Getting Familiar with Fire Fighting Foams or AFFF Fire Extinguishers

Are you familiar with AFFF fire extinguishers? If this is your first time to have ever heard of these then you need not be upset. The AFFF is one of the very common portable fire fighting foams and this means Aqueous Film Forming Foam. There are lots of people who do not know that this is known as one of the very effective methods of putting of household fires that result from the combustible solids such as wood, paper and textile. Also, this works for combustible or flammable liquids like grease, oil, solvents and gasoline. This may also be used in putting off fire caused by electrical equipment but they may become unusable since they can corrode the equipment.

The fire fighting foams are less viscose and because of this, you can easily spread them so that you can easily put off the fire. With this, the oxygen supply is sealed that eventually leads to extinguishing of the flames. This acts like a foam of blanket that separates the burning material and oxygen so that there is no contact made which then lessens the combustion and eventually stop the fire. The AFFF fire extinguisher can also have a cooling down effect or temperature. You can feel this when the water in the foam starts to evaporate.

This fire fighting agent can be identified easily since this is placed in a red canister with a cream panel above the operating instructions. There are newer versions released for Fire Foam stuff and they are much lighter as compared before. This makes them easier and more convenient to use. This is also great in putting off Class A and B fires. This means that such kind of agent is perfect in putting g off fires from burning solid and liquid items. But, this is not great for the electrical fires. The conductivity rating of the AFFF fire extinguisher is 35KV and this means that it is resistant to electricity making this safe to use near those live electrical fires. It is still quite effective to make use of the CO2 extinguishing agent in stopping fires that are caused by circuit breakers, electrical appliances, switches and others.

There are basically two maintenance requirements for fire fighting equipment that belong in this category. There should be a yearly inspection to check the pressure and weight with the utilization of a special tool. Also, the canister would be inspected for any damage or corrosion and the mechanisms are being tested to guarantee that they work properly. The legibility of the labels undergo an inspection too. Every five years, there is thorough or more comprehensive inspection done and this involves test discharge and also recharging so that the any internal damage or corrosion on the product would be known to ensure that this effectively works when used in a fire situation.