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Dry chemical extinguishers have a powder inside that over the course of time will compress and become very hard like concrete. If you turn it over once or twice a year and hit it with a rubber mallet this will loosen the powder up enough to be taken up the siphon tube. If the gauge isn't in the green take it to a local fire extinguisher service company to have it rebuilt.
ITs cheaper to buy a new one than to have them service an old one for residential extinguishers. If you have a lot of them, or if they are commercial it might be worth having them serviced, but not for one or two residential.
Dry chemical extinguishers have a powder inside that over the course of time will compress and become very hard like concrete.
The only time I ever watched somebody try to use an extinguisher on a fire, this is exactly what happened. We had accidentally started a fire with sparks from a cut-off saw hitting hay. We started beating it out with shovels and dirt. The boss ran for his fire extinguisher, pulled the trigger and got a single puff of chemical. So we went back to beating out the fire.
Anyway, I should probably check the one in my house.
Right around 10 bucks. They're a normal (slightly larger than average) aerosol can.. You pop the top, point and shoot. No reading directions while there's a fire. Rated for electrical, grease, wood.. Basically anything but nuclear.
I think they only 'keep' for 3 or 4 years.. But.. At $10 a pop.. That's not bad.
I've got one that's set to expire.. Wonder if I should start a fire in my burn barrel and try to put it out with this to give it a test..
Don't test a dry powder fire extinguisher by spraying it even a little bit because not only will it create a big mess of powder, but the extinguisher will slowly leak from then on because the powder coats the valve and prevents it from sealing nearly as well. Replace the extinguisher right away.
One place I worked, when we got the call that the company was coming in to inspect/maintain the extinguishers, that was our signal to play jokes on people.
Most of them were CO2 extinguishers.. So, it was like an all day cat and mouse game. We'd pick a target and sneak up behind them and set it off to scare the crap out of them.
Fun times.
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