Fire extinguisher inspection, maintenance and hydrostatic test intervals by agent type
NFPA 10 sets four separate service obligations for a portable fire extinguisher (monthly visual inspection, annual maintenance, periodic internal examination, and hydrostatic pressure testing) and the interval for two of those four depends on which agent and shell the extinguisher is, in a way that is scattered across several sections and a table rather than stated as one list. A record here is one obligation for one extinguisher type/shell combination, with the interval and the NFPA 10 section it comes from. Answers 'how often does a CO2 extinguisher need hydrostatic testing', 'does a stainless steel dry chemical extinguisher get the same 12-year hydro interval as a standard one', 'how often does a wet chemical K-class extinguisher need internal examination', and 'my dry chemical extinguisher is nonrechargeable, when does it get replaced instead of retested'. The exceptions are where a facility manager gets this wrong: stainless steel dry chemical shells get the 5-year interval that pressurized-water and CO2 units get, not the 12-year interval every other dry chemical extinguisher gets, and nonrechargeable stored-pressure extinguishers skip hydrostatic testing entirely in favor of a hard 12-year removal-from-service date.
The data
| Extinguishing agent / type | Service obligation | Interval | NFPA 10 section | Shell material qualifier |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Portable fire extinguishers | Annual maintenance | at least once a year | NFPA 10(10), Sec. 7.3 | |
| Carbon dioxide | Hydrostatic test | every 5 years | NFPA 10(10), Sec. 8.3.1 and Table 8.3.1 | |
| Dry chemical extinguishers | Hydrostatic test | every 12 years | NFPA 10(10), Sec. 8.3.1 and Table 8.3.1 | |
| Nonrechargeable stored pressure extinguishers | Hydrostatic test | removed from service 12 years from the date of manufacture | NFPA 10(10), Sec. 7.3.1.2.1.3 | |
| Pressurized water | Hydrostatic test | every 5 years | NFPA 10(10), Sec. 8.3.1 and Table 8.3.1 | |
| Dry chemical extinguishers | Hydrostatic test | every 5 years | NFPA 10(10), Sec. 8.3.1 and Table 8.3.1 | stainless steel shells |
| Water mist | Hydrostatic test | every 5 years | NFPA 10(10), Sec. 8.3.1 and Table 8.3.1 | |
| Wet chemical (e.g. K-type) | Hydrostatic test | every 5 years | NFPA 10(10), Sec. 8.3.1 and Table 8.3.1 | |
| Antifreeze type extinguishers | Internal examination | annually | NFPA 10(10), Sec. 7.3.1.1.2 and Table 7.3.1.1.2 | |
| Carbon dioxide | Internal examination | every 5 years | NFPA 10(10), Sec. 7.3.1.1.2 and Table 7.3.1.1.2 | |
| Dry chemical extinguishers | Internal examination | Every 6 years | NFPA 10(10), Sec. 7.3.1.2 | |
| Nonrechargeable extinguishers | Internal examination | removed from service 12 years from the date of manufacture | NFPA 10(10), Sec. 7.3.1.2.1.3 | |
| Stored pressure fire extinguishers that require a 12-year hydrostatic test | Internal examination | Every 6 years | NFPA 10(10), Sec. 7.3.1.2 | |
| Stored-pressure loaded-stream | Internal examination | annually | NFPA 10(10), Sec. 7.3.1.1.2 and Table 7.3.1.1.2 | |
| Wet chemical (e.g. K-type) | Internal examination | every 5 years | NFPA 10(10), Sec. 7.3.1.1.2 and Table 7.3.1.1.2 | |
| Portable fire extinguishers | Monthly visual inspection | at least monthly at a minimum of 30-day intervals | NFPA 10(10), Sec. 7.2.1 |
Where this came from
Every record above links the page it was taken from and quotes the sentence that states it. These are the 1 source this dataset was assembled from.
- health.state.mn.ushttps://www.health.state.mn.us/facilities/regulation/engineering/docs/lscfireext.pdf
Machine-readable
- data.jsonThe whole dataset — every record with its source URL and source quote.
- Open Knowledge Format bundleOne JSON object per line — every record's frontmatter and quoted span exactly as it is held here, in one fetch.
- How this is made and checkedWhat "verified against source" does and does not mean.