This fire extinguisher ball is a sphere and able to be hung on walls or held on hand to throw right into a fire. Inside the ball is the firefighting powder ABC, consisting mainly of Amoniphotphat (NH4) 3PO4, otherwise known as firefighting mixture
According to Mr. Chu Son Tung, President of Thien Moc Phat Company – Elide Fire’s distributor, when there is a fire, users only need to toss the nearest firefighting ball into it. The ball will come in close contact with the fire and self-detonate in 0 – 3 seconds to extinguish the flames. If placed in locations of high risk of fire, the ball will also self-detonate in case of fire.
Therefore, users do not need to either pull any valves or come near the fire. They will not need to attend any training session.
The simple action is to put a ball passively in places of high fire risk or throw one into a fire when necessary. This is much more convenient than using the normal fire extinguisher, which is much heavier and needs proper training.
What is special about this new product is that it will emit a high pitched alarming sound of around 140db when detonating. This will warn all people in an area with the radius of 25 meters, and they will be more active in implementing other suitable solutions to extinguish the fire as well as cope with other serious results.
Elide Fire is able to douse four kinds of fire, including Class B (fueled by flammable or combustible liquids like petrol, ether, or oil) and Class C (fueled by flammable gases like methane or hydrogen), while existing fire extinguishers are able to deal with only two kinds.
However, according to its producer, Elide Fire is the equipment for extinguishing newly formed fire. It cannot douse flaring fires.
When exploding, this ball will not cause any injury to its holder. The powder released from the ball is also environmental friendly, nontoxic, and safe around people. After use, people can remove it easily with a vacuum cleaner or a mop.
At the moment, there are many brands of firefighting ball in the market with the price ranging from VND700,000 (approx. $31) to VND2million ($88). Some very cheap kinds (under VND1million or $44) come from unpopular Chinese brand names.
In an experiment with Chinese fire extinguisher ball, the released powder is too little to douse even a small fire and has an abnormal grey color.
Technicians, therefore, warn that consumers should investigate products carefully before purchasing them. They should look for prestigious certificates for fire prevention and fighting such as those from the National Fire Protection Association – NFPA (in the US), TUV in Germany, and SIRIM in Malaysia. Buyers should also seek the feature of automatic fire extinguishing.
At present, the cost for a traditional fire extinguisher in five years is around VND1.9 million ($83), including VND600,000 ($26.3) for the equipment, two times of maintenance check each year at VND120,000 per time ($5.3), and VND100,000 ($4.4) shipping. The new firefighting ball is sold at the price of VND1.95 million ($86), with no need of maintenance, and a shelf life of six years.
