Stopping parts of extinguisher being stolen

[bob2813]

Hi I run an HMO.

I have had one of the nozzles removed from a water mist fire extinguisher on one of the landings, quite an important part.

Is it possible to put the extinguisher in some sort of 'clear plastic bag' with a rip cord to open - and sealed with a cable tie to stop such theft.

I have 3 of these and it appears quite easy to just unscrew them by hand, I have thought of removing the rubber o ring and tightening the nut with a spanner to stop opportunist 'hand removal'.

Who would have thought !

Sure this must be an issue in schools - full of mischievous kids (me once being one of them :) how do they deal with this.

[Safelincs]

Hi Bob

Firstly, I would agree that the nozzle is the most important part of a water mist extinguisher. 

To protect against theft is difficult. There are the extinguisher theft stoppers that sound an alarm if someone is trying to take away the extinguisher but I am not sure if this would sound off if they just take the nozzle off. Some of these theft stoppers can be used with a reed switch sat underneath the extinguisher which will trigger an alarm even with slight movements.

There are also fire extinguisher covers but these are generally used for larger extinguishers, only.

Extinguisher cabinets are generally larger and not suited for 1ltr extinguishers. However, Henry Wolfe offers a stainless steel cabinet for 1 and 2 ltr/kg extinguishers, which could be fitted with a theft stopper and an extinguisher sign.

We will discuss this issue with manufacturing. We may be able produce some sort of locking device on the UltraFire water mist range but this might require a modified design or perhaps some kind of glue. However, glue is problematic as you might have to check the nozzle at servicing.

 

Harry

[AnthonyB]

A lot of fire protection suppliers stock Jonesco products that include this product for smaller extinguishers:

http://www.jonesco-plastics.com/en/jfex03-fire.html