Old co2 fire extinguisher

I have an old Co2 Fire extinguisher called 'The Firewand' made by Titan Distributing Co., Inc. Buffalo 4 NY. It is a pair of cylinders about 24 inches long and 2 inches in diameter with a 7 inch nozzle on one end. They were hung in the home from a small metal box with a flower on the cover. You lifted the front of the box and removed the cylinder and rotated the nozzle end to open it and let out the CO2. Can any one tell me how old these might be? They still have CO2 in them! The cylinders do not have any markings at all on them.

How do you know they're CO2 ? CO2 is a relatively recent choice of extinguishing agent, and if they're old then they're more likely to be carbon tetrachloride. Even dry powder is more likely than CO2.

Is there any liquid swishing around inside ?

BTW - If they are carbon tet, then the stuff is pretty carcinogenic, and it's horribly toxic if you use it on a fire.

They are CO2 for sure. How recent? My dad had a CO2 one in the early 60s. I always thought it was old then!

I'd still regard a domestic CO2 extinguisher as being unusual, and commercial ones arrived gradually from the '60s. Up to the 1950s, carbon tet was almost universal, then dry powder came in for domestics and finally halon (particularly for kitchens). In recent years, AFFF has replaced halon, because of the ozone layer concerns.

The trouble with CO2 is that it isn't much good at putting out fires ! You need a large heavy extinguisher to have much chance with anything. OTOH, carbon tet and halon can extinguish a bad kitchen fire with one small extinguisher.

If you find the really old glass globe extinguishers, they're carbon tet and highly sought after.

It is almost certainly a CO2. They use to sell Wand type C02 for home use.


Halon wasn't replaced with afff. Halon is a clean agent used mostly for computer rooms and other electronic areas. Who would use a water based agent on anything electric? Dry powder has a habit of corroding everything it touches. C02 wasn't used due to the fact it condenses due to the cold. Halon was no longer produced after 1994 clean air act. Dupont came up with FE-36 to replace it. It has the same characteristics of Halon. Stored as a liquid, comes out as a vapor, and leaves no mess. There is also Halotron 1, and others that don't use cfc's. Afff though a great agent for liquid fires, would not be a good substitute for Halon.