The Forestry Forum

General Forestry => Sawmills and Milling => Topic started by: Rando on January 29, 2016, 07:05:37 PM

Title: 3 fires but it all worked out well
Post by: Rando on January 29, 2016, 07:05:37 PM
Haven't run the Turbo Sawmill in months. Well, Wednesday was the day to get it going.
It's new but the mice got into it and we had to deal with all of that.
My friend was kind enough to bring a propane heater to warm the mill up and ourselves. He stood between the heater and the mill. I look over and he was smoldering pretty good. Did some fancy dance steps for a few seconds. All it did was char his hanky he had in his pocket a bit.
Mill would start if we put a bit of gas in the carb. We kept doing that for a bit when the same charred friend decided he would keep pouring gas in to keep it running a bit longer. It backfired and caught his gloved hand on fire. At that point he threw the container with a few ounces of gas. A bit on the mill and a couple logs behind the mill caught fire for a minute.
Now the battery on the mill was weak so we hooked up jumper cables to my truck. All was going well until we noticed a small fire under my hood where the cable was connected.
Everything turned out fine and we got the mill running, after splicing some mouse chewed wires.
Today the cab of my truck started smoldering. The phone charger was plugged in and getting hot and I figure in a few minutes would've started my truck on fire.
On the other hand, my Grizzly manual mill started up quite quickly and worked like a charm!
Be careful out there, life can change in an instant.
Title: Re: 3 fires but it all worked out well
Post by: Ocklawahaboy on January 29, 2016, 07:18:48 PM
The Onan on my LT40 requires a little carb priming.  I use a pump oil can to deliver the gas in much more measured increments and have never had a problem feeding the carb while it is sputtering a bit.
Title: Re: 3 fires but it all worked out well
Post by: dustyhat on January 29, 2016, 07:19:48 PM
You might want to invest in a bunch of fire extinguishers. maby a bunch.
Title: Re: 3 fires but it all worked out well
Post by: WV Sawmiller on January 29, 2016, 07:49:43 PM
Rando,

   Glad nothing more serious than piddling nuisances and especially that nobody was hurt. All good lessons to us all. Dustyhat is right about the fire extinguishers. I keep one under the tongue/at the control box and if I have helpers it is one of the first things I show them and tell them "in case things go really bad".
Title: Re: 3 fires but it all worked out well
Post by: rasman57 on January 30, 2016, 12:52:09 AM
Your friend "Sparky" probably ought to stay away from the toaster and gas station til karma has moved on to someone else.  Yikes  :o
Title: Re: 3 fires but it all worked out well
Post by: hacknchop on January 30, 2016, 01:04:12 AM
 You guys take the expression "gonna fire up the mill to a whole new level" . :D
Title: Re: 3 fires but it all worked out well
Post by: thecfarm on January 30, 2016, 06:15:17 AM
Wow!!! Way too many fires in one day. You sure do have the luck to getting them out. Which is a good thing.  :)
Title: Re: 3 fires but it all worked out well
Post by: drobertson on January 30, 2016, 07:38:10 AM
Close one!
Title: Re: 3 fires but it all worked out well
Post by: customsawyer on January 30, 2016, 09:43:33 AM
"Now we're cooking" :D