Last year around this time I had a fire under the cab on our D8T. I managed to manually set the fire supression system off and luckily the fire went out. I got it to a fire hose and we saved the machine. Well Wednesday night she caught fire again for another operator under the cab. He just had enough time to get out. She's a total loss. Absolutely nothing left inside the cab. There was fire in the engine bay also and the engine looks bad. We'll see what the insurance says but I think she's done. This is at a Pulp Mill pushing chips. She had 22-23000 hours on her and she was still a great machine.
they took the chip blade off it today. unsure if the have aanother D8T comming or not.
rental is in. putting the blade on now as we speak.
Is there any pictures?
no. I forgot my camera at home. rental is in, blade is on.
It's good to to hear that everyone was OK. Any ideas of what caused it?
My guess would be... chips. (sorry, lol)
I thought machines working with wood waste/ woodchips had guards attached so that chips didn't get into hot areas, but correct me if I'm wrong. Also, is this a common thing working with woodchips? (I haven't had much experience with said application)
The only thing done is usually removing the belly guards so the chips can't accumulate around the engine and converter.
Ah ok. I would have thought it would be more of a special package like Landfill, my bad.
Keep in mind, that it's not usually the chips that cause the problem. It's usually the fine dust, and I've never seen a guard that will keep the fine dust from accumulating in hard to reach spots for cleaning. At any rate, it's aways a shame to see a machine burn up, especially if it could have been easily prevented. But not knowing all of the details, it's not really possible to say if that was the case here or not.
Under the cab there is an area where sawdust and chips will collect over time. This is where the fire started. I finally got some pics. will try and post tommorow when I get home. The first rental is gone, was overheating constantly. UC was in terrible shape too. New rental is in. Radio is broken, heater fan is noisy as heck and the fuel filter is plugged making machine low on power. Mechanic will fix Monday. Does Cat even inspect these rentals before delivering them?
Yair . . . I guess that's the downside of cabs with A/C and tunes . . . a fire can get going quickly if the operator can't smell it right away. It doesn't take much water in the right place in the early stages of a burn to get things under control. Always a pity to see a good machine fry. Cheers
When it caught fire on me I could smell it for a few minutes. I just couldn't find it. Luckily we got it out that time. This time not so lucky....
Bummer. Looked like a nice machine.
Taking up Alco's point regarding the flammability of the fine dust produced any timber processing application, I've seen tractors where the the cab floor plates were modified to make them quickly removable. That made it possible to lift the floor on a regular basis (maybe weekly) and wash down the "hidden area" under the cab floor. That, along with leaving the belly guards off because on a woodchip operation they're not really required, would keep the machine clean enough to prevent any fires from springing up due to piles of timber dust lodged in dark corners.
Yair . . . As you will realise fire was one of the major issues when chaining scrub. All our tractors had close fitting engine screens and selected floor plates had just a bolt in each corner with a dedicated ratchet or speed brace in the toolbox for quick removal. We carried two large pressurised water portable extinguishers and a ten gallon cream can of water. The later tractors had 50 gallon water tanks built into the canopies and were furnished with a tap and hose that could assist with putting out a blaze on the other tractor if needed. Radiators were often washed out a couple of times a day and we always tried to keep any fine dust and debris that built up around the engine and transmission damp. On later tractors (especially the Nines) the belly guards were remanufactured with inch plate to very close tolerances to prevent sticks and slivers extruding in there to damage hoses. Various inspection hatches and clean out ports were incorporated into the guarding and all were removed and the whole unit washed clean every 250 hour service. We never lost a tractor but others did. On a couple of separate occasions I have seen tractors trailing smoke heading for a water hole and, around the Southwest I believe there are a few (including a 41) are still sitting out in the mulga where they burnt. Cheers.
The new rental also doesn't have the chip package. After a few hours it needs to be blown out. I blew it out 3 times in a 12hr shift. For pushing chips these really need the chip package with the different rads and reversible fan. Rumor has it there is a BRAND NEW D8T on the line for us. We really need a D9 but a new D8 will be nice.
We run 4 old D8Ns pushing up deicing salt where I work Awful. I came in the morning after moving into my first house and I was told that one of the D8s was on fire across the way. By the time we got there the fire dept. had it out but what I found out afterwards pissed me off. The reason why it caught on fire was due to the fact that somehow when the operator left at the end of his shift, he managed to get the steer lever partially engaged in a turn but with the brakes locked. Oil got so hot from bypassing for a half hour ( the time when one guy leaves and another shows up for next shift) that it made the insulation melt off the + battery cable that was laying on the frame. Then the genius firefighters that so couragiously put out the fire told me that " yeah when we got here it was still running so we flooded it out with water". I told him in a not so nice of a way how much i really appreciate him being a genius. Needless to say we rebuilt the whole damn machine shy of the radiator and saved the block crank and rods.
Why blame the firies ? they did their job, sounds like some knuckle head operator is to blame.
Combine fires are common. A leaf blower works well to get things cleaned out. For the cost I am surprised filtered air is not(cycloned) pumped to thedeep dark corner to push the rest clean. Of course the first pressurized cab was a crazy idea also. What is themost life you can get on a machine or an undercarriage in that environment?
His job is to put out the fire and not endanger themselves or others. Your response in more than a little selfish
As a fire fighter I can not stand some of the ignorance of some of the guys. No idea about trucks, no CDL, never used a flame wrench, but .....know everything about everything. It is our job to teach them. Fire guys are not theonly ones. I saw some show with some hot shot bike builder and he had a crew of regular working guys who would get some time in the lime light building some goofy things. They were to build a motorcycle from a semi truck. Hot shot guy thought that the 855 Cummins weighted "800 pounds at most". Welcome to the real world.