This is one pieces of equipment that is least understood and always overlooked. And even when racers do decide to invest in a fire system they rarely know that the bottle needs to be serviced and kept up to date.
Like every piece of safety equipment, there is an expiry date, this piece of equipment is homologated by the FIA, this mean the system needs to follow homologation regulations performed to a certain standard.
To meet the FIA A standard the system has to follow a service interval. the bottles must be inspected every two years.
This first service at the two year mark (from date of purchase):
1. Requires a pressure check,
2. Visual inspection of the bottle.
3. Check the pressure gauge operation
If the bottle shows wear, or looks to be in poor condition, It may not pass. If the bottle does pass the inspection it will receive it’s service date stamp. Race sanctioning bodies will usually verify that your bottle has a up to date service tags for you to pass the annual safety inspection before your car can race.
The next interval is four years after, (performed 2 year after the first inspection) this will involve:
1. a pressure check,
2. drain the contents of fluids
3. inspect the bottle for rust or pitting,
4. check the dip tube and replace if necessary
5. Check the pressure gauge operation
6. Replace with fresh fluids
If the bottle does pass this inspection it will receive it’s service date stamp.
Please note that if the first service is not performed, we will not be able to perform the second service this is the FIA requirement.
If a racer is not racing in a S sanctioned racing series and does not require a FIA certification, we can provide service to the bottle at our discretion.
The life span of a fire bottle is 5 years.
The bottles need to be serviced at a certified manufacture service center, only these service centers, have the parts and training to perform services, for example different bottles require different pressures, some systems run high pressure, some run low pressure.
Sorry due to liability reasons, we can only service bottles that were purchased from Paragon.