Sounds like the $400 I just spent on Fire Extinguishers at Bunnings was a good investment!
They are definitely a good thing to have around Rod.
I won't harp on too much about the fire aspect, but I've learned a lot from the incident.
Couple of things in particular...
Dry powder extinguishers do a good job of what they are designed for - putting out a good range of fires without endangering the user. Their downside is the collateral damage they cause. The powder gets ABSOLUTELY EVERYWHERE, and my understanding is that combined with moisture in the air, it turns into phosphoric?? acid over time.
Let one loose inside your house and apart from the immediate mess, expect electronic items to start having issues in the near future due to that acid creation.
I now have some alternate extinguishers - a CO2 and a pressurised water one - that will be higher on my "grab first" list than the powder ones (but I'll definitely still have some of those). There are obviously pros and cons of each type and differences in the types of fires you can use them on so there is a more understanding required than just "grab the powder one". Use a water extinguisher on an electrical fire for example and your day is unlikely to improve.
The other thing is that I always thought cotton was more of a "smoulder or burn with a small edge flame" material (ie dressing your children in cotton pajamas is more fire safe than synthetic fabric), but that's not actually the case. Particularly in thin or fluffy form cotton burns really well.
Apparently heavy cotton canvas is much less combustible, and there are fire retardant treatments that can make it even more resistant to burning (apparently borax was traditionally used for that purpose).
I've just bought a couple of cheap 3m x 3m fibreglass welding blankets from ebay to use as covers or curtains when welding, and will no longer use any lightweight cotton covers.
Locally here in AU - Aldi has a special price at the moment on 1m2 fibreglass fire blankets for AUD $7 each. I bought a handful of those today - intending to have some around just as fire blankets, but can also use some for general welding spatter protection on other items.
I'm sure lots of us have had fire related training through work etc, and sometimes thought it was a waste of time.
Blah blah - same stuff every 6 months, there's never been a fire here etc etc
Its probably that sort of training that helped saved my butt in this case.
Anyway - enough on fire safety - I've got a trailer to finish and a CNC plasma to build
Steve
