What is the Discharge Time of the Fire Safety Stick?
There are currently three options available depending on their minimum discharge times – 25 seconds, 50 seconds and 100 seconds. During testing have found that on average the 25-second model lasts for approximately 30 seconds or more.
Just compare that to a traditional powder extinguisher weighing 1kg to 2kg – these would only have a discharge time of just 7 seconds – providing it has been correctly maintained, often they haven’t been!
Is the gas safe to breathe?
Yes, the Fire Safety Stick discharge is safe to breathe and is both non-corrosive and non-toxic. So it’s fine around children and pets too. General safe practices are always recommended. Although the FSS acts by removing the oxygen, it does this at the flame level, interrupting the chain of combustion (fire triangle – Heat/Fuel/Oxygen).
But, it does not remove the local oxygen levels that would prevent breathing as some traditional extinguishers did (eg the banned Halothane type). However, we would not recommend having the discharge aimed at a person’s face for period of time.
What about the environment?
Fire Safety Stick has no global warming potential and no ozone depletion potential.
Is it safe to use in a confined room
Yes absolutely! We have tested activating the Fire Safety Stick in a small room to ensure that it doesn’t impact breathing or visibility. We did this in a closed room 3m x 3m. It was very much like someone was “vaping” in the room, both visibility and breathing were not impeded too much at all. Of course in a real fire situation, the smoke inhalation from the fire would be a much greater danger.
In fact, one of the great advantages of the Fire Safety Stick is that in confined areas, you can activate it, and leave to work in the room whilst you escape. No need to hold a trigger to keep it going!
Does it make a mess like traditional extinguishers?
NO! The discharge gas form the Fire Safety Stick is totally clean and will not leave any damaging residue. During discharge a chemical reaction does take place which occasionally expels a trace amount of soot from the casing. Even in the most extreme instance, the net total of discharge is so minuscule compared to a traditional extinguisher that it is effectively considered to be non-existent. Beyond the clean nature of the discharge, FSS is non-corrosive, non-toxic, and environmentally safe. Compare this to a typical powder or foam extinguisher which often create more damage and mess than the fire itself.
Does it need servicing & does it have a shelf life?
It’s solid construction, no moving parts, and lack of compressed gas (unlike a traditional fire extinguisher) means it will never need any service or upkeep. In addition the solid chemical that makes up the Fire Safety Stick has a theoretical non-expiry date. In current tests, the manufacturers have batch-tested FSS that were 10 years since manufacture and still completely operational.
But I have had this extinguisher for nearly 10 years and it still has a green pressure gauge
Regular fire extinguishers MUST be serviced every year and professionally replaced after five, trust us, we know that’s our background! The pressure gauges are a well-known failure point, the rubber “o” rings inside easily perish and the gauge will stick. Plus the contents in powder extinguishers clump together.
Then in that emergency when you really need that extinguisher, it will fail or only give you a few seconds of fire fighting time. But with a Fire Safety Stick, you have no regrets, even without any maintenance, after 10 years it will still give that full fire fighting capacity as it would have done on the day you bought it.
But I could buy a normal extinguisher for a lot less
Yes, you could, but overall the Fire Safety Stick is much better value and will cost a lot less in the long run. Traditional extinguishers only have a shelf life of 5 years maximum and even then, only if they are serviced every year (which will cost you further). The FSS needs no servicing at all, and has a proven shelf life of over 10 years. Depending on the risk of different classes of fires, you may need to have two different ones. The Fire Safety Stick, however, is suitable for all major classifications so you only need one. Finally, if you did use a traditional extinguisher or accidentally set it off, the mess it creates will cost you an awful lot more. The FSS leaves no mess, no residue and no corrosive damage.
The FSS has already saved some users £,000’s instead them having a traditional extinguisher!