Element Fire Extinguisher Test

I bought a 50 second Element Fire Extinguisher for my Jeep Scrambler. I had watched a few test videos on YouTube but wanted to test it myself.

We put a 50/50 mix of used motor oil and gasoline into three drain pans and built a wood fire. We lit up everything and tried the Element Extinguisher on them.

Unfortunately it failed pretty good. I really had high hopes as I wanted to put the 100 second extinguisher in my kitchen and garage and 50 second ones in all my vehicles.

It was a little windy but not too bad. You can see from the flames and pattern of chemical coming out of the Element. It did put the fire out in the immediate front of the extinguisher but if ANY flame was left, it re-lit. The Element did not have enough output to kill even the first pan of fire. I was hoping to put them all out. And I had to get very close to the fire to have any effect.

Even the wood fire was a challenge for the Element. The flames went out quickly but as soon as the red hot coals got new air, they re-lit too. This was 100% wood - we lit small pieces first. No fuel or other starter material was used on the wood fire.

It burnt for more than the 50 seconds so that was good.

We should have filmed it but all four fires were easily and quickly put out by the traditional 5 lb First Alert dry chemical extinguisher I have always carried. There was a decent amount left in the extinguisher too after putting out all of the fires.

I think the Element might be okay on small fires where the spray can totally cover the fire and ALL fuel. But seeing how easily and quickly the traditional extinguisher worked, I can't chance it with just an Element. Yes, you have the mess to clean up but at least the fire is out and the damage was limited.

If anyone has any feedback on the test, please leave it below. For me, I will continue to carry a dry chemical extinguisher or two.

[DBR]

Wow !! I was considering buying a few of these until I watched your video. Thanks for saving me some money.

[solkim]

thumbs up for you guys !!!! This is a shame that things like this are sold and rip people off. I almost bought a few actually...you saved quite a few bucks!!!thanx a million

[levih.]

Thank you for spending $75 and testing it out. Interesting

[colinkennedy]

<removes items from cart> Thank you for this real-world review!!

[arcaneteresa]

Oh my gosh, I've been seeing these everywhere and I'm so glad I did a YouTube search before buying. Definitely not getting one for my car if it can't handle a little bit of wind. In the video's I've watched it seems like you have to get super close to the fire too, seems dangerous. Thank you!

[xturboexpress]

Very glad for this video. 9/10 tests of these things are sponsored and they still performed mediocre. This is one of maybe 3 videos out there that show how bad they really can be, even when you get within inches of a fire with them. If that wasn’t a deal breaker, the cost and one time use nature should be.

[maluinthes]

I was going to buy one of these to carry on my motorcycle but this changed my mind. Thanks for saving me money!

[GadgetAddict]

His shoe did much better than the alleged extinguisher 😂

[TXFreedomSticks]

I was going to buy a few until I watched your video. Thank you for doing that you saved me a lot of money.

[arturosalgado]

True hero. Thanks for the video and saving people's life. This video helps so much because it shows others what not to buy for your families saftey or car saftey. Literally saves life's when showing products on videos what they do. That way other people know that oh we were going to make a wrong choice and be safer getting a different choice.

[ScoutCrafter]

Awesome video! Real world test. Imagine having one of these thinking you are prepared. You might have just saved some lives here.

[unionseen]

the wood fire attempt is a good example of how water is great at reducing the temperature below the ignition /re-ignition point as well as suffocating the fire. The device shown suffocates it, but doesn't lower the temperature at all, so it re-ignites once oxygen is reintroduced

[jhyland]

Thank you for posting this! I _almost_ purchased a few, then I decided to look for tests of people using them. Very glad I did, lol.

[Patrick.Weightman]

There were moments you could see it actually stoking the wood fire embers cause it was blowing so much more air than retardant 😂😂

[odayalfuhaid]

Thanks a million dude you are life saver, I was about to buy 3 pieces of it.

[kerrygibbs]

I had this exact extinguisher on my Amazon wish list. I want to pull the trigger last night and buy it, but I read the reviews underneath it and it gave me second thoughts after watching a few videos I’m going to buy a different fire extinguisher.

[cuppacheese]

THANK YOU FOR MAKING THIS VIDEO! SAVED ME FROM BUYING AN INEFFECTIVE FIRE EXTINGUISHER!

[TravisTerrell]

I left this comment as a reply elsewhere, but feeling the urge to share it as a top-level comment since it has some knowledge (I think.)

I was disappointed to see it didn't work well for these fires, but given the technology, it's expected. CO2 would've done the same, except the force might've actually spread the liquid fires.

The mechanism these use is actually well-established tech that's been successfully used for a long time in indoor fire suppression systems. Look up potassium-aerosol generator if interested; you can find info about their effectiveness and companies selling systems. This company just made that technology portable.

That said, while the tech unquestionably works, it won't work for every fire. That's why there are _dozens_ of extinguisher types; not 1 size fits all. The company is to blame for not including these caveats in their marketing material. (Which means people will end up using them where they don't work well.)

[joels]

Thanks for the review. I wanted to buy a few of these to put in my car.

[eclecticclay]

Thing is, it strangled the fire successfully but didn't cool it. Flammable gases the wood was producing were concentrating briefly, then the wind would not only fan the coals again but the strangling gas would get pushed off and it would flame again with more vigor - in cycles.

I can see a use for this. But to get a fire to go out and stay out, it has to NOT have an inflammable material hot enough and in contact with oxygen - this briefly displaced the oxygen in the wind and that's all.

There are other ways of producing heat, of course, but a fire is essentially rapid oxygenation that looks and acts like we expect it to in our experience of fires - there are better technical definitions, but imho the best definition for this is language plus common experience.

Even compressed CO2 cools a fire to some degree due to rapid decompression - the way air conditioners work - plus of course the sheer quantity of a gas that's cooler than the necessary temperature while strangling it all.

The guy who said just kick dirt over it elsewhere in comments was right. That both cools it and smothers it pretty permanently. Depends on how much dirt you can kick, though, where you are, and what's on top of the dirt.

It's not useless, but it is limited. It might help, possibly a great deal, in combination with using other smothering or cooling techniques. And in those few cases where simply putting out the flame in a limited area would be enough, I could see it solving the most immediate issue on its own.