RE: A new method to start a fire . . . using your woodsplitter

[firefighterjake]

Yesterday evening I decided to split some of 2010-2011's wood that I have been cutting and so I fired up the MTD woodsplitter and ran a tank full of gas through it . . . split a good amount of wood and it was getting dark (around 7 p.m.) but I thought I would give it a short break, fill it up and then have another go at it until it was too dark and so I filled it up and started it up . . . only to have a whole lot of embers come flying out of the starter recoil . . . it looked almost as if I was grinding metal . . . without the noise.

Needless to say I hurriedly shut off the engine and began stomping out the hot embers which were at this point on the dead grass . . . and then I realized to my horror that there were a few more embers still glowing as they were caught up in the muffler guard . . . and worse yet, smoke was coming out of the recoil starter. I briefly considered taking a hose to the engine, but realized really fast that doing so would probably mean the end of my engine as I had been working it for close to an hour or more.

Instead I took some splitter junk and pulled out as many of the embers as I could and then sat back and watched the smoke which eventually dissipated. By this time it was pretty dark out. Fired up the splitter again and once again the embers came flying out so I stopped the engine again and waited for the smoke to dissipate . . . all the time thinking that it would be really, really bad if one of these errant embers ended up catching my lawn on fire and then having the lawn catch my firewood on fire.

To make a long story just a bit shorter I think I know what happened and will hopefully fix the problem tonight. I'm guessing that a mouse made a house in the starter recoil which is right above the engine's head. When the engine was started up cold I'm thinking that it kept the grass from coming in contact (or kept it moving fast enough) to catch on fire . . . but when I stopped the engine the grass debris came in contact with the hot metal long enough to start smoking. Engaging the engine just caused the hot embers to spin out. . . . at least that's my working theory.

Tonight I plan to try using an air compressor to blow out whatever material may remain . . . and then fire it up and see what happens . . . oh yeah, I've also got to have a heart-to-heart talk with my cats and see what's up -- it seems pretty obvious that they're slacking off on the job!

 

[Slow1]

I'm sure glad that those embers were not glowing too much during your refueling! Scary thought.

Glad things worked out and you didn't have a fire. Bet an inspection of the splitter is going to become a part of your routine now especially if it has been a little while since firing it up eh? (Images of a pilot walking around the plane with his checklist).

Now my splitter has thrown a few sparks on contact with dirty rounds, but so far the Fiskars has yet to set anything on fire

 

[BrotherBart]

I think you nailed it on the mouse nest. They seem to build'em in the cooling shrouds of my tractor, splitter and generator within hours of me cleaning them out. Years ago I was mowing the lawn and ran the tractor into the garage and shut it down after finishing. For some reason I went back out to the garage a few minutes later and my tractor was in flames. I managed to get it pushed outside before it took the garage with it and hit it with the extinguisher. Inspection produces a burned mouse nest in the fins. Had I not gone back out there the house would have been history.

 

[SolarAndWood]

Glad it wasn't catastrophic...makes electric or diesel power even more appealing.

 

[Pagey]

Good thing that didn't turn disastrous during your refueling! :bug: I had a mouse nest in my lawn mower engine once. I think I ended up mowing a few times (and I mow right at 2.5 acres every week) before I found it. Lucky I didn't burn up the engine. It amazes me how tight a space those little guys can get into.

 

[fossil]

When I lived in Virginia, the Pine Mice would make nests in anything I left outside, including my riding mower. Here in Oregon, earlier this year, my wife happened to see a Chipmunk come down the side of our gas grill out on the deck. As I was going to cook on it that evening, I thought I'd have a look. Sure enough, she'd built a nest right down in the burner. I cleaned it all out, and we had our supper that evening as planned. A few days later...same scenario. A week or so later...same scenario. I evicted that Chipmunk out of my grill 3 times before she (apparently) finally quit trying. Now I always check before I'm going to fire it up. If my wife hadn't noticed the animal exiting, I'd have surely lit up that nest inside the grill. Rick

 

[Pagey]

When I lived in Virginia, the Pine Mice would make nests in anything I left outside, including my riding mower. Here in Oregon, earlier this year, my wife happened to see a Chipmunk come down the side of our gas grill out on the deck. As I was going to cook on it that evening, I thought I'd have a look. Sure enough, she'd built a nest right down in the burner. I cleaned it all out, and we had our supper that evening as planned. A few days later...same scenario. A week or so later...same scenario. I evicted that Chipmunk out of my grill 3 times before she (apparently) finally quit trying. Now I always check before I'm going to fire it up. If my wife hadn't noticed the animal exiting, I'd have surely lit up that nest inside the grill. Rick

That's probably a delicacy in some foreign (or not so foreign) country, Rick. Perhaps the Carolinas or West By God Virginia. Clearly I'm allowed to make such assertions being from the mountains of TN. :lol:

 

[ControlFreak]

It's surprising that engine manufacturers haven't figured out how to put simple screens over air inlets to these engines. Or is it that they just don't care?

I'm going to be setting traps down by my equipment this fall to try to keep them out of there. I often have sparks coming out of my tractor as it blows mouse debris out. It's surprising that this doesn't seem to hurt the engines too much, given that the nests are probably blocking a substantial amount of airflow.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

I can picture it now. Fireman Jake calling the Fire Department to come put out the fire in his wood pile! lol I'll bet that would have made the news for sure.

Glad it has turned out okay so far and it does make one suspicious about the mouse nest. We too have had that happen in various machinery.

 

[Flatbedford]

I think you are feeding the cats too much.

 

[stoveguy2esw]

When I lived in Virginia, the Pine Mice would make nests in anything I left outside, including my riding mower. Here in Oregon, earlier this year, my wife happened to see a Chipmunk come down the side of our gas grill out on the deck. As I was going to cook on it that evening, I thought I'd have a look. Sure enough, she'd built a nest right down in the burner. I cleaned it all out, and we had our supper that evening as planned. A few days later...same scenario. A week or so later...same scenario. I evicted that Chipmunk out of my grill 3 times before she (apparently) finally quit trying. Now I always check before I'm going to fire it up. If my wife hadn't noticed the animal exiting, I'd have surely lit up that nest inside the grill. Rick

That's probably a delicacy in some foreign (or not so foreign) country, Rick. Perhaps the Carolinas or West By God Virginia. Clearly I'm allowed to make such assertions being from the mountains of TN. :lol:

naaaaah , aint nuff meat on em ;-P