It has been Lifeline company policy for many years not to service extinguishers more than 10 years old or those that have not been serviced for more than 4 years and I expect other manufacturers do the same. It is not an MSA stipulation.
These are safety critical items and they should be treated accordingly so it is important that they are serviced to the correct standard it is only the manufacturer who can determine that. They are plenty of agents that have the ability to carry out a service. I use Race Parts in Wallingford who will if you phone them first do it while you wait.
Agreed. I go to Lifeline direct as they are very handy to me. They give a good service. The cost is almost insignificant compared to the other costs in going racing....:-)
I disagree that only a manufacturer can determine whether something is serviceable or not. We dont apply the same logic to our cars. Anyway, Interestingly the MSA have changed their interpretation of the regs in the latest Scrutineers bulletin issued on Monday.
Extinguishers still need to be serviced every 2 years. No problem with that. But now only homologated systems need to go back to the manufacturer or their agent. Non homologated systems can be serviced by independent professional fire extinguisher companies.
Somewhat adrift of the stern here, but it is the case that MSA UK properly has the right to invoke short notice for safety matters and of course needs-be they genuflect or react to FIA impositions as 'we' cannot be out of step - see GR A.2.5.2.
I think Lifeline in Cov' (whom we also use) charge about £40 net.
I would only add to what has gone before to say that don't forget to routinely pre-event check the pull handles and cables as I had the embarrassment at scrut' of a shiny car inside and out but the 1 season old cable simply pulling apart being completely corroded in the sheath which despite being lubed in situ' simply rotted away after a wet race (so there is a memo-to-self there on the prep' front to remove the cable and dry it out and re-lube after a wet race).
