Does the Fire Extinguisher Ball Really Work as Claimed?

The fire extinguisher ball is a compact, lightweight device shaped like a ball. Inside the ball, there is fire-extinguishing powder. The product operates similarly to a fire extinguisher. The only difference is that the ball is thrown directly into the fire to extinguish the flames as quickly as possible.

When a fire occurs or the ball is thrown into the fire, it will explode with a loud noise. Does this explosion cause harm to the user? The answer is no. In practice, the explosion of the ball does not pose any danger to anyone within a few meters. In fact, even if held in the hand, the explosion will not cause harm to the person holding the ball.

However, the fire extinguisher ball is a device designed to extinguish fires at their initial stages, meaning when the fire is just starting. It is not meant to put out a fully developed, raging fire. According to experts, fires cause fatalities due to two basic reasons: the release of toxic gases that cause suffocation (referred to as “death by asphyxiation”) and high temperatures causing burns (referred to as “death by burning”). The most important issue is how to prevent the fire from spreading, that is, to stop the toxic gases and block the heat from the flames. The fire extinguisher ball works by cutting off the oxygen supply to the fire, thus extinguishing it, not by absorbing oxygen to put the fire out. The longer the fire burns, the more it depletes the oxygen in a confined space, simultaneously releasing toxic smoke that poses a danger.

Does the fire extinguisher ball really prevent the fire from spreading? The answer is both yes and no.

For basic, small, or moderate fires, the fire extinguisher ball can effectively put out the flames. However, for large, complex, or hard-to-control fires, the effectiveness of the ball is limited.

The ball contains fire-extinguishing powder, but due to its small size, the amount of powder is only sufficient to handle fires that match the capacity of the ball.

The ball’s mechanism is to explode and release the fire-extinguishing powder, but this is also its major weakness. In a large space, the explosion can sometimes cause the fire to spread even more.

You can watch the following video to see the actual effectiveness of the fire extinguisher ball and determine if it is truly comprehensive.