Most of the contents of soda-acid extinguishers (which are obsolete and completely illegal in the USA) is water. Water and oil don't mix well. The water may actually spread an oil fire as the flaming oil expands across the surface of the newly created puddle of water or as the oil is splashed in all directions by the force of the spray.
Soda-acid extinguishers can also be hazardous to operate even to fight the type of fire they were designed to fight (wood or paper fires) due to the fact that they contain a jar of sulphuric acid. As the user must invert the extinguisher first to dump the sulphuric acid into the sodium bicarbonate solution in the body of the extinguisher there is a chance that if something is wrong with the extinguisher or the user holds the nozzle wrong at that moment, he might get sulphuric acid on his skin or clothes!
In fire extinguishers, they put carbon dioxide in it because it extinguishes fires. The two ingredients of carbon dioxide are; baking soda and vinegar.
The carbon dioxide fire extinguisher can be used on electrical fires, where there is a danger of an electrical shock if a soda water extinguisher was used.
A soda-acid extinguisher expells water (actually a dilute sodium sulfate solution formed by the reaction of the soda and the acid). Therefore, it's used on the same types of fires as normal water extinguishers; wood, paper, textiles and so on. It must NOT be used on burning liquids (which would be splashed around, sperading the fire) or on live electrical equipment (becuse of the risk of electrocution).
One group of fire extinguishers works by separating oxygen from the fire, for example by placing a non-flammable powder over the flame source. This works well for some grease fires. Another group of fire extinguishers works by displacing oxygen; fires will only burn most materials with atmospheric concentrations of oxygen above around 10%. These extinguishers use CO2 or nitrogen or Halon (tm) to displace the oxygen. This often works well around electrical fires. The technique is used around equipment that water or powders might destroy. Another type of extinguisher propels water at the fire, sometimes using pressure created when acid contacts a base like soda. The water cools the burning material to below the combustion point, and the water vapor helps displace oxygen that would feed the fire. This works well with wood and paper fires.
Acid can corrode the metal shell of the extinguisher. When it is rapidly pressurized, it may explode. They are no longer an approved extinguisher in many nations.
You can use a pan lid to put out a fire. If it's a grease fire, you can use lots of baking soda to cover it. However, the best item to complete the job would be a fire extinguisher available at a home store such as Lowe's or Home Depot.
In the USA it is no longer permissible to have soda-acid extinguishers for fire protection. They are obsolete. NFPA 1: 13.6.6 (2009). In other places, however, you would invert the tank, causing the acid to mix with the soda, creating CO2 gas, which pressurizes and pushes the acid/soda/water mixture out through the hose. Some units require you to whack a knob on the top to break the acid bottle before inverting the whole unit.
In 1881, Almon M Granger patented a fire extinguisher which used the reaction between sodium bicarbonate and sulfuric acid to expel pressurized water. When the acid and bicarbonate mixed, carbon dioxide gas was released - which pressurized the water. These were still reasonably common up until the 1920s, but are not one of the common types of fire extinguishers used today.
Some fire extinguishers are not directly pressurized, but have an external pressurized cartridge (or system of multiple cartridges) that is activated when pressure is needed. Also, in portable fire extinguishers, there may be either a pressure cartridge or a manual pump for some kinds of extinguishers. Another obsolete method (the soda-acid extinguisher) included a cylinder of sodium bicarbonate solution with a bottle of sulfuric acid, none of which was pressurized. When you inverted the extinguisher or pressed a plunger to spill the acid into the bicarb, the resulting CO2 gas would pressurize the container and blow the bicarb/water/acid solution out through the hose aimed at the fire.
Inks, gunpowder, lubricants, fire extinguishers, soda pop and diamonds.
A soda acid fire extinguisher uses water as a carrier of the soda/acid. A television fire is primarily an electrical fire. Adding water to an electrical fire will only complicate the problem by introducing the possibility of shorts and electrocution. bock442
Most often, simple fire extinguishers use sodium carbonate and dilute sulfuric acid to produce carbon dioxide, that extinguishes fire. small pouch carries the acid within a matrix of sodium carbonate. The pouch prevents the acid to come in contact with sodium carbonate outside. When the bottle is shaken, the two chemicals come in contact with each other, liberating carbon dioxide and water droplets that extinguishers. Another type of fire extinguisher contains compressed Carbon Tetrachloride in it. When the nozzle is pushed, an aerosol of carbon tetrachloride is liberated that suppresses and extinguishes fire. This type has a major advantage that it can extinguish fires of oils, electric circuits, etc. Other forms of fire extinguishers use forced water to extinguish fire.