The Stovebolt Site Forums The Parking Lot Big Bolts The Stovebolt Volunteer Fire Department Pyrene Extinguishers.

So, I put this in here, as its sort of fire related, and maybe you guys have more experience with this stuff.
If the moderator wants to trash this, as its only sort of truck related, I won't be offended.

I've been looking around, and found a pair of fire extinguishers. They are the small old brass kind, Pyrene brand. I suspect that they were filled with carbon tetrachloride. I'll bet they are empty now. As you might have guessed, I have not gone to see the fire extinguishers yet.
My question is, are these refillable? I mean with water? They look so cool, but I couldn't bring my self to install a fire extinguisher that didn't at least shoot water.

I did some research on these due to boredom at work and the fact being on a dept myself this vintage fire fighting equipment interests me. I found this site

http://www.vintagefe.com/pyrene.html

it doesn't really say either way if they are refillable or not, but due to the fact it has what they reference as a "fill hole" on the the one could assume that as long as the pump mechanism works that u should be able to refill it to shoot water.

Hope this helps and hopefully the link works.


If I would read the rest of this web page I would've seen the part that talked about refilling these. Good Luck!!! Brent

They are refillable. Originally they were filled with carbon tetrachloride which we now know is not good. They had a plunger with a leather that is replaceable. They were everywhere when I was a kid. I'm not real sure that one ever put out a fire. They are brass and look sharp when polished.

I have one myself, you can refill them and it makes an awesome squirtgun!
However, I went to the local fire suppression systems company to talk to them about using it as intended. They have a guy who's been in the business since those squirters were new and he flat out says they dont make a equivalent type of fluid for them. The kicker is the need for some sort of corrosion inhibiter to keep the water from siezing the guts up.

Just on friday, I was given one. Hooray! It had been filled with salt water to keep it from freezing. Surprisingly, it still sort of works. I rinsed it with fresh water, and sprayed wd40 in there. So, I can take it apart.

I also decided, that if I mount that thing in the cab, I'll also mount my little halon extinguisher in as well.

try filling it with 50/50 mix of antifreeze and water. it might be enough to keep it from siezing up and also from freezing up. when it is filled with water does it dribble out the tip when mounted?

Speaking of antifreeze and Pyrene's - - - Some hot rodders use them for overflow tanks.

Look at the shiny brass thing next to the radiator in this picture. It's a Pyrene extinguisher.

When they have Carbon Tet in them, they are great for drying out a wet ignition system. I used to use one for that in the 60's.
Cleon

Thank you for the topic Mr. lang!
I have one of these in the shed and never knew much about them....now I do!

Cheers,Doc!

I am in love with the one I was given. Still on the fence about polishing it, it looks so nice with the patina on it.

If it ha the original finish and paint on the placcard you may want to leave it as is. Most of the paint on mine came off way too easy, not the tradeoff I wanted to make it shiny.

ive done a couple of them. they all had a transparent coating on them. i removed the coating on the tank itself down to the base metal. i then carefully removed the coating on the tag that is attached to the tank without removing the painted portion of the tag. after all the coating was removed i then used a dremil with rouge and brought up a lustorious finish on the tank and pump handle. the tag i rubbed up by hand and is still readable and nice. i dont coat it with anything but after it yellows i just bring it back with some wenol or flitz and refrain from touching it. i wear cotton gloves when i handle my brass. the brillance of it lasts for a pretty long time. constant hi humidity yellows it rather quickly and rain ruins it.