Combines Combine Fires

Jayly

Guest
I had a fire on my '93 9600 in the engine compartment. They said it was due to dust and heat but in my opion it had something to do with the valve body on top of the engine gearcase.
 

Bryan_Mitchell

Guest
I had a fire on my CTS combine last year. It started on top of the engine gearcase under the exhaust. We were picking up wheat that had been windrowed because it was so weedy, The dust was unbeliveable. It burnt the wiring and and some of the switches on the engine gearcase. I had quite a time getting all of the fires out! It was smoldering on top of the tine unit. Those CTS's are real good about collecting dust all over the back end.
 

Silver_Bullet

Guest
Yes, it seemed to be pretty common. Hard to believe but the best we could figure out was dust would build up and static electricity would ignite it.
 

jay

Guest
hey there Gaelen, in reply to your combine fire troubles. i farm here in central South Dakota and we raise a lot of sunflowers in this area. farmers, including myself, have experienced many troubles in years past with fires and we too have blamed it on static electricity. however we have discovered that the leading cause is overworking your combine which causes the manifold to run hotter and ignites the dust up there. then the smoldering particles will drift down to other parts of the machine making it appear to have started anywhere on the combine which makes us believe it is static electricity. e-mail me back as to what size header you use, you may need to just slow up a little. this sounds too simple but believe me it works! seeya later, justin
 

VAfarmboy

Guest
We have had the same problem during really dry conditions. Several years ago it was 103 degrees and very dry. I was cutting wheat, and I kept smelling something burning. Got out checked the machine and found nothing. Got back in the cab, made another round same thing. Got out, opened the engine box and some of the dry wheat chaff had settled on the manifold and started smoldering, then fell down and ignited dust on the floor of the engine box. One puff from the fire extinguisher solved the problem. I took an old broom and swept the dust and chaff out of the engine box, and did not have any more problems. I was running the A_C in the cab on max, and I think that may have been making the engine run slightly hotter than normal although the heat gauge was still showing the temp well within the normal range. It was so dry, and windy, that that same day my neighbors Gleaner set a 25 acre field of wheat on fire when the strawchopper bearing went out and started making sparks. He barely managed to save the combine and the grain truck that was also parked in the field, but he lost all the wheat, in that field, and an adjacent 50 acre field before he and the fire department got it put out.
 

deerelover

Guest
guys we had problems in 1999 with a 7720 so bad we carried a 1500 gallon water tank and pump the combine was always cleaned real good and it still would catch on fire ! we even take a leaf blower and would blow it off everytime we unload ! had some fires this year but a friend of ours had it too and we both take super care of the combines ! the leaf blower is cheap and quick !
 

vern

Guest
we have 8820's problem for years with fires,especially when harvesting alfalfa seed and safflower. probalby worse in safflower,dust and oil in the residue BAD stuff. two years ago burned the oil filter drain hose and the oil pumped out siezing the motor. seems as though the insurance adjuster says there was no fire signs!!!!!!!!! becareful probably is better to let machine burn to the ground then fight with the insurance. so check your policies and make sure you are covered. were still fighting the insurance company after 2 years and a $10,000.00 engine and loss of use of machine for 2-3 weeks before adjuster said we could co ahead and fix. also clean out under engine compartment where drain hoses are DAIlY.also replace this drain hoses, you probalby haven't done this .also under the seat toward the engine compartment, this is an bad area for residue to collect. we are considering removeing the shields behind the engine so the fan can blow trash out and to make it easier to clean out. also if you use water to clean out makesure you finish the job throughly as leftover stuff will sprout if not cleaned-out then you will have a real time cleaning it out at a later time
 

booger

Guest
If you hang a chain from the frame to the ground does that stop static electricity.
 

JDBane

Guest
we had the same problem with our 6620 when we stared cutting soybeans. our combine just caught on fire under the seat. we found out that it wasn't the only time that happened, so now we keep fire extingisers on the combine with us.
 

unclebuck

Guest
We had a JD 9600 catch fire last fall, we were cutting some down milo with a row crop head. Inside the threshing chamber just above the beater there is a shaft that comes through the combine to the other side (one of the main drives) there is a plastic shield that covers the shaft, but is open on both ends on the outside of the chamber. apparantly dust and fodder had built up over the years in there and I guess the friction started it on fire. It wasn't a big fire but had to call Fire Dept to put it out, the smoke and fumes were to toxic to go inside to extinguish ourselves. This happened in the evening, the next morning my brother and I crawled inside and found out what had happened. We took a hacksaw and cut what was left of the shield out and it had also burnt a rubber curtain that was up in front against the sheet metal. after removing that we decided to remove the first hanging curtain to allow the fodder coming out of the beater to be thrown back further. After several more days of cutting we went back in and inspected things and found that it was doing ok no build up on the ledge or around the shaft. I am satisfied that this solved our problem. We were back to cutting the next morning. My neighbors are on the fire dept. They run a gleaner combine, so now it is known as "Sparky the green combine", just a little neighborly humor. hope this helps.
 
 
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