Combines not a pretty sight

[Dan]

Good reminder to have and maintain fire fighting equipment. Pay attention to the sound and smell while around machine. Make sure two way radios or cell phones are in working order. Rare to see major burns if operators are a little prepared unless of course they want a major burn.

 

[johnboy]

Around here Dan our summer harvest is often done in temperatures of 100 deg f.+ so heat is a problem in starting fires.Most custom harvesters blow their machines down daily,in Chickpeas a lot of contractors have water tankers in the paddock as the ckickpea dust is bad for starting that burning feeling.All colours will burn here some are a little worse than others.This year I put out a fire in the R72 near the straw speaders,the combine had only been harvesting chickpeas and hour and a half after been blown down.There was absolutely no damage done to the R72,the fire was burning totally in the chickpea dust.john

 

[Dan]

Kind of like Flax straw around here. A fire can start nearly anywhere far from any known ignition source. Oil seeds worse when hot and dry. Seems like just the right day and conditions will have all the different color machines on fire. Many machines drag a chain to ground to try reduce static charge and many say it helps a bunch. The main time I've seen a machine burnt to point of salvage there has been a chaff, dirt and or oil stain at level of build up. like you say clean machine is a very good step to prevent burn down. Best one I've seen is N6 with engine fire while sitting in yard and had not been run for a day or two. Oil dirt stain was half way up on oil pan. A-C gets sued by big insurance company for bad design on portecting battery cable from wearing threw. All continuous power battery wires in engine compartment had shorted to ground for batterys still had plenty of power well after harnesses melted threw. Yes it could of been a wire that rubbed threw and started fire just sitting there but I doubt it. Maybe spontanious combustion is more likely. Yes I think farmer should of been covered but do you think A-C should of payed or big insurance company. like Tbran explaned earlier there is alot more that goes into the cost of a machine other than just materials and labor. Anyway there isn't a sure fire way to prevent a major burn but a few simple steps will drastically reduce chances.