When welding I keep a pressurized water fire extinguisher handy. This is the
silver stainless steel version with a hose and valve, ~ 2 1/2 gallon
capacity. These can be refilled at home and pressurized using the tire stem
valve located on the extinguisher valve.
Do not use the old "Soda Acid" units that look similar, these cannot be
stopped once they are set off. They don't have a valve and have instructions
telling the user to "turn up side down to activate".
The advantage of the water style is that they can be partly used and loose
the pressure charge. This is great for those small nuisance fires that occur
when undercoating starts to burn. Also the water style does not leave the
corosive powder a dry extinguisher does.
Sometimes is may be better to let the car burn to the ground rather than have
to clean up the mess a dry unit leaves behind above and beyond the damage
done by the fire. The powder style will loose it's air charge if used a bit
then left to sit.
Be sure to have another fire extinguisher that has a current inspection
standing by. The safety wackos ( insurance co and others ) will tell you
having a partly used extinguisher on hand is reckless. Seems if there is a
small undercoating fire and a water unit is used to put it out, all work
should stop until it is recharged.
Harold
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