Best Class A fire extinguisher

[JCat]

Was looking at a Video on youtube posted by Andrew Steele, where his new to him used Newell burned up really fast.

Very unfortunate for him and his girlfriend, since she had all her belongings in the RV.

It got me to thinking that I should replace my 15 year old extinguisher (really dummy), yes really.

So what do you guys have and how many ?

Thanks

[rjstractor]

The title of the thread is a bit confusing, although I think I know what you are asking? Are you asking about the best extinguisher for class A fires? (wood, ordinary combustibles, etc) If that's the question, then the answer is a pressurized water extinguisher. Nothing puts out class A fire better than water with a little bit of foam to break up surface tension and penetrate the fuel.

But I think you're asking about the best extinguisher for a class A motorhome? Nothing special about class A motorhome fires, they are pretty much a house fire and a car fire all rolled into one, with a propane tank for extra fun and games. If I had a fire in an RV (motorhome type doesn't matter), attack the fire with an ABC extinguisher, as up close and personal as you safely can. With any portable extinguisher, getting close to the fire is key. Randomly spraying from a distance is totally ineffective. 2A10BC is a good compromise of cost, size and effectiveness. The bigger the number, the more fire it will put out. After you attack the fire (hopefully someone has called the FD) if you safely can turn off the battery master switch and turn off the propane. If I'm first in on an RV fire, while my guys are stretching a hoseline my first move is to find the propane and shut if off. If all this fails, stand back and call your insurance company. These things really burn.

[trail-explorer]

Here's their update video. They highly recommend multiple fire extinguishers, but unless you want to carry it around with you at all times inside the RV, once a fire starts, there's very little time to do anything other the GTHO of the RV!

[theoldwizard1]

stripit wrote:
I carry 4 fire extinguishers of various types, but recently had the PROTENG supression system installed in my 40 ft Tiffin Bus. The install was very well done and it is costly, but should give us time to exit the rig should or if we have a fire.

I am glad you said it that way !

Gaseous fire suppression systems MAY not be capable of completely putting out some types of fires. Great on oil/grease. Good on electrical assuming the breaker trips. Not good on propane until the valve is turned off. Wood could potentially re-ignite once the gas disperses.

[stripit]

I carry 4 fire extinguishers of various types, but recently had the PROTENG supression system installed in my 40 ft Tiffin Bus. The install was very well done and it is costly, but should give us time to exit the rig should or if we have a fire. At least that is the plan. You can watch the videos and see how it operates Here

[steveh27]

I have the Kidde fire extinguishers with 3.2 lbs of 'stuff' and the dial showing if it is still good. While pulling into a gas station towing my boat with my Class B I saw a car pull into the lot, not near the pumps, with smoke coming our from the engine. The guy and girl hopped out and opened the hood and flames were building. I got one of my extinguishers and ran over and put out the fire using the whole thing. I told him to go talk to the station attendants in case it restarted as they may have bigger extinguishers.

I have 2 extinguishers in my small RV, 1 on the boat and i in my kitchen. I've also given them as gifts to my siblings.

[wa8yxm]

Frankly I am not sure I'd worry about it that much.

I did have a couple of aresoul can size Foam extinguishers (Still do) from Mac the Fire Guy (Well they are different ones now) Rated for all fires A B C type

But given that you will not burn to death in an RV fire (You will be dead long before you burn from the toxic smoke) if you have a fire. You have seconds to get outta dodge.. No time for the extinguisher less it's a very small fire.

That said I also carried 25 pounds of powder.

[dedmiston]

JCat wrote:
OK, here is my takeaway:

Don't bother with the extinguisher, get the hell out of the RV !

Did I miss anything ? 🙂

Yeah. Put the fire out while your buddy calls 911.

Other than that though…

[johnhicks]

If he'd had an automatic AFF extinguisher mounted in the generator compartment it may have smothered the fire or at least made it real obvious there was a problem. Any extinguisher is far better than no extinguisher.

[JCat]

OK, here is my takeaway:

Don't bother with the extinguisher, get the hell out of the RV !

Did I miss anything ? 🙂

[Tyler0215]

A fire extinguisher is a feel good item. Unless you have one at hand when the fire starts it is worthless. The fumes from a fire will get you before the flames will. Modern materiels used in RV construction burn amaingly fast and put out fumes that will kill you faster.

[theoldwizard1]

Be carefully what you buy ! Class A is dangerous on kitchen/grease fires and electrical fires.

[jeromep]

JCat wrote:
Was looking at a Video on youtube posted by Andrew Steele, where his new to him used Newell burned up really fast.

Very unfortunate for him and his girlfriend, since she had all her belongings in the RV.

It got me to thinking that I should replace my 15 year old extinguisher (really dummy), yes really.

So what do you guys have and how many ?

Thanks

Be sure to look at refilling or servicing your fire extinguisher at a local fire sprinkler and fire equipment dealer. Most quality extinguishers are built to be inspected, serviced, and refilled. The really small "kitchen" extinguishers are throw away, but most others are serviceable. The ones in my RV are all serviceable. Waste not want not.

In reality, the issue Andrew Steele had couldn't be fixed with a fire extinguisher. He would have had to have been direct witness to the fire starting and had the extinguisher in hand to even have a chance. I suspect the fire was related to the generator. I believe he had his generator on while going down the road (yes, very normal activity, I do this myself), and something got hot and started combustion of something under the chassis. I'm speculating.

In reality a Fire Ball mounted in engine compartments or other hazardous areas would be much more effective than hand carried fire extinguishers. https://www.elidefireus.com/

[dedmiston]

I think you're on the right track. See about getting some training too. I took the basic fire extinguisher training at work a few years ago and then used one for a fire at our house last Christmas and put it out.

I'm a big fan of our firefighters (dad was a fireman), but it takes time for them to get to you and it can spread quickly.

The extinguisher worked and I put out the fire and didn't have to call 911.

Your exits are more important than the extinguishers, but put a few extinguishers in strategic spots. I keep one in our bedroom in case I need it to get out (faster & easier than jumping out the window). I also have one in the kitchen, one by the door, and one in a cargo hold next to the emergency triangle.

People are more important than "stuff", but every bit of protection helps.

In our off-road riding group, the assumption that your extinguisher probably won't help with YOUR fire because the available locations are so limited and they need to be near the engine where the fire will probably start. So YOUR extinguisher is really for your buddy's fire. And hopefully he has one for your fire. Keep that in mind if you see a fire in your neighbor's camp. It's very possible the neighbor won't be able to get to theirs.

The other thing to keep in mind is what a horrible mess they make. If you jump the gun, the damage from the mess can be worse than the fire. If you can aim for the base of the fire and give it a few quick PUFF-PUFF-PUFFs to see if that puts it out, then you can keep the damage to a minimum. If that doesn't work, then you can hit it again and hit it full blast.

Just take care of yourselves and your family (and pets) before you try to save your property.

Take a look from time to time and make sure nobody in your family got "helpful" and moved the extinguishers from their locations. And make sure to remind yourself and your family where they're located and how to operate them.

[RetiredRealtorR]

Bob/Olallawa wrote:
Please be careful, unless you catch the fire very early you won't have a large enough extinguisher to put out a fire.

I fully agree. Once a fire gets to be any size at all, there's not a fire extinguisher that's going to do you any good.

Once an RV catches fire, just step back and watch it become consumed (it won't take long). It's unfortunate, but due to the materials used for construction, most of them are tinderboxes.