Disposal of old fire extinguisher?

So, i have a very old and battered fire extinguisher on the end of my desk. Last certification was expired in 2011. 

The gauge is pegged at overcharged. 

How do i safely dispose of this thing? Pull the pin, spray it in the woods, and recycle the can? Is that even safe? 

Really dont feel comfortable playing around, so i ask the hive that knows everything. 

Your local fire department will know...  Just ask them.  Usually they're quite helpful with this kind of thing.

We have a fire supply store in town that will dispose of them for free. That's how I got rid of the 17 year old one from my kitchen when I purchased the house. 

Pull the pin, spray it out somewhere until it says dead, unscrew the top, then cut it to make it work for another project. I've got at least a dozen in various states of cut apart for projects. 

I own several.   The very newest one might be from 2011.  You mean they go bad?

Last one I had that showed lost pressure I just pulled the pin, released all he pressure into a garbage can, and threw it into the can for the trashman to  haul away.  

So, "throw it in a fire" is not the right answer? 

Wall art ?

In reply to californiamilleghia :

Brilliant!

Shotgun?

The fastest unlimited class racer in the power tool drag races was a fire extinguisher filled with nitrogen and hooked to a nozzle controlled by a solenoid valve. All mounted on a sled with rollerblade wheels. You know what to do.

1988RedT2 said:

In reply to californiamilleghia :

Brilliant!

Thanks ,Google extinguisher wall art  for more

John Welsh said:

So, "throw it in a fire" is not the right answer? 

^Do not ever, ever do this.

A local kid died when someone threw an empty keg into a fire. There was an explosion, a funeral and jail time involved.

Don't do that.

Just bring them to the local firehouse. They will use it for training.

dculberson said:

unlimited class racer in the power tool drag races 

Wait... that exists?

In reply to MadScientistMatt :

It at least used to exist, on the west coast. We have power tool drag races in Columbus but they're not as big so don't have classes. The Shipyard put them on in San Francisco, here's a photo of the fire extinguisher powered shopping cart (turns out I was wrong about the rollerblade wheels.. I was remembering something from 2003):

https://www.flickr.com/photos/laughingsquid/4790203910/in/album-72157624485134700/

Is it a steel or aluminum bodied unit? If it is steel, I may want it. They make good crucibles.

In reply to dculberson :

Is it just me, or does a shopping cart seem rather a crude vehicle for such an elegant powerplant?

Brett_Murphy said:

Is it a steel or aluminum bodied unit? If it is steel, I may want it. They make good crucibles.

A magnet sticks. So im guessing steel.

Come get it!

What type of fire extinguisher?  If aqueous based, pull the trigger outside.  If chemical, go to fire department and ask for it back when done to use as a oil accumulator.

In reply to wvumtnbkr :

Dunno, honestly. 

Any idea?

In reply to Dusterbd13-michael :

Dry chemical.

Dry chemical.

Invert, bump the cylinder a few times with a rubber mallet to be sure that the powder is moving around inside.

Pull pin, invert to move the powder away from the dip tube, aim somewhere that you don't mind getting a little dusty and squeeze the trigger.

This should dump all the pressure inside but leave almost all the powder in the extinguisher.

Once there's no pressure left, unscrew the valve, dump the powder out (it's mostly baking soda) and use the non-certified pressure vessel for whatever you like.

So do you really need a non flammable sticker on a fire extinguisher?  That made me chuckle!!!  

In reply to dean1484 :

Made me think of a classic IT Crowd scene: (I don't know if the time stamp feature works, but go to 60 seconds in to narrow in on relevant part.)