Fire Extinguisher Expiration Date Checker
A rechargeable fire extinguisher has no single expiration date: it has a hydrostatic test on a fixed interval and, for some types, a 6-year maintenance. A disposable one is taken out of service 12 years after it was made. Enter the type, the manufacture date and any test or maintenance dates from the labels, and the checker shows what comes due next and which rule sets each date.
Stamped on the cylinder or printed on the label.
Leave blank if only the year is shown.
Leave blank if it has never had one.
Optional.
From the 6-year label on the shell. Leave blank if none.
Optional.
What comes due
Working out today's date.
How it is calculated
Hydrostatic test intervals come from NFPA 10, Standard for Portable Fire Extinguishers (2010 edition), Table 8.3.1: every 5 years for pressurized water, water mist, wetting agent and antifreeze, AFFF and FFFP foam, dry chemical in stainless steel shells, carbon dioxide and wet chemical; every 12 years for stored-pressure dry chemical in mild steel, brazed brass or aluminum shells, cartridge or cylinder operated dry chemical, halogenated agents (halon and halocarbon clean agents) and dry powder. The 2002 edition (Table 7.2) and OSHA 29 CFR 1910.157, Table L-1, give the same intervals for every type they list.
The first test is counted from the date of manufacture, and each later one from the last test. NFPA 10 section 8.3.1.1 lets the test be done any time in the calendar year it falls due, so a test is shown as overdue only once that year has ended. An extinguisher past its retest date is not to be recharged (8.3.1.2).
For carbon dioxide, DOT rules (49 CFR 180.209(j)) allow a DOT 3A or 3AA extinguisher cylinder 12 years between requalifications for transport, but NFPA 10 Table 8.3.1 and section 8.3.2.1 require 5 years, and the stricter NFPA interval is used.
The 6-year maintenance comes from NFPA 10 (2010 edition), section 7.3.1.2.1: every 6 years a stored-pressure extinguisher that needs a 12-year hydrostatic test is emptied and examined internally. That covers stored-pressure dry chemical, halogenated agents and stored-pressure dry powder. Section 7.3.1.2.1.1 restarts the 6 years whenever that work is done during a recharge or a hydrostatic test, so the checker counts from the latest of manufacture, the last hydrostatic test and the last 6-year maintenance. A recharge that included that work also restarts it, so check the service tag.
A non-rechargeable (disposable) extinguisher is never hydrostatically tested and is removed from service no later than 12 years after the date of manufacture (NFPA 10, 2010 edition, section 7.3.1.2.1.3; the 2002 edition, section 6.3.3.1, says the same).
Where only a year is known, the date is shown as that year and treated as due from January. The checker also flags NFPA 10 section 4.4.1 (stored-pressure dry chemical made before October 1984) and section 4.4 (pressurized water made before 1971). It does not cover wheeled units, pump tanks or the expellant cartridges of cartridge-operated units.
Monthly inspections and annual maintenance still apply, and damage or corrosion calls for a test sooner. Your adopted fire code, the authority having jurisdiction and the manufacturer's manual can be stricter than NFPA 10; this is a planning aid, not a substitute for a licensed servicing company.