Leaving chips in the back of the truck, Good or Bad????

[Robh]

I dont like doing it but sometimes its been a really long day and i simply dont want to deal with the result of the days work. And Ill park the truck without giving the full load of chips a second thought. Untill later that night that is. Then Ill sit straight up in bed rembering that hot load of chips festering in the back of my truck.

Well anyways to my question, anybody out there lose a truck due to spontainious combustion? Is there a majic guideline as to when to unload your load of chips? Just something thats been in the back of my mind....Rob

 

[MasterBlaster]

No. You might not want a heavy rain to soak it, if its an open bed. But I've never heard of SC in a chip truck before.

Ha! That would be a good story for the last page of TCI!

 

[NickfromWI]

Rob, you'll be fine if you leave them in there for a few days. Just as long as it can breathe, it shun't (should not) start a fire.

Don't let 'em freeze in there....then you'll be screwed in the mornin!!!


love
nick

 

[TreeJunkie]

I agree w/ TC,, corrosion is the worst thing about leaving chips in ,,over night not such a biggie, but all weekend long, thats prob not a good habit to get into..... Nick I hate that, when you take the truck to the dump and half the load is stuck b/c its frozen solid,,thats a bad way to start the morning

 

[Stumper]

In the summer I find that green chips will mold in 2 days but heat of decomposition doesn't rise very high. If you had a pile of pure, macerated green leaves -maybe. Spontaneous combustion is actually pretty hard to accomplish since woody materials burn at around 451*F. Corrosion IS a factor-but not a huge one.

 

[Tree Machine]

It can happen....

If you sprinkle urea into the chipper as the limbs are going through, the pile has the potential to get so hot it'll burst into flames...! Isss true ! -TM-

 

[Tree Machine]

Spores in moldy piles

Actually, besides the corrosion, when loads get hot, it is fungus in there fermenting your pile. As the oxygen is consumed and the inner pile goes anaerobic, it favors anaerobic fungi, which are the lower fungi, what we know as molds.

Its called a lower fungi, or fungi imperfecti since it doesn't produce any form of mushroom. To reproduce itself it just creates spores, and lots of them. Hot, moldy piles can be hazardous to your health if you breath in a lot of spores, or if you're sensitive to heavy spore loads. This is especially bad once your load is mixed with the leaves of Summer. Be careful. -TM-

 

[Stumper]

TM -I don't pee in my chipper(The stickers say to keep hands and feet out of the hopper but I figure that should include other appendages). Heat of decomposition CAN start fires but it really ain't likely with fresh wood chips.

That was a terrible thing for you to do to David's truck!

 

[Tree Machine]

OK, it's pretty doubtful

Hyuk, yuk, yuk. Har har har. Hee hee. -TM-

 

[Tree Machine]

This one's for you, Stumper

Hey stumper, I been meaning to give this pic to you. I was travelling in January, February and a little bit of March, and I came across this sign while in New Zealand. -TM-

 

[Tree Machine]

You like? -TM-

 

[Tree Machine]

I was lost. I was looking for 'Wite Way' -TM-

 

[Tree Machine]

Hmmmmm. Those Crazy Kiwi's... -TM-

 

[Jumper]

Not sure about wood chips, but I have seen wet baled hay put into a barn which subsequently caught fire, so maybe if all the conditions are right, with a lot of dry chips on top of wet ones it might light, but as mentioned above 451F is pretty hot.

As an aside, it is not a good thing to leave wet chips in a truck in winter in Canada, they freeze in location and you have a h*ll of a time dumping the full load.

 

[Lumberjack]

I would seriously doubt SC occuring, exspecially for the time frame that you are giving. I live near a paper mill (45 min, Weyerhaeuser) and have never heard of anything.

One thing I can say (I aint got a chipper) is that the chips will compact overnight, making manual removal harder.

Corrosion shouldnt be too big a factor for letting them sit an additional 12 hours in the box.

 

[Stumper]

Very nice TM. How was the food at "my" cafe?

 

[Tree Machine]

It was lousy, but I liked your beer. We went to this place for the real good eats. -TM-

 

[Tree Machine]

I have a vacation coming up...

Hey guys, I've gotta step out for a week. I'm going up to see my 90yr old Grandfather. He's getting low on firewood, and it's steelhead season. Gots to do a little fishin.

I'll be back around April 12th, keep up the good work. -TM-

 

[rb_in_va]

Originally posted by NickfromWI
then you'll be screwed in the mornin!!!

Nothin wrong with that

 

[Tom Dunlap]

One fall we had done some chipping of leafy brush during the rain. Overnight, the pile started to compost and heat up. A neighbor of the storage yard saw all the steam and called the fire department thinking it was on fire. I though for sure that I was going to here from them but didn't.

In the winter I always dump everyday. Even with that, the layers build up in the corner like dipping a candle. After a while I leave the box up in the air and orient the truck to catch the sun to heat up. With a littel scraping most of the chips slide out.

Tom