Fire Extinguishers - What's in your galley?

Jan 4, 2006
7,034
Hunter 310 West Vancouver, B.C.
"One 10-B is not a substitute for two 5-B"
What the #%$#~!* is a 5-B extinguisher ? ? ? ? (I realize you're only the messenger.)

Is it a 5 pound extinguisher only rated for flammable liquids ? What about A and C fires ? Do you have a separate 5-A for ordinary combustibles and a separate 5-C for electrical. We're talking a lot of extinguishers if that's the case.

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"Sorry mum, no more room below decks.
Reserved for fire stinguishers, ya know ?"
 
May 17, 2004
5,445
Beneteau Oceanis 37 Havre de Grace
Apparently the 5 means it can put out 5 square feet of fire. From what I’ve seen most B are also C, but not always A.

Personally we have 4 dry agent extinguishers (lazarette, aft cabin, chart table near the DC panel and galley, and front cabin). At least one is 10-B-C (3 lbs of agent); not sure my others are but probably. Now you have me wondering on my A coverage though.
 
Jan 19, 2010
1,249
Catalina 34 Casco Bay
What fire extinguisher do you have mounted next to your galley as the "first to grab" when the fried chicken turns into chicken flambé? Fire is my number one fear, and I expect that the galley is the most likely place for that to start. We cruise, so cooking is not just reheating beanie-weenie and opening a beer. We do have a fire blanket (step one for a small pan fire), but what is the next step. What do you have on your boats, and have you ever had to use one 'in anger'?

Choices:
  1. ABC marine dry chemical - sticky, but effective; cheap so you can have several
  2. Clean agent powder, like Purple K - great for grease fires; cleanup?
  3. Clean agent liquid, like Halotron - great for electronics or enclosed areas; effective?
  4. Prayer - easy cleanup; effective?
Kudos on the blanket.. that is a very overlooked fire suppression tool..
 
Dec 20, 2006
2
Benneteau First 285 MD
What fire extinguisher do you have mounted next to your galley as the "first to grab" when the fried chicken turns into chicken flambé? Fire is my number one fear, and I expect that the galley is the most likely place for that to start. We cruise, so cooking is not just reheating beanie-weenie and opening a beer. We do have a fire blanket (step one for a small pan fire), but what is the next step. What do you have on your boats, and have you ever had to use one 'in anger'?

Choices:
  1. ABC marine dry chemical - sticky, but effective; cheap so you can have several
  2. Clean agent powder, like Purple K - great for grease fires; cleanup?
  3. Clean agent liquid, like Halotron - great for electronics or enclosed areas; effective?
  4. Prayer - easy cleanup; effective?
Fire has always been a concern on every boat we've owned and currently on the First 285 we have are:
1) One 10 lb. CO2 in the cockpit locker
2) One ABC marine dry chemical in the main cabin across from the galley area
3) One ABC marine dry chemical in the aft berth
4) One ABC marine dry chemical in the V berth
All are "Kidde" and we check their gauges monthly. Also as mentioned in the comments recommend a yearly practice session. We do this outside the house in our large commercial trash container.
Hope this helps.
 
Oct 6, 2007
1,107
Hunter H30 1982 Chicago IL
Not doing any cooking at all in my boat. If I was, a fire blanket in the galley would be an absolute must. For now, my vintage alcohol cooktop is effectively a decoration.

I have two new ABC extinguishers meeting the new CG requirements; one in the galley and one in the V-berth. The two old ABC extinguishers, which still show full pressure, are under the nav desk and in the cockpit lazarett. The point raised in this thread about possible settling or caking of the contents of older extinguishers does have me concerned that they might not be as useful as I thought.

I also have three mini automatic extinguishers; one each in the engine compartment, the battery locker and behind the electrical panel. My insurer likes them. I posted about them tangentially in a thread about refilling automatic fire suppression systems in late Dec 2022. Here is a link to that post.