Choosing the right size fire extinguisher for your home is important because if the fire extinguisher isn’t large enough for your space, you won’t have enough extinguishing chemicals to put the fire completely out.
The right size fire extinguisher needed for a home should be suitable for the size of the space, the age and size of the user, and the types of fires anticipated. Fire extinguishers ten pounds and less are usually the best option for home use. The size and number of home fire extinguishers also correlate to the number of floors and kitchens.
Having the right-sized fire extinguisher available in case of a fire can help keep you and your family safe, but it isn’t the only thing you need to look at when choosing a residential fire extinguisher. Read on to learn more about the fire extinguisher size you need and how size affects your ability to fight fires at home.
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How Big Should My Home Fire Extinguisher Be?
If you’ve never purchased a fire extinguisher for your home before, you might be at a loss when it comes to guessing what the standard size for a home fire extinguisher is. While there are several standardized sizes and weights to commercial fire extinguishers, there isn’t a standard home fire extinguisher because homes vary in size and layout.
Here are some of the factors you should consider when choosing a size and class for your fire extinguisher:
- Size of users: It’s generally better to go for the biggest fire extinguisher available for your space, but at a certain point, the fire extinguisher may become too large and heavy for the average person to operate effectively. This is even more true for people who have never had to use a fire extinguisher before and are working in a panic to use it.
- User experience: Users who have some experience handling fire extinguishers can usually handle a more complicated or heavy fire extinguisher than the average homeowner. A large fire extinguisher can be more effective at fighting a fire, but only if the user has enough experience to handle it.
- Size of space: The space you’re trying to protect will help determine the size of the fire extinguisher you need to buy. A small five-pound fire extinguisher can handle a small fire in most residential spaces, but a ten-pound fire extinguisher may be necessary for larger homes.
- The number of floors in the house: Regardless of which size fire extinguisher you choose, you’ll need more than one if you have either a second story or a basement in your home. There should be at least one fire extinguisher on every floor of the home to ensure accessibility in a fire.
- Types of fire: When choosing a fire extinguisher for a space in your home, it’s essential to look at the size of the extinguisher and the types of fire outbreaks that might occur in that area of the house. For example, you’re more likely to encounter a grease fire in the kitchen, but electrical fires are more common in workshops.
Along with choosing the right size of fire extinguishers, there’s also the matter of selecting enough fire extinguishers for your home. Keep in mind that each floor of your home needs its own fire extinguisher, and it’s crucial to keep fire extinguishers in areas of the house where a fire is more likely to break out, such as the kitchen or garage workshop.
What Type of Fire Extinguisher Is Best for Home Use?
Most fire extinguishers recommended for the home will be either A, B, or C class fire extinguishers around either five or ten pounds. These fire extinguishers are capable of handling small fires that originate as the result of wood, cloth, paper, fuel, or electrical shorts.
Larger D and K class fire extinguishers are designed for industrial spaces, so they aren’t suitable for use in the home. Most residences don’t require a fire extinguisher that can put out flaming metals or bulk oils.
The best fire extinguisher for home use is one that can be accessed quickly and used easily by even someone with low upper body strength who has never used an extinguisher before. These are the people who will be most likely to be called on to fight a residential fire in case of an emergency.
Common Extinguisher Sizes and Weights
Even though there’s a large variety of fire extinguisher sizes and weights, only a few of them are standard for residential use. Here is a table with some of the most common fire extinguisher sizes for home use.
| Fire Extinguisher Size (rating) | Fire Extinguisher Weight (pounds/lb) | Best Example from Amazon |
| 2A:10B:C | 4 lbs | Kidde Pro210 |
| 3A:40B:C | 5 lbs | Kidde 466425 Multi-Purpose |
| 4A:80B:C | 10 lbs | Amerex Multi-Purpose |
Fire extinguishers ten pounds and less are usually the best option for setting up fire extinguishers in the home. Buying two smaller fire extinguishers is a good option for those who cannot confidently handle fire extinguishers at a larger size.
What do all the numbers and Letters on My Fire Extinguisher mean?
When shopping for common household fire extinguishers, you may get confused with letters and numbers. For example, this Kidde 466425 Multi-Purpose has the designation: 3A:40B:C
What do these numbers and letters mean?
This table explains the meaning of each letter and number on common household fire extinguishers:
| Fire Extingiusher Letter | Meaning of Letter | Number | Meaning of Number Before the Letter |
| A | for fires started from dry fuels such as cloth, wood, rubber, plastic, and paper. | The Number before the letter A | Equivalent gallons of water. For example, 4A is equivalent to about 4 gallons of water |
| B | designed for fires started by flammable liquids such as cooking oil, gasoline, or grease. | The Number before the letter B | The number of square feet the fire extinguisher would cover/relative size of fire. For example, 10B covers 10 square feet |
| C | designed for fires started by electrical fires still connected to a source of electricity. | The Number before the letter B also applies to the letter C | The number of square feet the fire extinguisher would cover/relative size of fire. For example, 10B:C covers 10 square feet |
Fire Extinguisher Home and Industrial Class Size Ratings
Along with classifying fire extinguishers by weight, fire extinguishers are also categorized in classes based on their rating. The type of anticipated fire determines the rating of a fire extinguisher that it’s best able to fight based on its chemical composition. Here are the five ratings of fire extinguishers (Source: SF Gate):
- Class A: Class A fire extinguishers are designed for fires started from dry fuels such as cloth, wood, rubber, plastic, and paper. Many home fire extinguishers are designated as Class A.
- Class B: Class B fire extinguishers are designed for fires started by flammable liquids such as cooking oil, gasoline, or grease.
- Class C: Class C fire extinguishers are designed for fires started by electrical fires still connected to a source of electricity. These extinguishers are designed to be used on flaming motors or wiring. These extinguishers are used in both homes and business settings.
- Class D: Class D fire extinguishers are designed for fires started by combustible metals such as magnesium or aluminum. These fires are most often found in industrial settings such as factories and welding facilities.
- Class K: Class K fire extinguishers are designed for fires started by commercial cooking equipment like deep fat fryers or high-heat stoves. These extinguishers are designed to work against hard-to-fight fires involving animal fats and cooking oils.
Along with the individual class fire extinguishers, there are also multipurpose fire extinguishers that cover multiple fire class ratings at once.
The most common type of multipurpose fire extinguisher is rated A-B-C, and this extinguisher is ideal for all three classes of fires. This makes it a perfect option for home extinguishers since they can handle most types of fire you would commonly encounter in a home environment.
How Do You Measure a Fire Extinguisher?
Fire extinguishers are usually measured in pounds rather than their physical dimensions. This is because fire extinguishers are measured based on how much chemical suppressant they contain. Fire extinguisher sizes run from miniature fire extinguishers at 2.5 pounds all the way up to 350-pound industrial fire extinguishers.
Tips for Choosing a Fire Extinguisher
Once you’ve determined which size and class of fire extinguisher you want to buy for your home, the next step is to go and pick one out. Here are a few additional tips for choosing a good fire extinguisher for your home:
- Check online reviews. Reading online reviews of fire extinguishers from other consumers can point out design flaws in the extinguisher that might not be immediately obvious by looking at the extinguisher in a store. Even though all fire extinguishers are rated for use in firefighting, some are easier to use than others.
- Test fire extinguishers in the store. In most home improvement stores, you should be able to check out the weight and feel of a fire extinguisher for yourself and see if you would feel comfortable handling it in an emergency.
- Choose between a rechargeable and a disposable model. The main difference between the two is that rechargeable fire extinguishers tend to be a bit more expensive. Most home fire extinguishers are disposable models since house fires are considered too rare to need a fire extinguisher more than once.
- Figure out where it’ll be installed. The location of the fire extinguisher installation will determine the extinguisher size you need and the class of extinguisher needed. Most of the fire extinguishers in your home may be Class A, but you might want a Class B fire extinguisher in the kitchen where flammable liquid fires like grease fires are more likely.
Fire extinguishers are an important investment for the safety of your home, so it’s worth putting a little effort into choosing the right one. Choosing a fire extinguisher that is difficult to wield or not classed for house fires will leave you disadvantaged if the worst should happen and a fire actually breaks out.
Can You Use Large Fire Extinguishers to Fight Large Fires?
Home fire extinguishers can’t be used to fight large house fires no matter how large your fire extinguisher is. Even the largest fire extinguishers rated for residential use can only handle fires with a maximum of sixty square feet. Past that point, manning a fire extinguisher only serves to place the person fighting the fire in danger.
There are several reasons why it’s a bad idea to try and fight a large fire even with multiple fire extinguishers:
- Smoke build-up: The larger a home fire is, the more likely it is that the fire will start to billow thick toxic smoke that can quickly kill a person from smoke inhalation. Smoke inhalation is the number one cause of death related to house fires.
- Fire spread: The larger a home fire is, the more likely it is that the fire will spread out of control, potentially blocking exit paths and trapping the person trying to fight it inside. Once trapped in a burning house, most people will succumb to either heat or smoke inhalation in minutes.
- Lack of chemical control: A residential fire extinguisher doesn’t contain enough chemical fire suppressant to quell large fires. In this scenario, the fire extinguisher will run out long before the fire does.
For large fires, the safest bet is to evacuate the home, regardless of your fire extinguisher size. It simply isn’t worth the risk of being severely injured or killed in a house fire.
When to Use a Home Fire Extinguisher
Even if you have an appropriately-sized fire extinguisher in the home when a fire breaks out, you might not always be in a good position to use it. Several factors in a firefighting scenario determine whether or not it’s safe to try and use a fire extinguisher to fight a fire regardless of its size.
Here are some questions you need to ask yourself before jumping in and trying to fight a fire with a fire extinguisher (Source: U.S. Fire Administration):
- Have you called the fire department? Before you start trying to control a small house fire, make sure that firefighters are on the way. Every moment wasted before calling the fire department is a chance that the fire can spread or cause serious damage and injuries to bystanders.
- Does everyone know there’s a fire? Everyone in the home should be notified of the fire and evacuated before firefighting attempts are made. This includes household pets like dogs and cats if you have them.
- Is the fire contained? If the fire looks like it has a chance to spread across the room, you shouldn’t take the risk of trying to extinguish it. If the fire is somewhere contained, such as a pan or a garbage can, it’s safe to try and extinguish it yourself.
- Do you have a clear exit from the home? Never try to fight a fire if you don’t have a way out of the building, no matter how large your fire extinguisher is or how small the fire. Many people have been injured or killed trying to fight fires without an escape path when the fire escalates.
- Are you clear of the smoke? Smoke inhalation can cause someone fighting a fire to lose unconsciousness and lose control of the fire in the process. If smoke is building up in the home, get low to the ground where the air is clearer and make your way to an exit.
- Is it a small fire? Large house fires cannot be contained with fire extinguishers.
Having fire extinguishers is great for a small fire, but they shouldn’t make homeowners overly confident about fighting house fires. When in doubt, it’s always best to evacuate and wait for professional firefighters to show up.
I Already Have a Fire Extinguisher. Is It Still Good?
Even though fire extinguishers last for a long time, they do eventually expire. To determine whether a fire extinguisher is still good, check my SecureHomeHero.com article Here.