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Fishing => Safety at Sea => Topic started by: Wally15 on August 27, 2018, 11:42:54 AM

Title: Out of Date Flares - Disposal??
Post by: Wally15 on August 27, 2018, 11:42:54 AM
Just noticed my flares went out of date last year. Only about a 3 year shelf life??? And $10 each!!! What a ripoff. And one more thing for the state wildlife guys to gig you on. How do you guys dispose of them, wait for the 4th of July?
I've bird hunted with 30+ year old shotgun shells with no problems.
Mike
Title: Re: Out of Date Flares - Disposal??
Post by: conchydong on August 27, 2018, 12:41:26 PM
I generally keep them as they probably would still work in a emergency. Can't have too many IMO. Just put them in a separate package from the up to date flares and label them so you don't show them to the LEOs  by mistake when boarded for a "safety" check.
Title: Re: Out of Date Flares - Disposal??
Post by: David Hall on August 27, 2018, 01:57:30 PM
that's exactly what I do also. 
Title: Re: Out of Date Flares - Disposal??
Post by: Donnyboat on August 27, 2018, 05:08:59 PM
Yes rip off alright, I would like to get them to try one out in ten years time, @ a demo day, to see if it still works, or if your stuck at sea, but still safe, use one first, just to see, cheers Don.
Title: Re: Out of Date Flares - Disposal??
Post by: Fishy247 on August 27, 2018, 10:30:49 PM
Pretty good idea to keep em on board. As far as LEO's go, I've never met one that would say having extras aboard is a bad idea, even if they are expired. DO make sure that you have the required # of current ones, though! The one time I ever needed to use flares on the water, it was blowing about 50 knots. I lit one to signal harbor patrol as to our location, and the wind was so powerful that a 1/2 hour flare lasted less than 2 minutes. I ended up burning at least 3 or 4 of them. We had several more that were expired aboard, just in case, and almost had to use them.

Better to be over prepared than under!

Mike
Title: Re: Out of Date Flares - Disposal??
Post by: Maxed Out on August 27, 2018, 11:24:33 PM

Expired flares work good for back up situations

Flares that shoot from the little pistol are pathetic and only work if it's not blowing. I like the commercial handheld flares that have much brighter flame and they go higher, and parachute makes them stay aloft longer
Title: Re: Out of Date Flares - Disposal??
Post by: altair on March 28, 2019, 12:00:31 PM
Quote from: Maxed Out on August 27, 2018, 11:24:33 PM

Expired flares work good for back up situations

Flares that shoot from the little pistol are pathetic and only work if it's not blowing. I like the commercial handheld flares that have much brighter flame and they go higher, and parachute makes https://bestbamboosheetsreview.com/ (https://bestbamboosheetsreview.com/) aloft longer
Agree!
Title: Re: Out of Date Flares - Disposal??
Post by: Gobi King on March 28, 2019, 12:22:37 PM
Around the great lakes we have to have flares to be on the big lakes,

I bought some from Walmart, Orion brand, they will expire in JULY of this year, so I need get new ones,

What brand do you guys use?

How about use em on 4th of July  ;D
Title: Re: Out of Date Flares - Disposal??
Post by: Long Enuff on March 28, 2019, 12:45:41 PM
Even if you keep the expired flares a backups, what do you do the next time and the time after that?  At some point you have to dispose of them.  It is illegal to fire them off on the 4th or any other time unless it is an actual emergency. Some fire departments will take a few, but they can't handle all of them from everybody.  Same for the Coast Guard and other LE. It is an unanswered conundrum. I soak them in a 5 gallon bucket for a couple of days then toss them in the trash.
Title: Re: Out of Date Flares - Disposal??
Post by: Bryan Young on March 28, 2019, 03:54:47 PM
I've been donating them to the coast guard.  They us them for training exercises is what my friend had told me.

As kids, we used to open them up and light them on the ground...all flares....and I'm still alive to talk about it. ;D
Title: Re: Out of Date Flares - Disposal??
Post by: Hardy Boy on March 28, 2019, 04:09:53 PM
The hand held burning type work good for starting fires. Like most guys I keep the expired ones for backup/ extras. Most guys here use them on Halloween or Canada Day .................... its illegal but that does not seem to stop anyone.

Cheers:


todd
Title: Re: Out of Date Flares - Disposal??
Post by: Maxed Out on March 28, 2019, 05:32:34 PM
 I was out fishing and saw a flare fired from a boat that was nearby.

I scrambled to pull in my gear and motored over to the boat and asked if he needed help cause I saw him fire his flare.......his reply was "no, I'm just fine"..... I asked why did he fire an emergency flare ??.....his reply was "just testing my expired flares to see if they still work"

This is not acceptable behavior and if the coast guard went into search mode because of his stupidity it could cost him dearly. I did radio the coast guard and informed them of the false alarm, in case someone called it in.

I later found out that the perpetrator was a retired local sheriff that should have known better
Title: Re: Out of Date Flares - Disposal??
Post by: Gobi King on March 28, 2019, 05:47:37 PM
Yes, never ok fire a flare to test.

I was referring to handheld flares, like the ones they put down on the roads. Can you burn them off to dispose the hand held ones?

FYI: most of around the great lakes do NOT buy the flares you can shoot out of those flare guns, as we are fishing in Canadian waters sometimes and have one of those gun flares is be a big headache in Canada.
Title: Re: Out of Date Flares - Disposal??
Post by: Tightlines667 on March 28, 2019, 07:49:54 PM
We use them for training purposes on our marine safety classes conducted 4Xs/yr.  If you want to light them off you need to notify the fire department if on land, and USCG if on the water.

I am keep a set of recently expired expensive flares on my boat to use in an emergency while I have cheap new ones to meet the USCG regs.

John
Title: Re: Out of Date Flares - Disposal??
Post by: milne on April 03, 2019, 04:33:29 AM
Just read this thread,

Over here, expired flares are an easy "get rid of"
when the local derby is on for the round ball game, if ya line up at the gates, supporters will buy them off ya for $5 a throw.
Then, race home, watch the game live on TV and try to pick whether some fool let one of your flares off after there team scored. !!!


NA, not true, but I often wondered where the idiots got them from that do let them off at footie games.

Down under, we have a disposal place where you can take them too, dont know what they actually do with them, maybe training.

Or, the best one I've seen, is where a lazy sod chucked out his 4 old out dated flares in his household rubbish, only to have the refuse truck, later that day catch fire back at his depo !!  they actually inspected and found that indeed it was a flare that caused the fire in the truck.
Some people are fair dinkum idiots, really.......

Col
Title: Re: Out of Date Flares - Disposal??
Post by: Ron Jones on April 03, 2019, 09:43:35 PM
"Securite, Securite, Securite; vessel "X" IVO "X" will be conducting safety drills including the lighting of flares commencing time XXX" any traffic with concerns contact vessel on channel XX, Securite, Securite, Securite."

Should be called three times, with reasonable time between three calls (I use 15 minute) Works every time.

Ron Jones