[MarkOz]

Hi all,
Have a 9760 JD and having trouble with fires (approximately every 300 yards) when harvesting chick peas.
Just wondering if anyone else has had a similar issue and if so, how they resolved it!
The machine was purchased with a Midwest 40 foot crop hawk front fitted. It also has a stainless steel rice kit fitted to the internals.
A neighbour has a later model JD and can be working side by side with us and has minimal issues.
The best we can come up with as to a cause is the following:
1) Static electricity causing a spark (something to do with the stainless steel rice kit fitted)??
2) Alternator earth is intermittent causing a potential difference??
3) There is a potential difference between the front and the header - may be necessary to fit earthing straps from front to frame of header) assuming the pivot point for the front is not providing a reliable earth
4) Dust/fluff is igniting against the exhaust and dropping into the head. (We have wrapped the exhaust with insulated exhuast foil but has not resolved issue)
5) Oil in hydraulic pipes heating to a point causing dust/fluff to ignite (may need to change the grade of oil)
ANY suggestions/thoughts would be greatly appreciated

 

[Auscocky]

Mark, I've heard dragging a heavy chain to earth the header out can help eliminate static electricity.
There are a few guys on here that have more experience than I do who will help you out.
Welcome to the forum.

 

[pj9510]

We had hells own trouble with a couple of 60s, traded upto 70s and had some problem still. Bought a s680 last yr and mowed off a heap of peas with no prob what so ever, I put a lot of it down to the bigger motor having manifold on rear (according to direction of travel) of the motor, as opposed to the front where the 9litre motor manifold is, and therefore being much more in direct line with the engine fan, which is much bigger, and keeping the engine near spotless. I've tried drag chains, cables, led lights,stripping only at night,all sorts of things, worst run I had was 40 smoulders by lunch time.that makes for a long day

 

[aussie.ltd.]

Does your JD have the air scoop in front of the radiator and a chopper on it or does it have the beaters and no scoop? The reason I say this is with the beaters and no scoop a lot more dust gets sucked through the radiator and onto the engine and exhaust and also makes the engine run that bit hotter. But with the air scoop and chopper the dust is thrown down and away from the combine and the air scoop draws more clean air. When we had the 60 series we had the same issues we had two machines with beaters and no scoop catching on fire all the time vs another 60 running beside them with chopper and scoop in the 1500ac field we were doing it didn't have a drama, after that we changed to the newer machines with chopper and scoops we never had a problem again. Drag chains might help one on the front and one on the combine but I am not overly convinced, keeping the machines engine temp under 92 degrees certainly helps there is a point were exhaust temp makes the difference between dust sticking to the exhaust and not sticking. You know it's going to be a tricky day as soon as the dust starts to stick to the cab windows, chickpeas can be hard work I also try to stay out of them until you can't see any green what so ever in the leaves the dust from not quite ready peas is even more flammable, this is my theory any way

 

[dusty1]

probably already checked this but had a 50series lighting fires in lupins around engine gearcase until we found a broken exhaust manifold stud. replaced bolts and gaskets and no more grief!

 

[X80]

2 cables mounted on rear axle works pretty decent, chains don't provide constant earth, 2 cables allows for one coming off ground or riding over trash.

Are you both running same rotor speed and concave clearance?

Are both ground speeds the same?

I've had canola dust light up on the side panels on both JD and Case...bad conditions.

I use to wonder if different paints had different charge and would cause more to stick on one brand versus the others etc?

Ant...

 

[Snipe]

Does your JD have the air scoop in front of the radiator and a chopper on it or does it have the beaters and no scoop? The reason I say this is with the beaters and no scoop a lot more dust gets sucked through the radiator and onto the engine and exhaust and also makes the engine run that bit hotter. But with the air scoop and chopper the dust is thrown down and away from the combine and the air scoop draws more clean air. When we had the 60 series we had the same issues we had two machines with beaters and no scoop catching on fire all the time vs another 60 running beside them with chopper and scoop in the 1500ac field we were doing it didn't have a drama, after that we changed to the newer machines with chopper and scoops we never had a problem again. Drag chains might help one on the front and one on the combine but I am not overly convinced, keeping the machines engine temp under 92 degrees certainly helps there is a point were exhaust temp makes the difference between dust sticking to the exhaust and not sticking. You know it's going to be a tricky day as soon as the dust starts to stick to the cab windows, chickpeas can be hard work I also try to stay out of them until you can't see any green what so ever in the leaves the dust from not quite ready peas is even more flammable, this is my theory any way

I believe your theory as I had many smolders in green frozen chickpeas last fall, I cured the problem for now...I didn't plant any this year.

 

[lambear]

my advice, be very vigilant smelling for smoke, stop every other dump check for smouldering dust, blow off combine every night with a leaf blower. We have grown chick peas for 4 years now, had a fire every year. Only lost one combine.

 

[blanchfarm]

Hey Mark we run 2 70 series. We normally do around 3-5000 acs of peas a year sold one this year so we won't be doing that many again.

We have had some bad paddocks and some really good ones.
One thing I reckon is if it possible get a shower of rain on them makes them no where near as volatile.
The other thing I do is run my chopper all the time most people tell you not to but I believe it blows the dust away a bit better.
The only other thing we have done is we used a water additive a few years ago can't remember the name for the life of me but it worked great.
We would just blow headers down night before do maintainance in the morning then spray header down with this fire retardant stuff in a good amount of water and off wed go.
Worked amazingly well only had a couple of smoulders that year but only blew header once a day.

 

[MarkOz]

Thanks guys for such a great response.
We have a scoop with standard beaters
Last year we had 3 separate paddocks of chicks peas - two had a shower of rain before we harvested and only had a few fires but in the other paddock no shower and were stopping every 300yards to put out the fire and blow down again
We have two heavy chains fitted to the rear axle but doesn't seem to stop the build up of static - still get a shock quite often when stepping onto the ladder.
Have been considering the exhaust conversion putting a stack straight up and out to try and reduce heat and the number of fires. The machine is great except for this issue.
Maybe not planting any more peas is the answer.

 

[Panther325]

I placed a deflector under the cover on top of motor to direct air flow to exhaust manifold and had no further fires.

 

[jdexpress]

Mark, done a lot of peas in the past main reason for the fire as I see it is the dust being sucked into the radiator and into the exhaust system and being sprayed all over the header by the exhaust flapper. What worked for us was putting a right angle exhaust pipe bend and venting out to the side of auger. In my experience anti static chain or cables don't work, only a feel good fix. Have heard of copper wires run around in plastic doors with a led to conduct charge can reduce static charge.

 

[No Tiller]

Hey Mark, we have a 9670 and harvest peas every year. Agree with the rain thing but that does not always happen. I found that blowing down was not helping on muffler but a wet towel and a wipe would keep the muffler clean for a reasonable time. Regards Brett

 

[ozcase8120]

Another thing to check is your insurance, some insurance company's are not covering you while harvesting chickpeas or sunflowers any more!