re: Intro Blabbering

Blankets work by smothering. Which can work fine, as long as there isn’t a ton of trapped air. So, probably not great for a laser in an enclosure. And any tight weave wool blanket will work, but the ones they sell are usually a fire resistive synthetic. 

CO2 has a smothering effect as well, as it displaces air but is somewhat short lived. It also removes heat which attempts to brings the temp below ignition temp which will also stop the fire. The nice part about CO2 is that you can direct it right where it’s needed, but it does mean you’ve got to be a little more up close and personal (as opposed to dealing a blanket over something and moving away). There’s no clean up at all, but if a large amount is used in a confined space it could be an issue for someone trying to breathe. 

‘Regular’ extinguishers, sometimes called Dry Chemical extinguishers, are mostly Bicarbonate powder based, with some other stuff. The powder is super fine and spreads very easily. It kinda covers/sticks/melts to burning items and smothers them. They leave a LOT of residue and are a pain to clean up, but they work well and are cheap. 

There are about a dozen more types, but that’s enough for lasers!

There. Now you know more than what you ever wanted to about fire extinguishers…