Fire Extinguishers

[Corn]

Came accros a 4 gallon fire extinguisher last night and i took the tap out and cleaned the inside out, i used paint thinner and some 100% acetone to clean the insideout. My worry is that its madeof aluminum, because i dont have the eye to tell if its steel or iron. I plan to use it as either my thumber or my boiler because i distill small batches. Anyone know what most modern fire ext. are made of?

[DrTorque]

If you can't tell by the weight - is there a little bit of bare metal on it that you can get wet to see if it rusts? If it's painted, file a small patch and drip some water on it.

[Hawke]

If it was a dry chemical extinguisher, it is most likely aluminum. Stainless ones are usually not painted, but shined up instead.

[eternalfrost]

see if a magnet will stick to it. if it does at all, then its definitely not aluminum. but that dosnt guarantee that it is stainless steel

[Corn]

Im thinking its iron, because it is magnetic and about 25 pounds...but its also shiny where i filed the paint off.....maybe it would be like using a cast iron pot for a boiler.

[Dnderhead]

if its magnetic I whould say its steel . they have magnetic stainless (series 400 high carbon) but its used in articles that need to be hardened as knives.
300 series nickel /chrome) most common, used in cook ware etc.

[punkin]

Dunno if you're an aussie or not and how your extinguishers compare to ours, but, in this piccie you'll see stainless and alloy ones.




The one in the front is aluminium, it's a very thick casting, about 3/4 of an inch at the neck. There is no welded seams on it.

The two behind it are both stainless versions, there's a welded seam at the neck and down the bottom too where the bottom is welded in. The material is very thin and resistant to scratching, unlike alloy that scratches very easily.

I haven't seen any plain mild steel extinguishers over here, only these two types.

[Dnderhead]

hear in the states we have aluminum , stainless steel, steel that is chromium plated, steel that is copper plated,steel that is panted.I thank it makes
a difference what they put in it and the price?

[Corn]

well it is shaped like the smaller one but is magnetic so im not sure. I guess i wont use it just incase it is made of aluminum.

[punkin]

well it is shaped like the smaller one but is magnetic so im not sure. I guess i wont use it just incase it is made of aluminum.

Try and scratch it. If you can scratch a gouge in it, it's alloy, if all you do is mark a mark on the surface it's steel.

[Hack]

well it is shaped like the smaller one but is magnetic so im not sure. I guess i wont use it just incase it is made of aluminum.

If it's magnetic it's not aluminum.