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Thread: Fire in the cyclone !!!
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19th January 2011, 02:33 PM #1
Fire in the cyclone !!!
I was cutting up some bits of timber that have been accumulating in the shed, into pen blanks.
I had the cyclone running almost continuosly for about an hour, as I alternated between the tablesaw, the bandsaw, and the scms.
I thought I could smell smoke, so I looked around and saw smoke ouside the shed door. Went to investigate and saw smoke billowing out of the cyclone exhaust, which is ducted to the outside of the shed, through the shed wall.
I went back inside and turned off the cyclone. I went over to the cyclone and felt the 200 litre drum and it was very hot.
I didnt know what to expect when I took the drum off the bottom, I thought it might flame up and damage stuff, so I went and filled one of the 20 litre buckets I use for rubbish bins, up with water.
When I dropped the 200L drum down, acrid smoke filled the shed, there was a fair bit of resin shavings mixed in with the sawdust. It was smoldering there were no flames, I doused it with some water, and dragged the drum outside.
It was about 2/3's full, so was quite heavy.
At one stage when I was cutting some Dead Finish on the bandsaw, I noticed a few wisps of smoke coming from the cut, maybe some of the bark and fine dust caught alight and when it ended up in the collector drum continued to smolder.
Not sure how to prevent this from happening again.
Except to stay vigilant at all times.
Heres a couple of pics of my cyclone and setup. There has been a few additions since these pics were taken.
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19th January 2011 02:33 PM # ADSGoogle Adsense Advertisement
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20th January 2011, 09:51 AM #2
Ironwood sounds like you caught it in time before it became a bigger problem, You could hook up some fancy fire suppression system but I think being vigilant "as you were" is the key as there is always a risk.
Regards
Al .
You don't know, what you don't know, until you know it.
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20th January 2011, 03:38 PM #3
Hi Al, there were a few anxious moments there while figuring out what was the best way to handle it.
Yeah, I suppose a fire suppression system could be fitted to the ducting before the cyclone, but from experience with them when I used to work as a Diesel Fitter, it would be more trouble than what its worth.
Lost count of how many I saw set off accidently, and the ones that didnt go off when there was a fire .
I wont mention the problems we had with the infa-red detectors on the diggers where I last worked . ( They could even pick up a glow from a cigarette, let alone sparks from an angle grinder )
I think I'll just be mindful when using the cyclone, and if it ever happens again, hopefully I'll catch it early before it gets out of hand.
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20th January 2011, 06:42 PM #4
Well after finishing that last post, I went for a walk down to the shed, about 80 metres from the house.
I could smell smoke as I approached, went around the back where I dump my sawdust, and the pile was smoldering away. It had burnt about half the pile.
When I emptied the drum yesterday it was raining, the contents of the drum had about 15 litres of water tipped in on top of it when I dropped it off the cyclone, and we had 11mm of rain last night, so I would have thought everything was OK.
Luckily there is no chance of a bushfire here at the moment, with the amount of rain we have had lately.
But there has been a lesson learnt for me , next time it will get a thorough drenching before I walk away. If it had happened in the drier months I would have started a bushfire, the neighours would be after my blood.
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20th January 2011, 06:42 PM #5
Might need to install a flap into the top part of the waste container so you can poke your fire extinguisher hose in there without opening it up. As always it's just a thought
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20th January 2011, 07:46 PM #6
Hi,
Thatch roofs, hay bales and heaps of saw dust can not be extinguished by spraying water on them they just flare up again in 30 minuets to an hour. saw dust has to be made into a slurry and a thatch roof or hay bale has to be striped into individual blades of grass and extinguished because the water just runs off and does not penetrate and also all start to compost and produce heat when damp.
It's all rather scary.
RegardsHugh
Enough is enough, more than enough is too much.
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21st January 2011, 08:34 AM #7
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21st January 2011, 09:36 AM #8
Hole moley Brad! When I mentioned setting my bandsaw on fire twice in one night a couple of years ago, I didn't realise the connection - I was also cutting Dead-Finish - quite possibly from the same tree . The piece I was cutting came from beside Lochington school yard which is on a gravelly hill - maybe there's some flint or something in the dirt there
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21st January 2011, 11:39 AM #9Senior Member
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Cyclone fire
Hi Ironwood,
You were lucky with that one and got a top result. For the benefit of other readers of the post I suggest when such an event happens you call or get someone else to call the fire brigade if there is one in your locality BEFORE starting to deal with the problem yourself unless it is absolutely clear that you will be able to handle it. The release of a contained fire in a wood working shop could see the entire shop alight in seconds if there is poor dust hygiene.
At a school where I used to teach wood turning part time I was once treated to the sight on entering the machine shop of a person grinding plane irons on the Big Boy edge sander, using it as a linishing machine, with the cyclone running. It was the teacher!!.
Cheers Old Pete Volunteer Firerie
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21st January 2011, 07:25 PM #10
Could be onto something there Vern. If it is from the same tree, it's a bit too much of a coincidence isnt it.
I'll have to be carefull when I'm turning the pieces, as I always have the cyclone running with the 150mm hose behind the work catching the dust and shavings.
Never seen any sparks coming off my turnings yet, even with the Ironwood .
Good advise there Pete
I,m about 40 minutes from the nearest fire station though, so I dont have much choise but to take things into my own hands
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22nd January 2011, 11:48 AM #11
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22nd January 2011, 12:10 PM #12
That one was very dry.
The soil is fine sand.
The rocks in the area are all sedimentary.
After I cut that one up, I cut up a fresh one less than 100M away, same saw, same chain, same oil, & it didn't smoke at all.
Cliff.
If you find a post of mine that is missing a pic that you'd like to see, let me know & I'll see if I can find a copy.
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22nd January 2011, 04:58 PM #13GOLD MEMBER
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Glad you were able to get the upper hand...with both of the fires.
As to the suggestion of a door for a fire extinguisher etcetera. Instead consider a fitting in the lid attached to a water supply so that all you need to do is open a valve to flood the bin. If there isn't running water in the shop you could still have some kind of quick connect fitting that the house hose could be hooked up to in a hurry. Come to think of it you could have a tank of water up on the wall that you just open the valve to and let gravity do the rest.
I'll add that you have a great dust collection system.
Pete
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22nd January 2011, 06:54 PM #14
Thanks for that tip Pete, I might consider the fitting in the top with the hose hooked up. It would be a fairly simple mod.
I'm wondering if it will be a once off though, if its as suspected with the 'Dead Finish", I will probably never have a problem again, as I've cut up all I've got now.
I'm pretty happy with my DC system, its made a huge difference to working in the shed.
The shed still gets dirty and dusty, but nothing like it was before when I just had the 2HP bag dusty.
Here is a link to my Cyclone build if you want to have a look -- https://www.woodworkforums.com/f200/new-cylone-35734/Last edited by Ironwood; 22nd January 2011 at 08:20 PM. Reason: Add link.
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27th January 2011, 11:27 AM #15Intermediate Member
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that is a great idea! i woulg use thoes industrial brass sprinkler fittings in the top and have a one inch ball valve cumming ub from the bottem so cover everything as the water rises. what you could also do is a length of mrtal pipe tith heeps of holes drilled in it running up the centes of thr drum.
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