A search online indicates this is about the best price anyone sells this item.
Has Choice compared different fire blankets? Does anyone know which brand is better?
Interestingly, many brands of the same item online, including Bunnings, look remarkably similar to Aldi’s.
I suppose the Chinese manufacturer just slaps on different retailers’ names on the same item when ordered.
Only when I left the store I read on the back of the packaging that it is good for one time only. Hmm.
As they are often used on fat or other flammable liquid fires, they would adsorb and or be coated in flammable product after use. It would be very sensible to discard after use and replace with a new one. Materials making up the blanket could also be damaged by the fire they helped extinguish and so again another good reason to be disposed of after use and a new one replacing it. In a similar vein Bike helmets after a crash are supposed to be disposed of, they may not look damaged but no one can tell. Safety first!
Fireblankets have limited uses in the home and won’t replace a fire extinguisher for all fires. Their action is to cover and smother a small fire and typically used for kitchen fires (mostly for when something being cooked catches on fire).
They will have little benefit for medium to large fires…where a fire extinguisher might have some benefit.
$7 is cheaper (and cleaner) than using an extinguisher in the kitchen.
Fire Blankets are covered by an Australian Standard. AS3504:2006. The should also be at least 100x100cm minimum.
If it meets the standard and minimum size recommended should it need Choice to test? Australia’s State Fire and Govt Authorities may be a better resource.
If it does not meet the standard I’d not waste $7 on the product.
Yes true, but silly me thought it was like a fire extinguisher inasmuch as it can be used until it’s used up all the retardant.
Interestingly, the manufacturer makes clear that the blanket is to completely cover the item burning, or it will not work. It cites saucepans with long handles as an example of it not working.
Mark
Thanks for the feedback and the PDF, which makes for interesting reading.
You are correct, the latest Australian Standards for this item is AS/NZS 3504:2006, which I read was confirmed in 2019.
It must measure no less than 1 metre by 1 metre. And the Aldi blanket is that size.
Oddly the packaging states AS/NZS 3504 and not AS/NZS 3504:2006 as per the PDF you posted and as per many websites on the matter. Odd, huh? I hope Aldi isn’t relying on the old standard: AS/NZS 3504:1995
