Oh shit! Glad you're safe. How did the fire start?

Keep in mind that fire extinguishers have a safe storage temperature. It varies from type to type but is generally at the 120-130 F range. Ironic.

So your extinguisher in your car is potentially regularly reaching that if you live in a hot climate and park outdoors. Which means you potentially have degraded performance and could even see a pressure/leakage issue if it continues too much.

So probably not a catastrophic failure (I mean... it is a fire extinguisher) but nowhere near as safe as you think. External motorbike one is probably fine though.

I have one that I keep with my camping gear as "just in case" but don't see much of a reason to keep it in my car's emergency bag. I figure if my car catches on fire I am fucked anyway.

Ever since my family lost our VW Vanagon camper to an engine fire I keep one in my cars.

This is a great idea! We had them on our "to buy" list when we bought our house and they ended up falling by the wayside.

Fast forward 4.5 years where we had a small grease fire in the oven and now we have general use ones on each level, a kitchen specific one and a fire blanket in the pantry for stove top fires.

That service part is key. It makes it essentially a one time purchase. You spend more upfront but then you only need them inspected and charged periodically.
Reuse reduce baby.

Upvote because I respect firefighters. I don't respect cops. I don't care about our military.

But firefighters, and EMS/everyone in a hospital, are people I respect a lot.

Now, the people who set the pricing scheme for the medical industry can go fuck off into a volcano. It shouldn't BE an industry. You never hear people say "the firefighting industry". Which is good. I've never heard anyone badmouth the concept of fire fighters services.

I ws trained in the use of extinguishers while in the Army. We used expired extinguishers from a maintenance company. They explained that they had to be maintained every 3 years, not because loss of pressure, but because seals and mechanisms could get stuck. Don't be in a sense of false security

get a new on, those gauges are wrong way too often for a piece of safety equipment

Really? I've always had 1 in the kitchen. Never had to use it but it's nice that it's right there, accessible.

What's the plan in the event of a fire?

Say it's an electrical fire. Gonna throw water on it?

You definitely need to at least recharge it and have it inspected if it hasent been in 14 years, if it's a serviceable one. Take it to your local fire department, they'll usually be able to tell you if it's serviceable and do the care needed to make sure it's still functional like recharging

I only bought two!