Hi

Your Fireworld extinguishers are supposedly maintenance free. How do I explain this to my insurance? Surely they want the extinguishers serviced?

Regards

Charles

Hi Charles

You are of course referring to the Britannia P50 service-free extinguishers.

It is really important to explain what the extinguishers do and what not:

They:

- are guaranteed for ten years

- do not require re-filling after five years

- do not require any yearly maintenance by a service engineer

- do not corrode

However:

- They must still be visually inspected by the owners on a regular base like all extinguishers (to check that they are in position, not damaged and that the gauges are in the green)

- They must be yearly visually inspected by the owner or a representative and the findings recorded. There is a simple 3 step inspection to ensure that the extinguisher is in perfect condition.

In our prices we have included the cost for a site survey, the installation, the training and the certification by our BAFE certified engineers. This is the last time that you will require an engineer during the ten years of extinguisher life.

Most insurances have approved the P50 extinguishers already. We nevertheless recommend that customers send a form we have created to their insurance to notify them of the changed extinguisher maintenance regime. Our engineers hand this form to the customer with the certification paperwork.

Harry

These were installed in our local school, their insurance was fine with the maintenance free type of extinguisher.

Hi

I think your advertisement is misleading, you are saying that I can save £300 per extinguisher. How do you work that out??

Your Fireworld extinguisher costs £99, while an ordinary 9kg powder extinguishers costs £33.08. What's wrong with your math?

Len

Hi Len

I will explain the savings that we display in our advertising:

Based on our regular Safelincs pricing the costs for traditional 9kg powder extinguisher over ten years are as follows (all prices shown ex VAT). Please note that the Safelincs extinguisher servicing charges come with a price guarantee and are lower than the prices offered by most servicing companies!:

Purchase of ordinary 9k powder extinguisher (43A 233B C) : £33.08

Installation and Commissioning: £9.36

Call-out for Installation (includes free site-survey): £22.98

10 site visits (call-out), each £22.98: total £229.80

Re-fill after year 5: £37.50

9 extinguisher services, each £7.66: total £68.94

Total:£470.60

The only charge due for an equivalent 6kg Fireworld powder extinguisher (43A 183 C) over ten years is £99.00 (includes delivery, installation, commissioning, training, certification).

Creating a total saving of £371.60 over ten years

That actually is a lot more than the saving we advertise!

One could point out that I have compared a 6kg version Fireworld against a 9kg traditional extinguisher based on the fact that the Fireworld achieve the same A rating. However, even assuming that you want to install 1.5 Fireworld extinguishers per one 9kg traditional fire extinguishers, the savings are still well over £300

If you have any more questions, please let me know

Harry

Surely it is a disadvantage that the extinguishers have to be discarded after 10 years?

Hi

Extinguishers should never be just discarded. The Fireworld extinguishers can be 100% recycled if returned to Britannia.

More importantly, Fireworld extinguishers can now be refilled by Britannia or Safelincs after ten years and are then guaranteed for a further ten years! At this refurb the extinguisher is stripped down, the extinguishing agent is replaced and the outer protective cylinder replaced. All other components are re-used.

Harry

Hi

How much does the refurbishment of the Fireworld extinguishers cost? Do I have to send the units to you?

Garry

Hi Garry

The refurb of the extinguishers costs currently £40 + VAT and this price includes the collection, refurbishment and return shipment. There will not be an extinguisher engineer visit after refurb. So its just a case of re-hanging yourself.

Harry

Hi Harry

I heard that the commercial arm of the Notts fire brigade is selling the Fireworld extinguishers now, however, they still offer servicing with it. Belts and braces??

Hi Nosage

I heard something similar. Although, I have no details. Several large supermarkets are having the Fireworld extinguishers installed by servicing companies. As there is no skill required for the visual inspection, the servicing companies in question add the visual inspection to the yearly visit of unrelated engineers (eg lighting, PAT testing etc). We also offer some larger customers a combined servicing package (emergency lighting, fire alarms panels, PAT testing and the Fireworld visual inspection). It works for some customers who really don't want to get involved, although their cost savings are not as high as if they would use their own staff to visual inspect once a year.

Harry