Has anyone mounted a fire extinguisher to their oven base?
I’m considering the Element fire extinguisher, as it’s an ABCK extinguisher that is based on Potassium Nitrate a.k.a. saltpeter.
G
The general idea of a fire extinguisher being available at your oven is a good one. But it does raise a couple of flags in my mind.
The oven itself is a refractory whose very purpose is to contain very hot flames. Even if you were to spill a pan of flammable grease into the heart of your oven, you’d be better off (in my opinion) allowing the oven itself to take care of it. The materials that you use to build the oven are designed to take care of it, and if you manage to go way over temperature, you may get a couple of cracked bricks. Allowing the oven to consume the flammable material—fully undamped—will let your BrickWood live for another day.
By the same token, discharging a commercial “K”-rated extinguisher into your oven does not sound at all like a good idea to me. For those who have not reviewed their fire extinguisher ratings in a while, there are three main ratings: A, B, and C. “A” is rated for ordinary combustibles, like wood and paper. “B” is for flammable liquids, like gasoline. “C” is for electrical fires. They all use chemicals which would be difficult or impossible to remove from your brick hearth. A “K” extinguisher uses a fine mist of a chemical like potassium nitrate to combine with grease or oil, and it’s considered a secondary line of defense in a commercial kitchen after activating a hood suppression system (that also cuts off fans, electricity and gas to the cooking equipment). K chemicals are generally alkaline, and they need to be cleaned with an acid like vinegar.
You are unlikely to have the kind of conflagration inside your oven that would require the drastic step of using a “K”-rated extinguisher on it (and the other three types are inappropriate anyway).
BUT…you also need to think of the fact that living beings and property surround your oven. For people and animals, a fire blanket to smother flames is not out of line, and you should have a first aid kit in an accessible location that includes first-line burn treatment. For property, an ordinary ABC-rated fire extinguisher would be the best all-around choice, especially if you live in a location where dry vegetation could be sparked into flame by a stray breeze. (The spark arrestor that should be on every BrickWood oven will stop sparks from the chimney, but not from the oven mouth.) It could also be a crucial backstop if a live coal escapes your attention while emptying your oven.
I really like the idea of mounting an extinguisher, but I would recommend against the “K”-rated device because of the general principle that having a tool available tempts someone in the moment to use it, whether or not it’s a good idea.
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I have never really thought of adding a fire extinguisher to the inside base… or even on the backside of the oven base, but I agree w/ Matt - it’s a great idea.
I had no idea about the extinguisher ratings, but you got the wheels spinning on some kind of fire blanket / weather resistant oven cover…
But to keep the party from getting “too hot”, we always like to keep a waterhose w/ a nozzle on stand-by whenever we fire-up the oven…
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Now, that sounds like a good idea! Utility and safety in one.
And yes, keeping the water hose charged up is always a good idea. The two cases I mentioned above (people and property) are likely to be class “A” events.
I’m gonna start checking the BrickWood Ovens store periodically to see when that cover pops up… 
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