Understanding Fire Extinguishers: Types, Regulations, and Usage

Dear All,

Please help me in clearing the following doubts:

1. Can Halon extinguishers still be used, or are they banned? Why?
2. Can Soda Acid Type extinguishers still be used, or are they banned? Why?
3. Can Chemical Foam extinguishers still be used, or are they banned? Why?

Looking forward to getting positive feedback on the thread.

Regards,
Dipil Kumar V

1. Halon extinguishers are banned because Halon gas harms the environment.

2. Soda Acid extinguishers are banned because their operating procedure was dangerous and could injure the operator.

In the revised text, I corrected the spelling and grammar errors, ensuring proper paragraph formatting with a single line break between the two points. The original meaning and tone of the message have been preserved.

Dear Dipil,

Halon Extinguishers: Can they still be used or are they banned, and why?

Answer: Under the Clean Air Act (CAA), the U.S. banned the production of halon and import of virgin halons 1211, 1301, and 2402 beginning January 1, 1994, in compliance with the Montreal Protocol On Substances That Deplete The Ozone Layer. Recycled halon and halon inventories produced before January 1, 1994, are now the only sources of supply.

EPA's final rule published on March 5, 1998 (63 FR 11084), bans the formulation of any blend of two or more of these halons with one exception. An exemption is provided for halon blends formulated using recycled halon solely for the purpose of aviation fire protection, provided that halon blends produced under this exemption are recycled to meet the relevant purity standards for each individual halon. A fact sheet summarizing this rule is also available from the Stratospheric Ozone Protection Hotline.

Nowadays, we use Recycled Halon:

The term "critical use" is used by HRC to identify priority uses of recycled halon. A halon use is considered "critical" when a need exists "to minimize damage due to fires, explosions, or other extinguishing agents, which would otherwise result in serious impairment of an essential service to society or pose an unacceptable threat to life, the environment, or national security even though all other appropriate fire protection measures have been taken."

Soda Acid Type Extinguishers: Can they still be used or are they banned, and why?

Sorry, no idea. . .

Chemical Foam Extinguishers: Can they still be used or are they banned, and why?

Sorry, no idea.

Wait for commands.

Thanks & Besafe,

Raghu

@Amit & Raghu,

Thanks for the comments on the post. Looking for more participation. Request to all Safety Pros, please do come forward and make this a great place for knowledge sharing. The entire Safety Health forum discussions from the last few days were poor. Please do participate and share your expertise.

Regards, Dipil Kumar V

Dear Dilip,

Raghu has already given a reply to Q1.

The answer for the other 2 is as follows:

Soda Acid and Foam extinguishers (Chemical) are NOT BANNED, but as per International Fire Associations, they have been asked to be removed from the fire service. There are different versions of the same, but actually, there were many incidents following the wrong usage of fire extinguishers as there were many that were operated upright and many inverted types.

Hence, all inverted fire extinguishers were removed from fire services, but you will still find many soda acid and chemical foam extinguishers in Government sectors like railways, PO, etc.

The 1978 edition of NFPA has mentioned in their code "All inverted type extinguishers shall be removed from fire services."

For further information, even cartridge type-operated extinguishers have been outdated for many years. Only stored pressure types are to be used.

Please check NFPA-10.

Hope the query is cleared. For any further info, please feel free to contact 09925153646.

Best Regards

@ Neeraj,

Thanks a lot for your valuable reply and helping in solving the issue. I have noted down your number and will call you surely when in need.

I have undergone one Fire Prevention and Fire Fighting training recently. During the training, the faculty was explaining about halon extinguishers. He emphasized that Halon is the best extinguisher which we can use, and it is commonly seen in vehicles and most kitchens in European countries. As I was not sure about the facts behind Halon, I did not get more chance to debate with him on the topic at that time.

As per Raghu's post and referring online, it was found that Halon can be used only for critical operations as laid out by HRC. What all areas will come under this Critical Use? Does the use of Halon inside vehicles or kitchens fall under the classification of critical use or not?

Once again, thanks to all the participants and looking forward to hearing more on the topic.

Regards,
Dipil Kumar V

Dear Dipilji,

After discussing with my S.O., please find the answer to your Question No. 3:

Chemical Foam Extinguishers can still be used, or is it banned and why?

Chemical foam or Aqueous Film Forming Foam or AFFF (pronounced A-triple-F) is not banned. In the last 15 years, it has become one of the most popular fire extinguishers in the chemical industry. It is very suitable for Class B (flammable liquids such as petrol, hexane, methanol, spirits, diesel) and can be used for Class A fires (wood, paper, material, cloth, etc.). It should never be used on live electrical equipment.

Regards,
Abhay

Dear Neeraj, Dipil, Abhay, Girish,

Thank you very much for your comments.

@ Dipil, I think the inside of a vehicle or kitchen does not come under critical areas. I will discuss this with my senior and then post again about critical areas.

Thanks & Besafe,
Raghu

Dear Dilip,

Halon extinguishers and Total flooding systems can be used in certain developing countries up to 2012. However, the production and refilling are BANNED throughout the world. Yes, at one time and even today there is no comparison to Halon as far as fire extinguishing is concerned, but as it has a damaging effect on the Ozone layer, it has been banned by the Montreal Protocol. Nowadays, what you see in kitchens and vehicles are NOT halon, but earlier it used to be Halon.

Dear Abhay,

AFFF is the only foam used for fighting class B fires, and you will find this foam throughout the world in refineries and petrochemical plants. Chemical foam has become obsolete. Nowadays, some have started using FFFP and polar solvent foam according to the hazards.

Thank you.

Dear Neeraj,

Once again, thanks for the explanations and providing the latest updates regarding firefighting.

@Abhay,

Thanks for your comments and for appreciating your interest in participating in this thread and the initiative you took in discussing this topic with your Safety Officer. As rightly pointed out by Mr. Neeraj, Chemical Foam is obsolete now and has been replaced by air foam. There are mainly two types of Foam Extinguishers: Mechanical and Chemical. AFFF is the agent used in Mechanical Type extinguishers, wherein Chemical Foam extinguishers contain a solution of sodium bicarbonate and aluminum sulfate. My question was particularly about Chemical Foam. Now you can discuss with your Safety Officer; he might be thinking about the Mechanical Foam type and give an answer. Come back with your comments, Abhay, if any.

Halon is nowadays being replaced with Clean Agent or Inert Gas systems.

Thanks to all for your valuable participation.

Regards,
Dipil Kumar V

Dear Dipil,

Hi! Sorry for the delayed response.

1. Halon fire extinguishers have been banned for a long time as discussed by our friend, but they are still being used.

2. Soda Acid fire extinguishers consist of a soda water and sulfuric acid bottle fixed together. When someone punches the plunger, the sulfuric acid bottle breaks and reacts with the soda acid, producing fumes and water used for Class A type fires.

3. Foam type fire extinguishers come in two varieties: Chemical Type and Mechanical Type. In the Chemical type, two chemicals are used to create foam when they react with each other. AFFF 3% is a foam compound known as Mechanical Foam, which is used with a Foam making branch, hydrant water, and Air. The combination of Foam Compound, Water, and Air strikes the surface and falls on the liquid surface.

Looking forward to your comments.

Regards,
Shailesh

Dear Shailesh,

I am very happy to see that you are actively participating in the forum discussions. It's great to have you back and sharing your expertise with us. Thank you for your valuable inputs into the discussions. It's what we need from everyone – each contribution helps to make the threads a healthy platform for discussion.

Keep up the pace.

Regards,
Dipil Kumar V

Sorry, Halon extinguishers are not banned. They are prohibited for industrial purposes, but they are still used in aircrafts. Halon 1301 is the main type of extinguisher used in all aircraft because it is the only non-toxic and non-corrosive type. DCP or foam cannot be used due to the risk of corrosion of aircraft parts, and cleaning is not possible in some areas of the aircraft. CO2 is also not used due to the oxygen replacement issue. Therefore, Halon is not completely banned and is still in use.

Soda acid extinguishers are not in use due to difficulties in handling, but they are not banned. Foam chemical extinguishers are in use and not banned.

Hi JSK,

Cool, yaar. Can you please share with us where do you refill it once it's emptied out? This is important because we can sue him in the International Environmental Court.

It can be used in India for those who have it, but refilling and production are banned. Please go through the Environment Protection Act.

In aircraft fire fighting, foam is used. Please do not confuse the readers that foam/DCP cannot be used. Correct the statement that it should not be used in the cockpit or other sophisticated electronic items. During a crash scenario, your Halon is of no use. Only foam & DCP are used. Kindly go through videos and case studies. I hope you must have seen many real videos, e.g., the Concorde crash, etc.

Dear, you are very much behind in the fire profession. Both your statements, i.e., points 2 & 3, are wrong, which shows that your update on the same is required.

All new readers request NOT to follow any of the statements given by JSK.

Sorry, but I cannot stand any unprofessionalism in the HSEF field as this field is for life-saving.

Anyway, I am leaving from here because it's time to join the [Online Safety Community](http://www.safetycommunity.com). Goodbye.

And dear Neeraj, please learn well. Okay, but don't make fun of others. If anybody is wrong, just correct it. Remember, Mahatma Gandhi always; he is not a safety professional, but his life will teach you that no other courses or training in safety can. So try to learn his life story and emulate it.

Dear Dipil,

I saw these discussions...

According to Section 4.4 - Obsolete fire extinguishers of NFPA 10 - 2007, Soda acid and Chemical foam (excluding film-forming agents) are not in use. I have requested our vendor to find the exact reasons and the authorities if any has banned them and revert back. I will update about this later.

Regarding chemical foam - it is used by chemical reaction. Regarding mechanical foam - in addition to Shailesh, a bit in depth - the operation of the mechanical foam type extinguishers is due to an effect called Venturi effect, that is created by the water, which draws the foam into the stream. That is, when the water flows, it sucks the foam in the tube. This sucking effect is called the Venturi effect, technically. Inside, it has a metering valve, that controls the percentage of concentrate to ensure a proper mixture. The foam and water mixture passes through a nozzle, where air is introduced at the nozzle to form the finished foam.

I think this is not your exact requirement; however, after seeing the discussions, I thought of adding more.

Dear Neeraj,

Thanks for being online with us on board. We are here to support you on your stand. Let's join together. However, I was not aware of aircraft, and now I got a point to learn and a nice explanation.

Dear Ragu,

Your explanation was exactly the same regarding the CCA of US. However, I was not aware of EPA, and thank you for the data. Adding to that - Halon 1211 is typically used in portable fire extinguishers and 1301 is used in installed systems. However, the production has been stopped in the US, it still remains as an approved agent in existing systems. Nowadays there are substitutes for halon. Trade names - INERGEN, FM 200, FE 36. Out of these, FE 36 is aimed at replacing 1211, which was used primarily in the portable fire extinguishers.

Dear all,

Nice to see the participation in the discussion. I would like to add something to the discussion. We have recently procured a mini tender with an ultra-high-pressure pump, which operates at 100 bar pressure and 150 lpm throw. It turns water into a very fine spray, just like fog in winter, so it can be used on live electrical equipment as well. It has a very good cooling effect. We have tested it over a B-class fire as a demo, and it was effective. It also has a 200-liter foam capacity. Due to its small size, it can be taken to narrow areas too.

Regards, Hansa Vyas

I really appreciate all this discussion, but I think the discussion should always be supported by LEGAL PROVISION for any topic. Then it will become the best.

Halon is banned.

Soda acid is banned.

Please provide me with the notification link.

Dear All,

Great discussions so far. I missed this thread previously. The new topic to learn is aircraft safety. To the best of my knowledge, in certain applications in Defense, they are still using Halon. I am not very sure, but I can find out for the group. Nevertheless, Halon has certain environmental impacts. This thread has raised many questions for me to research the law and stay updated.

Thanks again.

Sudhir