Fire Extinguisher Maintenance & Recharging in Northern California
A fire extinguisher is a simple component of your overall fire safety that can protect your customers, employees, and property in the event of an emergency.
Proper testing, recharging, and other maintenance tasks are vital to keeping your fire extinguishers in good working order and maintaining a safe property in line with fire codes. The professionals at Foothill Fire Protection are here to ensure you’re ready to tackle a fire.
Call Foothill Fire Protection today at (916) 663-3582 or contact us online to schedule fire extinguisher maintenance or learn more about the fire protection services we offer and how they can keep your business safe.
Fire Extinguisher Maintenance
A trained professional should annually service commercial fire extinguishers to ensure proper function and reliability. At Foothill Fire Protection, we can provide regular maintenance visits, during which we will:
- Ensure your fire extinguisher is in the correct location and easily accessible
- Check for legible tags and proper sealing
- Promptly and thoroughly identify and repair any problems with your extinguishers
- Let you know when the time comes to replace your extinguishers for peace of mind and safety
- Recharge fire extinguishers as needed
We are a full-service fire protection company that also offers maintenance for other systems, such as:
- Fire sprinkler systems
- Dry systems, wet systems, and deluge systems
- Fire suppression systems
- Kitchen hood fire suppression systems
- Fire alarms
- Fire pumps
- Rack systems
- Anti-freeze systems
How Often Should Fire Extinguishers Be Serviced?
Different classes of fire extinguishers in use at your property have different recommended service schedules, which can also vary with the specific rules governing your business.
Generally, you’ll need to have fire extinguishers externally examined by a professional every year. Your fire extinguishers will need to be internally examined every one to six years, depending on the type of extinguisher.
If you’re unsure when your extinguishers were last serviced, all fire extinguishers have a tag or label that keeps a record of the month and year maintenance was performed.
What’s Involved in Fire Extinguisher Maintenance?
For annual fire extinguisher maintenance and inspection, you’ll need the process performed by a licensed professional like those at Foothill Fire Protection. The process will involve a precise inspection of every accessible component of the fire extinguisher to ensure it’s maintaining its proper function.
Proper function is determined by checking that the canister is at full pressure and that there is nothing superficially wrong with any extinguisher component.
If problems are detected, they’ll be resolved as possible with recharging, replacement of serviceable components, or replacement of the entire extinguisher as necessary.
If you’d like to know more about what Foothill Fire Protection does during an annual maintenance visit, contact us online or call (916) 663-3582 to speak with a member of our team.
Fire Extinguisher Recharging Services
A key component of keeping your fire extinguishers functional and reliable is keeping them charged properly at high pressure. Over time, even an unused fire extinguisher will likely lose some of its charge; to counteract this inevitable process, you’ll need a professional to recharge them.
Similarly, a fire extinguisher that has been discharged will need to be recharged before you can use it again because the necessary pressure for proper use is lost even if not much of the suppression agent was used. This is the reason why you cannot test a fire extinguisher for training or testing purposes without rendering it temporarily unusable.
Schedule Fire Extinguisher Maintenance and Recharging Today
If your commercial fire extinguishers need their annual service visit soon, or you have discharged fire extinguishers that need to be recharged or replaced, trust the fire safety equipment experts at Foothill Fire Protection to deliver the service you need promptly, professionally, and consistently.
We’ll get in and out with a minimum of disruption to your business, so you can stay safe from fires without making the maintenance process a stressful ordeal.
To learn more about fire extinguisher maintenance services from Foothill Fire Protection or schedule service, reach out to us online or call (916) 663-3582 today.
Frequently Asked Questions
Some fire extinguishers aren’t designed to be recharged or refilled, meaning that once they’re used, they’re done for good. A gauge that only says full and empty means it has a disposable extinguisher, while one which talks about charge levels is rechargeable.
Appropriate professionals, such as employees of a fire protection company or a fire equipment dealer, should only recharge fire extinguishers. Improperly recharging a fire extinguisher can be dangerous in and of itself, to say nothing of the risks of reaching for an extinguisher that does not operate when needed.
State and federal agencies both typically adhere to the standards of the National Fire Protection Association, which require annual inspections by certified personnel for many extinguishers and inspections less frequently for others. It should be part of your comprehensive fire safety checklist to meet regulatory standards and protect property and lives against the threat of fire.
In addition to the annual professional inspections and maintenance required by the NFPA, standards also require visual inspections by staff monthly to see if there is anything obviously wrong with the units, their locations, etc. Handling this alongside other safety efforts can dramatically improve the safety of a property, so it’s important to do it properly.
