As we head into the end of Daylight savings for the year, fire departments remind us to check the batteries in our smoke detectors and carbon-monoxide detectors. This year, you might also want to check your fire extinguishers.
Kidde announced a recall of 37.8 million plastic-handled and push-button fire extinguishers in the U.S. Thursday because they can clog, simply fail to activate during an emergency or the nozzle can detach with enough force to be an impact hazard.
From the Kidde website: Kidde, in cooperation with the Consumer Product Safety Commission, is recalling some of its 10-pound industrial fire extinguishers that have a welded steel neck collar cylinder, are 19-21 inches high, were manufactured between the years 1991 and 2000, and sold to commercial fire equipment distributors and some stores. These units incorporate black plastic Zytel® nylon valves that may degrade over time, and may result in the valve spontaneously separating from the cylinder. These units were primarily designed for the commercial and industrial market, and the vast majority of them will be found in businesses and other commercial spaces. However, a limited number of consumers may have purchased these for their home.
This alert is an extension of Service Bulletin 007 that Kidde issued in July 2004, alerting fire extinguisher distributors and service organizations to the problem, and offering voluntary replacement. These extinguishers require professional service every six (6) years. Due to that service requirement and since the last extinguisher was manufactured in 2000, Kidde estimated at the time of Service Bulletin 007 that there were only 100,000 of these extinguishers still in the marketplace. Kidde has replaced 50,000 of those units through the past year’s collective actions.
There have been no consumer injuries reported in connection with these recalled units. Since Kidde’s launch of Service Bulletin 007, there have been no further injuries to fire extinguisher distributors who service and inspect these units pursuant to NFPA 10. Fire extinguisher distributors and service organizations are directed not to service these units. These units should not be rotated, handled or transported.
Want to see if your fire extinguisher is on the recall list? Click this LINK
About Cat Wilson
