nit ideal for a computer room for example note that halon has a poor A rating number smaller Halon units may not even be A rated, only BC cause halon is not as effective on A type fires, but is good for the size extinguisher on B type fires and is non conductive, so it has a C rating
If you have a wood working shop, halon would not be the best choice for example. For a wood working shop, with no electrical equipment, a water hose or pressurized water extinguisher (A type) is good. But if you have wood stains and solvents in that wood shop, then you need something for flammable liquids, thus you need the B rating, so you get an AB type or ABC (many AB types are also C rated for electrical. You dont want to shoot a stream of conductive media onto a fuse panel that is energized, else YOU may become energized!!!!

So unless you are working with specialized metals that are a fire hazard other than tiny quantities, an ABC is good, if you have saw dust and such, then have a fire hose, but dont use it on the fuse panel. and it you have a computer server room, halon is the way to go, which is an ABC type (sometimes just BC do to its poor A rating amount)

Often you at the least mount an extinguisher near each exit, so if you have four doors, you get four extinguishers. Depending on layout you mount them were they will be quickly handy. they are useless if the fire is between you and the extinguisher, as you aint going to want to run through the fire to get to the extinguisher

If uncertain, ask a fire official, some fire depts will be happy to come on over and give guidance

Also take some time and watch some videos on how to use them. There is a proper technique that is needed, and you need to know when to give up and evacuate, rather than fight a lost cause battle and risk your life for nothing.

Mon Feb 10, 2025 6:44 pm

One at each exit, if you have a welder one there to

Mon Feb 10, 2025 6:50 pm

Ask the local fire department to come and talk to you.

Mon Feb 10, 2025 7:20 pm

Glenn wrote: Ask the local fire department to come and talk to you.
Exactly!, those guys love to get out and do stuff, and since they are the ones you are counting on if it gets out of hand who better to tell you the best ways to avoid a visit from them in an emergency?