Experience with expired meteor flares

[IRGuy]

I thought you all might be interested in the experience I had last night (July 3rd) with my expired meteor flares.
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I suspect most of us have a collection of expired emergency flares in our inventory of boat gear, and finding how to dispose of them legally and safely seems to be near impossible.

I had accumulated 20 of the traditional Orion meteor flares, the type you fire from a flare gun. All were expired. Nine were the newer style (about 3” long, all expired in August 2010) and 11 were the older style (about 1¾” long, 5 expired in 2005 and 6 expired in 2006). My rationale for keeping them was that while I always keep at least the mandatory supply of current flares, having a large backup of expired flares seemed like a good idea. I figured that there was nothing magical about a flare’s expiration date, and in an emergency they would probably work as designed for several years after their expiration dates.

Needing to buy another set of flares before I launch “Phoenix” this summer sometime I decided to dispose of these older flares.

Yesterday was July 3rd, and all our family congregates at our daughter’s house on the 3rd to watch her neighborhood’s traditional fireworks display. I thought this would be the perfect time to dispose of my old flares.. lots of fireworks were being set off by neighbors, and my flares could be shot off over a long pond without causing anybody any concern.

The results of my firing off all 20 flares was eye opening, to say the least!

I first fired the 9 newer style 3” flares that expired less than a year ago. All fired, meaning something went up into the air, but only one of the 9 produced the red meteor and trail that is supposed to be the thing SAR personnel see from a distance. The other 8 fired, but only produced a very thin almost invisible trail as the contents went into the air, but there was no meteor trail at all. Less than one year expired, and useless as backup in an emergency situation!

Then I fired off the 11 remaining old style 1¾” smaller flares, (5 expired in ’05 and 6 in ’06). All 11 of them fired perfectly with a bright red meteor and a trail from their maximum height all the way down to the water.

Very interesting! I am left to wonder.. are the newer style flares less reliable? Less than a year after their expiration date, and 8 of 9 failed! While with the old style, 5 or 6 years past expiration, all worked perfectly!

Now I wonder if there is any sense at all in keeping the new style flares as backup after they expire.. and in fact I am also wondering if they can be counted on in the latter stages of their design life to work correctly. There is nothing magical about the expiration date.. I am sure the USCG expects all flares to work properly up to and including their expiration date, but with 8 of 9 failing less than a year after they expired, you have to wonder if they would have operated as they are supposed to near the end of their design life cycle!

Scary.. No?

[In Memory Walter K]

I'll bet the newer ones weren't made in the USA.

[micky]

I've had the same experience. The newer ones (long ones) don't work or won't light after their expiration date but the old ones (short ones) always work, expired or not.

[Bruce]

The orion 25mm red flares are made in Peru Indiana I believe. They don't have the past expiration life as the 12 guage size shells do.

I got a collection of the 12 guage flares going back 20 years from boaters because of the expiration. They have sat in a 5 gallon bucket and still fire off when ever I get the urge.

[IRGuy]

I called the manufacturer of the meteor flares, Orion Safety Products, today, and had a long conversation with their customer service person.

Here is the situation…

They changed their product design from the short (metal end with red plastic sleeve - 1¾” long) flares to the all plastic (orange all plastic – 3¼” long) sleeve several years ago. After some time they found moisture was able to penetrate the orange plastic and was being absorbed by the chemicals inside, causing the flares to malfunction. About 3 years ago they stopped making these flares and started making all red plastic flares with a new moisture resistant formulation. These are the flares you see in stores today.

Since they have stopped making the orange flares, which are probably all expired now anyway, I suggest you discard them and not keep them as emergency backups past their expiration date.