How Do Automatic Fire Extinguishers Work? A Quick Guide to Enhance Your Fire Safety System

Much like clean agent fire suppression systems and fire sprinklers, automatic fire extinguishers offer round-the-clock protection from fire without having to be manned or monitored. They can be critical to your building's fire safety, working as an alternative to potentially damaging fire sprinkler systems. Before we answer your question, "How do automatic fire extinguishers work?" let us first understand what automatic fire extinguishers are.

What is an Automatic Fire Extinguisher?

Once a temperature threshold is reached, automatic fire extinguishers are activated without human interaction. Within an automatic fire extinguisher, there is a heat-sensitive bulb that contains a liquid. This liquid is designed to expand through heat and crack the bulb, releasing the extinguishing agent directly onto the flame beneath.

An automatic fire extinguisher can offer practical and fast fire suppression for several Class A, B, or C fires, depending on your chosen extinguisher. They're instrumental in protecting areas containing sensitive equipment or materials like:

  • Electrical and computer rooms
  • Marine engine compartments
  • Dry cleaning facilities
  • Museums archive room
  • Records Storage
  • Laboratories

How Do Automatic Fire Extinguishers Work?

Fire is coming for the upper floor of the building.

These extinguishers work similarly to hand-held manual fire extinguishers. The primary difference is that it is replaced with a glass bulb instead of squeezing the handle to use the extinguisher. This bulb contains a heat-sensitive liquid that expands once it gets hot. The bulb bursts as soon as the liquid attains a pre-determined temperature, and the extinguisher's contents go to work.

Types of Automatic Fire Extinguisher Systems

There are two primary types of automatic systems to select from. The type of extinguisher you select depends upon the location and the fire that is most likely to occur.

Powder Extinguishers

These are popular because they're helpful for a variety of different fires. They might be found in marine vessels' engine compartments, vehicles, etc. These effectively fight fires involving burning petrol, oils, etc.

Gas Extinguishers

Gas extinguishers are a common choice for computer rooms and similar enclosed areas where electrical fires are prevalent. The gas can handle the fire without damaging expensive, sensitive, high-tech equipment.

Where To Utilize An Automatic Fire Extinguisher System

Automatic systems are great for unsupervised areas.

Automatic systems are great for unsupervised areas. These are settings where no one can operate a manual fire extinguisher if a fire happens. Using this cost-effective method of fire protection, you can safeguard unmanned locations. It works whether the area is unmanned on a temporary or permanent basis.

Automatic fire extinguisher systems offer an affordable solution to many areas. They are particularly useful in remote locations and when plumbing in a sprinkler or fire suppressant system, which is the only alternative.

Using automatic fire extinguisher systems can keep many areas safe. These include computer rooms, engine rooms, data communication systems, and engineering assembly lines.

Automatic Fire Sprinkler System Vs. Fire Extinguishers

Fire sprinklers are required by building codes in most places in the US and are still a highly effective method of extinguishing fires. Industrial and residential fire sprinkler systems have a pressurized water supply triggered when the sprinkler head is activated by heat (the exact method as an automatic fire extinguisher). Fire sprinkler systems engage locally, indicating they will only go off where the fire is.

In most settings, fire sprinkler systems are a virtually perfect defense against fire. However, the water dispersed by the sprinklers can lead to substantial damage—almost as much as a fire itself. The risk of water damage is too great for certain applications, like electrical rooms and rooms with sensitive or fragile equipment. In these cases, automatic fire extinguishers that use dry chemical agents or gas are much better suited.

How to Choose an Automatic Fire Extinguisher for Your Property

When selecting an automatic fire extinguisher, it's important to determine the correct room volume to be protected to ensure the unit size satisfies your needs. These steps will let you determine the appropriate extinguisher for your place:

  1. The room must be an enclosed area.
  2. Calculate the Room's Cubic Feet: LXWXH = CU FT
  3. Identify the HAZARD: A, B or C
  4. Match the Cu ft + Hazard to the suitable fire extinguisher model.
  5. If your room has a fan, it must be shut down using the supplied pressure switch.

Benefits of Automated Fire Systems

A house is set ablaze due to a fire which could have been prevented

One of the benefits of automated fire suppression is that it does not need human intervention. Since the system is entirely automated, it helps alert people in time, suppress the fire as people rush to safety, and save lives.

The fire system is useful not only because it can control or suppress fires but also because it can help alert the relevant authorities about the ongoing fire. The system can be connected to other automated fire alarm systems that transmit signals to the fire help centers. This is one factor that will help the fire help providers control the fire quickly.

Maintenance Friendly

The system relies on automatic responses, which means it is very easy to maintain any problems that the system has because they are straightforward to detect. This is very advantageous because one need not worry about the system malfunctioning in the event of a fire.

User Friendly

Automatic fire systems offer many benefits to homeowners

Since fire suppression uses automatic means to activate, very little expertise is required to operate the system. The system can also use any inert gases or chemicals to fight fire. This is an assurance that the system won't pose a health hazard to human beings. With fire systems, the disadvantage of using water to fight fires can also be averted, thus safeguarding sensitive electronic gadgets that can be easily destroyed when water is used to extinguish fires.

With so many easy-to-install features and proven benefits, an automatic fire extinguisher is the best fire protection equipment you should get as soon as possible. Not only will it keep your home free from the chance of catching fire, but it will also keep you stress-free.

Key Takeaway

Specific environments are not conducive to effective manual operation of fire extinguishers. From transportation applications like engine compartments to large-scale properties like warehouses, it may not be feasible or safe to access a fire extinguisher and combat a fire, so automatic extinguishers are needed.

We at Texas Fire and Safety can install automatic fire extinguishers in various environments. You can trust these extinguishers—they can swiftly and effectively suppress a range of fires, either totally nullifying the fire or tempering it enough for the fire service to arrive.

Qualified And Experienced Automatic Extinguisher Installation

Our installation services ensure that your extinguisher is perfectly set up and ready to go, and our maintenance work further down the line will preserve the system's functionality for the long term. Fully qualified and experienced experts can install automatic extinguisher systems that perfectly suit your requirements, keeping your property and people as safe as possible.