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What's the deal with fire extinguishers?

Sergey

Member
Joined
6 Mar 2019
Messages
51
Location
Helsinki, Finland
Hey guys,

I noticed that many UK aquarists use fire extinguishers for CO2 supply. I wonder, why extinguishers are so popular? In countries I lived (Russia and now Finland) it was much easier to get a proper CO2 canister than an extinguisher. Plus, you need a custom adapter to attach the pressure reducer, right?
 
A couple of reasons why -

- they fit straight on to a standard uk reg
- upon 10 years old they need to be pressure tested, fire extinguisher companies then sell them on cheap or give them away as pressure testing can be uneconomical.
- easy to get hold of, that is if you have a source.

Can be a a pain -

- they are often dirty, clogging up the solenoid
- often hard to dispose of the the larger 5kg bottles following use.

Edit. Many companies are getting ‘wise’ to the demand and the cost of old FEs are increasing on auction sites. Perhaps only selling now to people who cannot buy a ‘proper’ bottle.

Hope that explains it!
 
Last edited:
Hey guys,

I noticed that many UK aquarists use fire extinguishers for CO2 supply. I wonder, why extinguishers are so popular? In countries I lived (Russia and now Finland) it was much easier to get a proper CO2 canister than an extinguisher. Plus, you need a custom adapter to attach the pressure reducer, right?

I have a several regular 6.5Kg CO2 cylinders a get refilled and a couple of FE for when I run out at times both use the same fitting no problem
 
Thanks guys, that explains a lot.
In Russia, fire extinguishers are used as well sometimes, but pressure reducers can't be attached directly to the FE output (incompatible standards), so it requires some dangerous customisation.
In Finland, I only keep small tanks, so I use SodaStream canisters, they're everywhere, 10 EUR for a refill.
 
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