Poop burns

[Sinngetreu]

Just thought I would write this to add to the "knowledge" of everyone.

The other day I needed to empty out the ash can. We had just cleaned the horse barn a few days before and put the old broken down manure on the melon patch. I decided to add some ashes to the pile since it had also recently snowed and I figured that everything would be wet and any active embers in the ash can would die out quickly.
Boy was I wrong. My wife went to do chores a few hours later only to be met with a bed of poopy coals and the occasional flames shooting up from the now steaming pile.
I dumped two 6 gallon buckets of water on it to completely kill it before it spread. Lesson learned.

As the public service announcements say, "the more you know..."!

 

[Paulywalnut]

I don't mind the aroma of horse manure. On fire? I don't know about that one.

 

[Sinngetreu]

I don't mind the aroma of horse manure. On fire? I don't know about that one.

Yeah, they aren't very good on fire.

 

[BrotherBart]

Chit happens.

 

[ArsenalDon]

Guess the old story of Cowboys burning Cow pies must be true.

 

[Soundchasm]

Thought there were Pioneer stories about collecting frozen patties to burn.

Dad had horses, and there'd be a VW bus sized pile of sawdust and manure to spread once a year. I found out soon that pile got hot, and one year it spontaneously combusted. It never went whole hog, but was nearly impossible to put out (a day if not a day or two). Like Vesuvius or something, with little smoke trails popping all over the place.

 

[Hills Hoard]

holy chit!

 

[firefighterjake]

True story . . . one town over (well technically it's a plantation) has a human waste to fertilizer farm . . . the pile of poo caught fire one year . . . I think it's the only time I heard the fire call and opted to not respond since wading through a pile of human poo on fire just didn't sound like much fun.

 

[My Oslo heats my home]

fire and poop, just sounds like a bad combination.

 

[gzecc]

In some parts of the world I think thats the primary fuel for home cooking.

 

[Fifelaker]

In some parts of the world I think thats the primary fuel for home cooking.

Makes you wonder when you get a Chitty meal at a restaurant.

 

[My Oslo heats my home]

fire and poop, just sounds like a bad combination.

I can imagine in 3rd world countries it would be. I'm sure dried poop would be alot more tolerable to handle and use.
I'm no farmer

 

[EatenByLimestone]

True story . . . one town over (well technically it's a plantation) has a human waste to fertilizer farm . . . the pile of poo caught fire one year . . . I think it's the only time I heard the fire call and opted to not respond since wading through a pile of human poo on fire just didn't sound like much fun.

There's a country song somewhere in that story...

 

[peakbagger]

There are a few power plants in the US that use turkey waste for fuel. When used as a primary fuel, it can case fireside corrosion in a boiler. Human animal waste after it has gone through composting or digestion is pretty innocuous stuff as both processes are designed to heat up enough to kill off any bacteria. I have handled the output of a "cowpower" plant in VT and the solids had no odor and the farmer reused it as bedding.

 

[Slow1]

I suppose it is like any fuel - just be sure and dry it out well enough? Not sure the neighbors would like stacks of it laying about drying for 2-3 years though

Seriously though, I can tell you from first hand experience that dried cow (or buffalo) patties do burn fairly well. Never cooked on them, but I have burned them years ago when on a camping trip as a kid. No unpleasant odor either that I recall, but you do have to be sure you only pick up dry ones...

As to compost piles spontaneously catching fire - that does happen more often that folks realize as there is a lot of energy being released by those exothermic bacteria in the right conditions.

 

[JP11]

Chicken Poop is the hottest. Gets up around 160 degrees in a compost pile.

Will burn weed seeds enough to kill em.

lots of dry grass goes in horse bellies.. guess plenty is in the poop!

 

[oldspark]

"Poop burns"
So thats after a large amount of hot peppers consumed?

 

[Soundchasm]

"Poop burns"
So thats after a large amount of hot peppers consumed?

That's "pre-seasoning" your fuel...

 

[Sinngetreu]

True story . . . one town over (well technically it's a plantation) has a human waste to fertilizer farm . . . the pile of poo caught fire one year . . . I think it's the only time I heard the fire call and opted to not respond since wading through a pile of human poo on fire just didn't sound like much fun.

You know your a redneck when.....

 

[Sinngetreu]

I suppose it is like any fuel - just be sure and dry it out well enough? Not sure the neighbors would like stacks of it laying about drying for 2-3 years though

Seriously though, I can tell you from first hand experience that dried cow (or buffalo) patties do burn fairly well. Never cooked on them, but I have burned them years ago when on a camping trip as a kid. No unpleasant odor either that I recall, but you do have to be sure you only pick up dry ones...

As to compost piles spontaneously catching fire - that does happen more often that folks realize as there is a lot of energy being released by those exothermic bacteria in the right conditions.

I suppose its nice to know that if I run out of dry wood this year, that I could go for broke with the road apples.

 

[dmmoss51]

I think we found a solution for the other thread on here with the septic issues...

 

[Sinngetreu]

I think we found a solution for the other thread on here with the septic issues...

I guess when they say " you can wish in one hand and crap in the other and see which one gets filled first", they were talking about a good thing?

 

[Sinngetreu]

Brings new meaning to dropping a log!

 

[andybaker]

Ever seen a pile of CSS Cow Pies? I think I would keep that stack well covered.

 

[El Finko]

Can you tell if a round cow pie is loaded N/S or E/W ???