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Post by kenmb on Sept 2, 2020 9:09:00 GMT -6
Got lucky and looked in mirror right after unloading the hopper to see smoke coming off back of combine. Another windy day straight combining barley perpendicular to wind with the 2388. Had blown off the engine completely before starting the field but 120 acres in, and hadn't checked engine because it just isn't something that has been a common issue.
What is happening is fine dust builds up around the exhaust manifold and gets super heated then falls down. The other day some landed on the chaff/straw pile collected on rear axle and that was what was burning. Fortunately never got down to the stubble.
People keep looking for straw and chaff as something laying on engine and burning, or talking about static electricity. I think it is more basic than that. Hard to find anything burnable around the engine. But this dust keeps piling up. 30 acres later and I already had a good build up of dust around the manifold. Keep in mind that when you look at it, it always looks harmless because the top layer is typically brown. It's what you find when you poke around underneath that surface that matters, if it is charcoal then that is where the fire source is. In this case I saw the black right away without poking which means the outer layer dislodged and fell down and started the fire. Otherwise it would be a brown layer of dust like you see in other areas of the pictures.
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Post by victory on Sept 2, 2020 11:26:27 GMT -6
Good thing you caught it in time.
Maybe you are working the combine too hard! 
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Post by Beerwiser on Sept 2, 2020 12:18:26 GMT -6
Got off the phone with a buddy near Eston. Combine started a the stubble on fire. Burnt a bunch of crop, not sure how much though. Wind was strong enough for the fire to hop a super grid road. Combine survived with no damage though so I am guessing something similar to what Ken mentioned.
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Post by kevlar on Sept 2, 2020 12:34:37 GMT -6
About the only thing around here that could catch fire this year would be the grain dryer 😡.
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Post by SWMan on Sept 2, 2020 17:51:37 GMT -6
Ken do you have the deflector mounted right by the radiator fan that deflects the air blast back beside the engine? As I recall we put those in there to keep the torque sensor clean, but they did a great job of keeping the engine compartment clean. This was on 1688's, maybe the 2388 had it standard.
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Post by meskie on Sept 2, 2020 18:49:20 GMT -6
Guys I know in southern Alberta say there has been a fire almost everyday around the area. Crazy dry with strong winds
We put fire ice in our pressurized water extinguishers amazing how much that helps. It’s the same stuff they load in planes for firefighting.
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Post by Beerwiser on Sept 2, 2020 19:07:29 GMT -6
Never heard of it. Do you buy it at any place that deals in fire extinguishers and re cert?
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Post by northernfarmer on Sept 2, 2020 19:20:23 GMT -6
You got me curious as well as I've never heard mention of products one could add to a water extinguisher, would also be nice to add something that would allow it to be used below the freezing point as per the crap conditions we seem to end up in up here or at least nights that would freeze a unit and have to keep taking them off and storing them in a warm spot.
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Post by meskie on Sept 2, 2020 19:31:58 GMT -6
Our dealer sells it in a bottle that’s made to put in the extinguishers. Local guys started to bring it in and sell to dealers. I can get some pictures of it next time I’m in town. You can also buy it in a pail to mix with water. Works to put on a painted surface to weld. Paint won’t burn where it’s applied. You can put it on your hand and put the propane torch to it if you want.....
it’s some kind of polymer they also use it in movies where guys are on fire they would be covered in this first then lit up.
That’s a video I found on it
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Post by Oatking on Sept 2, 2020 19:42:10 GMT -6
In 2011 the bearing inside the pulley on my air condition compressor caught fire. It burnt threw the seal and ignited the Freon. I was traveling back to the field in the tandem and saw a bright blue green flame shooting out the right side of my 9760 deere. My nerves suddenly spiked. But, I have to hand it to my combine driver , he had the guts to get out pull the ladder down and crawl up amongst all the smoke and extinguish it. He was brave! He saved the combine with only 4000 dollars damage.
Latter he told me the air was not working for a few days....arrh.......That would of been useful information YESTERDAY! I WAS THINKING!
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Post by kenmb on Sept 3, 2020 8:36:31 GMT -6
Can't think of a deflector SWMan, just the typical fan shroud and no other sheet metal that I can think of. What I am learning is there is different kinds of dust. I don't see Chaff or straw as an issue at all. I never see either one when blowing down the engine. It is dust that is the issue. And that dust can't be stopped, it is sucked in through the rotary screen, through the various radiators, and blown over the engine. It can't be stopped. But I do think there is dust that blows right through and then there is sticky dust. That dust in my pictures that is stuck to the filters and sides of tin work is not because I have oil splattered over everything. Yes, the oil pan gasket leaks so dust is sticking lower down for that reason. But elsewhere the dust sticks to clean metal. There is a spot on the muffler closest to the fan that gets a 3" round, 1/4" thick dust accumulated patch on the vertical surface of a round muffler. Of all the places dust should not stick, that muffler is the one. Yet dust sticks to it.
So I need to be more mindful of noticing if I have "sticky" dust blowing around or regular dust. The straw from the barley was pretty much non existent coming out the back, just powder. Stationary chopper blades retracted. Under such conditions I beleive straw breaks down into sticky particles where as with tougher straw there is much less.
Long story short, if I see dust sticking to metal like in the pictures I am going to be much more cautious. If I see no evidence of sticky dust I will be less nervous. Doing peas last week was the usual dusty mess where I clean the windows every hour or two,but nothing building up around the exhaust. By the way,love my California Duster for a 60 second spotless window cleaning job.
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