There are also disposable and blanket-style extinguishers for single-point flare-ups, which are perfect for keeping on-hand for camping trips, road trips, and in professional kitchens. To help you decide which is the right fire extinguisher for your home, I’ve made a list of the best models on the market. I’ve broken down their type classes as well as examined their ease-of-use and price points to help you find the right fit for your budget and home.
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This bundle of 4 extinguishers from First Alert is a perfect solution for fire hazards around the home. By providing multiple extinguishers, you’re able to keep one on every level of your home or in every area with fire hazards like the garage, patio, or workshop. Each extinguisher weighs just 4.5 pounds and measures 4.25 x 15 inches, making them compact and lightweight enough for even children to operate in an emergency. Each extinguisher is a Class A/B/C model, meaning they’re best suited for wood and paper, chemical and gasoline, and electrical fires. Each extinguisher is rechargeable, meaning that you can take them to a local fire systems company for refilling and re-pressurization as well as testing as needed. Fires aren’t just an in-home hazard. The First Alert AUTO5 is a Class B/C extinguisher that is meant for oil, gasoline, and electrical fires, making it perfect to keep on-hand for roadside emergencies. It measures just 2.9 x 10.3 inches, making it compact enough to keep in your glove box, center console, or seat pocket for quick and easy access. It also includes a mountable safety bracket for off-road vehicles like Jeeps, dune buggies, and Humvees. The AUTO5 is rated for storage in temperatures ranging from -40 to 120 degrees Fahrenheit (-40 to 49 degrees Celsius), which means you can leave it in your trunk or backseat all year long without worrying about it losing effectiveness. And while it’s not rechargeable, at around $20, the AUTO5 is easy enough to replace if needed. The Siterwell Fire Blanket is a single-use, fiberglass cloth that is perfect for quickly extinguishing common household fire hazards like trash, grease and cooking flare-ups, and even burning clothing. It measures just over 3 x 3 feet, giving you plenty of surface area for small to medium, single-source fires. The tight weaving of the fiberglass ensures that no oxygen can reach the fire, quickly smothering the flames. Since it is fiberglass, you’ll want to make sure you’re wearing gloves or other hand protection to prevent tiny glass shards from breaking off in your skin, causing irritation and injury. The blanket is also great for small spaces, since it doesn’t use chemicals that can leave a giant mess behind: just unfurl, cover the flames, and then toss out. When folded for storage, the blanket measures just 11.5 x 6.3 inches, making it compact enough to keep in your RV for camping emergencies, on a boat, in your car, or even in a drawer. Sometimes, having a full-sized, rechargeable fire extinguisher on-hand isn’t practical, which is where the First Alert EX Fire Spray comes in. This compact can of fire suppressant is great to keep nearby while cooking, setting up a campfire, or even in your car. While it doesn’t have enough suppressant to handle multi-source fires, it’s perfect for taking care of grilling or stovetop flare-ups, errant coals and sparks from campfires and fireplaces, and small electrical fires. The chemical fire suppressant is also biodegradable, meaning that it won’t damage any of your things or hurt the environment after clean-up. The EZ Fire Spray is a disposable fire extinguisher, which means that when it’s empty, you can toss the can; which makes it perfect for roadside or camping emergencies where full-sized extinguishers can be unwieldy. If you plan on buying a fire extinguisher for your home, it’s important to choose one that is easy enough for everyone to use. The Kidde FA100 weighs just 2.5 pounds and measures 3.25 x 13.75 inches, making it lightweight and compact enough for adults and children alike to operate in an emergency. It also uses a handle and lever system that can be operated with one hand, that way you can direct everyone outside or close a door to contain the fire. It’s rated for most common household fire sources like paper trash fires, electrical sparks, and even gasoline. It includes a wall mounting bracket for more placement options around your home and easy access in emergency situations. The easy-read pressure gauge lets you know at-a-glance if the extinguisher is in good working order or if it needs to be replaced. Unfortunately, the FA110 is a single-use extinguisher, meaning that you cannot have it recharged by professionals. But at about $20, the FA110 is affordable enough for regular replacing. Class A - Uses water or water mist to extinguish wood, paper, cloth, and other common material fires Class B - Uses special chemicals to put out gasoline, oil, and alcohol fires Class C - Uses special chemicals to put out electrical fires Class D - Commercial-grade extinguishers which use a dry chemical to put out combustible metals like magnesium and potassium. These are usually only found in industrial applications like machine shops and mining operations Class K - Uses an expanding foam or other smothering agent to extinguish grease fires. This is the most commonly used extinguisher type for kitchens, both residential and commercial It’s extremely important to make sure that you have the correct extinguisher type for your home, since the wrong one won’t put out the fire efficiently. If you want to keep a few on hand in your home and garage, the most common type you’ll find is an ABC combination, though you’ll also be able to find ABC/K for kitchens. Rechargeable fire extinguishers should be tested and refilled as needed by a fire equipment service company every couple of years to make sure they’re in good working order. Disposable extinguishers should be tossed immediately after use, and even unused disposable models should be replaced every 10 years since they aren’t able to hold pressure as well as rechargeable models.
