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Tractor Fire!!!!!

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Poor So. IL. Fa

02-07-2004 22:54:00

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Just got back from helping neighber when his 2 week old lower hose heater shorted out and set tractor on fire.Luckly the fire melted lower hose and coolant put out the fire. Tractor was in a barn with hay. Made start thinking about building a portable box with timer for so I can set for block heater to come on.Plus a 5 amp breaker in cause of a short to avoid the samething happening!Anybody think it will work?

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Jon H

02-08-2004 10:59:55

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Re: Tractor Fire!!!!! in reply to Poor So. IL. Farmer, 02-07-2004 22:54:00

A little light went on in my head when it was explaned to me that the 20 amp breaker in the box is there to protect the wire between the breaker box and the plug in,not the appliance or it's sometimes small wire guage cord. One time you might plug in a larger appliance that draws 15 amps,and the next time it might be a small one that draws only 4 amps with the motor seized and about to go up in flames. As I was told in the same story,too large a fuse is the same as no fuse at all. It seems almost criminal to me that every appliance is not required to have its own properly sized fuse or breaker perferibly in the plug itself. Another thing that bothers me is big coolant heaters using a standard light duty 120V plug. I have had situations where the heater on the tractor plug has been out in the weather and has some oxide on the blades and is plugged into a well used extension cord that no longer grips the plug blades as tightly as they once did. I have come back to unplug one of these after a few hours to overnight and found the plug and ex cord end so hot you could hardly touch them. sure looks like a fire looking to happen.

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Rauville

02-08-2004 06:10:18

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Re: Tractor Fire!!!!! in reply to Poor So. IL. Farmer, 02-07-2004 22:54:00

Just this past Friday a local dairy farmer lost his barn and feed shed after a fire started when his 5088 IH tractor was plugged in while parked in the feed shed. Luckily, 70 head of cows in the barn at the time were able to get out.

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Fred Milner

02-08-2004 06:06:35

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Re: Tractor Fire!!!!! in reply to Poor So. IL. Farmer, 02-07-2004 22:54:00

A ground fault receptacle would have tripped and you would not have this problem. OSHA has required these to be used for several years now and they have helped to keep people from being hurt a lot of times. The electrical code requires them for outside circuits also. You can get them for about $7.00 each and they are not hard to install in the same box you are using now. You only need one per circuit. You put it in the first receptacle and it will protect all the others behind it. It could save your barn, tractor, your child or grandchild. You might be careful and not have a problem but will everyone else that helps you? If you happened to have wet feet and hit a bare spot on a cord it is quite a shock that a ground fault would save you from. Better to spent $7.00 and be safe with everything on the circiut than to just protect one item and spend more money on the one thing. I had a bad experience with water and electricity and the ground fault would have helped but we didn't have one in place. We do now. Good luck and glad it was not the barn and tractor.

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paul

02-08-2004 09:20:59

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Re: Re: Tractor Fire!!!!! in reply to Fred Milner, 02-08-2004 06:06:35

They are are somewhat problematic tho. they like to trip for no reason. An issue when you are using them to keep a waterer for your stock from freezing, and they trip all the time....

Kill the cattle (or you) with a short, or have frozen pipes?

Hum.

Wish there was something that works. My friend wanted to be code, and do right, & installed them in his new shed. Three out of 5 mornings he came out to a cold tractor & couldn't blow out the snow. also his grage door wouldn't open..... Now he has 1 regular circut in his shed.....

--->Paul

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Dirthog

02-09-2004 03:47:32

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Re: Re: Re: Tractor Fire!!!!! in reply to paul, 02-08-2004 09:20:59

better to use a ground fault breaker in the circuit panel, they are much less likely to false trip.

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Mr. Green

02-08-2004 05:27:09

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Re: Tractor Fire!!!!! in reply to Poor So. IL. Farmer, 02-07-2004 22:54:00

You can buy engine heater timers. I have a one and i really like it.

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Tom

02-08-2004 05:46:40

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Re: Re: Tractor Fire!!!!! in reply to Mr. Green, 02-08-2004 05:27:09

Mr. Green, where did you get your timer and what brand and number is it? Thank You.

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Hal/WA

02-07-2004 23:55:14

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Re: Tractor Fire!!!!! in reply to Poor So. IL. Farmer, 02-07-2004 22:54:00

I think your neighbor should check out why the heater shorting out did not trip the breaker or blow the fuse in the circuit that was supplying electricity to that heater and allowed a fire to start. I suspect that there might be a bad breaker or too large a fuse on that circuit, which could continue to be dangerous to your neighbor's property.

The old, repaired cord to one of my heaters went bad in the socket of the heater on one of my tractors. It smoked the end of the cord and immediately blew the 20 amp fuse in the circuit. I replaced the whole heater because I could not find a replacement cord that fit exactly and the previous repair had been on the female end of the cord where it plugged into the heater. The heater itself was not damaged, just the cord. When the problem happened, it just caused a little puff of smoke and damaged the end of the cord because the fuse blew like it was supposed to, protecting the heater and tractor from further damage.

Having a heater on a timer will save some electricity over just heating the coolant all the time. But you have to use a timer that is capacity rated at at least the wattage of your heater, or you might have problems with the timer. I suppose adding a breaker might be a good idea, but you would probably need to find one that small in an elecronics supply business. On the other hand, it would probably be easier to add a fuse. Good luck!

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hagan

02-08-2004 11:35:56

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Re: Re: Tractor Fire!!!!! in reply to Hal/WA, 02-07-2004 23:55:14

I remember when I was a kid and dad and grandpa used to run 2500 head of feeder lambs and would have them sheared every winter. The sheep shearer would always unscrew the fuses out of the switch box and put pennied in and then screw them back in. We always worried but made sure we turnde off the juice as we just used the elect for shearing there.

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Sam#3

02-08-2004 09:15:56

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Re: Re: Tractor Fire!!!!! in reply to Hal/WA, 02-07-2004 23:55:14

If the truth were known most electrical fires are not caused by 'shorts.' More likely, as in your case, the fault was an 'open' and the resulting arcing which caused fire. The short occured when the fire burned the insulation which finally tripped the breaker. Discounting the few faulty breakers and the use of 'one cent fuses' over-current protectors will do their job.

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mobob

02-08-2004 05:05:25

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Re: Re: Tractor Fire!!!!! in reply to Hal/WA, 02-07-2004 23:55:14

in my opion, parking your tractors in a hay barn is a bad choice,instead of losing your tractor to a fire you also lose your hay! just my .o2

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RB/CT

02-08-2004 05:33:17

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Re: Re: Re: Tractor Fire!!!!! in reply to mobob, 02-08-2004 05:05:25

I'm leary of all this electrical devices on especially while one is sleeping. Yes I have modern breakers, but won't leave a battery charger on while sleeping. always look for UL label especially on these foreign products. Many houses burn because of a malfunctioning switch, even though there protected by a breaker.

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Dieselrider

02-08-2004 07:12:20

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Re: Re: Re: Re: Tractor Fire!!!!! in reply to RB/CT, 02-08-2004 05:33:17

That UL stamp does not gaurantee the device is safe. All lighting fixtures have that stamp on them and they are almost all very cheaply made for the price you pay. Also electrical switches and recepticles have that stamp on them but you can still get a bad one right out of the box now and then. You are correct though, electricity is only to be trusted as long as you can see it - and you can't see it.

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steveormary

02-08-2004 17:21:43

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Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Tractor Fire!!!!! in reply to Dieselrider, 02-08-2004 07:12:20

A properly sized fuse will open a faulty circuit before a properly siezed breaker will.

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buickanddeere

02-08-2004 21:09:56

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Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Tractor Fire!!!!! in reply to steveormary, 02-08-2004 17:21:43

A-men. And there are lots of breakers out there that trip at current values way below to way above it's nameplate rating. Age, moisture/vapours, muiltiple trips,never being operated or being switched on/off too many times will ruin them. And even if a breaker operates as per design, it takes several cycles to operate rather than less than one cycle like a fuse.

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