Portable fire extinguishers — RIPCI checks (Spain)
A list of checks and obligations with their cadence, ready to add to your agenda.
For the operator of a business, office or warehouse in Spain with fire extinguishers on site. It puts the three levels the RIPCI requires on every extinguisher into a calendar — quarterly check, annual maintenance to UNE 23120, five-yearly re-stamping — plus withdrawal at the end of the service life and handover to an authorised waste manager. It also says who may do what: only the first level stays with the operator, the other two are reserved to an authorised maintenance company. Fixed extinguishing systems, hose reels and fire detection are covered by a separate kit.
Questions about this product?
Ask what is in the manuals, how often the maintenance is due and what it takes to do it.
What it already has at hand
- No manual on this page
- 7 planned checks, the most frequent every 3 months since the last inspection
Planned checks
Informative summary verified on 12/09/2026. It does not replace legal advice: the regulation cited prevails. If you spot an error, report it.
Some checks are only mandatory in certain countries: pick yours and the list follows.
In Italy this product has no planned checks: the ones listed apply to other countries.
In France this product has no planned checks: the ones listed apply to other countries.
In Germany this product has no planned checks: the ones listed apply to other countries.
In Switzerland this product has no planned checks: the ones listed apply to other countries.
In Austria this product has no planned checks: the ones listed apply to other countries.
In United Kingdom this product has no planned checks: the ones listed apply to other countries.
- 01
Withdraw the extinguisher at the end of its service life
After the third re-stamping the extinguisher can no longer be re-stamped and must be taken out of service: that is the twenty-year maximum service life the industry works with, five years plus three cycles of five. The figure is not written as such in Anexo II — it follows from the phrase "por tres veces" — and the count starts from the stamping date marked on the cylinder, not from the purchase date. It is usually the maintenance company installing the replacement that takes the old unit away; the duty not to keep an expired unit in service stays with the holder.
every 240 months from installationLegal obligationRD 513/2017 (RIPCI) Anexo II, Tabla IISpain onlySourceverified on 12/09/2026 - 02
Run the quarterly extinguisher check
Every three months each extinguisher is checked for accessibility and signage, an intact seal, a pressure gauge in the operating band, the absence of visible damage and legible operating instructions. The holder of the installation is the obligated party, and this is the only one of the three RIPCI levels they may carry out themselves or with their own staff, as an alternative to the maintenance company or the manufacturer. Proof: a dated record of the outcome.
every 3 months since the last inspectionLegal obligationRD 513/2017 (RIPCI) Anexo II, Tabla ISpain onlySourceverified on 12/09/2026 - 03
Have the annual extinguisher maintenance carried out
Once a year the operations of the annual maintenance programme of UNE 23120 must be carried out; on wheeled extinguishers the condition of the transport system is checked as well. At this level the holder cannot act alone: Anexo II reserves the work to an authorised maintenance company or to the manufacturer's staff. The duty to have it done, and to keep the signed record, still rests with the holder.
every 12 months since the last jobLegal obligationRD 513/2017 (RIPCI) Anexo II, Tabla II; UNE 23120Spain onlySourceverified on 12/09/2026 - 04
Have the five-yearly re-stamping carried out
Every five years from the stamping date marked on the cylinder, the extinguisher undergoes the level C test — the hydraulic test with fresh stamping — under Anexo III of the pressure equipment regulation approved by RD 809/2021. The RIPCI text allows re-stamping three times. The holder is the obligated party; the work belongs to an authorised maintenance company or an authorised re-stamping workshop, which returns the unit with its new stamp.
every 60 months since the last jobLegal obligationRD 513/2017 (RIPCI) Anexo II, Tabla II; RD 809/2021 (Reglamento de Equipos a Presión) Anexo IIISpain onlySourceverified on 12/09/2026 - 05
Hand withdrawn extinguishers to an authorised waste manager
When an extinguisher leaves service — end of life, a failed re-stamping or an unrepairable defect — what remains is a vessel holding extinguishing agent and pressurised propellant: it is not ordinary scrap and does not belong in normal collection or in a storeroom. In practice the maintenance company fitting the replacement takes it away and routes it to an authorised waste manager, who issues the delivery note; the waste code to be entered on the identification document is assigned by that manager. The general framework is Ley 7/2022, which this control cites without an article number: the text has not been checked line by line.
continuous checkLegal obligationLey 7/2022 de residuos y suelos contaminados; RD 513/2017 (RIPCI) Anexo IISpain only - 06
Keep extinguisher records and service tags together
The records of the periodic checks and of the maintenance work, and the tag fixed to each unit, are the first thing an inspection asks to see: keep them together, dated and legible, for at least five years. This is an organisational duty of the holder rather than a technical operation: the maintenance company signs the record but does not keep it on their behalf. The yearly review is there to catch unreadable tags and records that never arrived.
continuous check, confirm every 12 monthsCompany ruleRD 513/2017 (RIPCI) art. 21 y Anexo IISpain only - 07
Have extinguishers recharged after any use
After a discharge, even a partial or accidental one, the extinguisher must be recharged and repressurised by a maintenance company before going back in place: a used unit on the wall takes the place of a working one. This cadence is not set by the RIPCI, which works in intervals: it is industry practice and the manufacturer's instruction, and should be treated as an event rather than a deadline.
continuous checkRecommendedUNE 23120; instrucciones del fabricanteSpain only
In Portugal this product has no planned checks: the ones listed apply to other countries.
In United States this product has no planned checks: the ones listed apply to other countries.
In Other country this product has no planned checks: the ones listed apply to other countries.
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