Carbon Dioxide (CO2) is a greenhouse gas (GHG) which humans are producing through industry and farming. You’ll have seen in the news that all countries are tasked with reducing carbon emissions to get to net zero and reduce the warming of the planet.
CO2 gets a bad name, however, there are some good uses of CO2 including the bubbles in your fizzy drinks, vital medical procedures and fire safety. You’ll find CO2 fire extinguishers in every hospital, school, shop and office in the country. CO2 fire extinguishers are used on electrical fires.
How do CO2 fire extinguishers work?
CO2 is stored as a liquid inside the extinguisher. The gas is then created under pressure when the handle of the extinguisher is squeezed. This makes the CO2 gas spray out very quickly. For this reason it’s not recommended to use this type of extinguishers on chip pan fires as it could splash the burning oil and spread the fire.
CO2 fire extinguishers do not work by cooling the fire and so they don’t work on fires involving flammable liquids or solids. Instead, a CO2 extinguisher works by replacing all the oxygen surrounding the flames with carbon dioxide, this means the fire can no longer burn and goes out.
First win of the placement
Three days into the Step Up To Net Zero placement we had delivered a long-standing task for a very reasonable price. We found a resource to collect and recycle nine old fire extinguishers that had been cluttering the office and workshops since 2021. After some desktop research and gathering quotes from three fire extinguisher recycling businesses we chose the organisation that would refill the CO2 extinguishers. Those that couldn’t be refilled would be dismantled and the metals sent for recycling.
Please note that this phase of the project is funded by Glasgow City Council and the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.
