Best way to start burn pile

[breadtrk]

Well, i did it quite a bit when burning many many brush piles. Aren't almost all gas tanks these days plastic?

Maybe is is concerned about the plastic plunger with the rubber ring creating sparks while it's sitting the ground while you pump?

 

[PILOON]

Do NOT put gas in a pump sprayer. That's a bomb waiting to go off. And the poly tanks are static heaven.

So my car is a bomb? (plastic tank)
It even has a built in detonator ! (electric fuel gauge)

 

[JRP]

Diesel + gas, 3:1 mix in pump up sprayer.

I mix waste oil plus gas, in a pump up sprayer.

No explosion yet. You can get the percentage of gas vapor above UEL (upper explosive limit) then it wont ignite, even with a spark. Sort of like " flooded" engine.

 

[yanmars]

Sometimes I have less trouble getting them started than containing the fire after it is started. My uncle has an air blower that really helps get them going. I suppose a leaf blower would do the same thing.

 

[arrow]

You can try those medium size potato chip bags unopened of course (save a couple bags for yourself). Place it in the middle of the piles, light it up and see if they last long enough to obtain burn temps.

 

[breadtrk]

MMMMMM, Need to try that. I maen what is the whole point of drinking and having a bonfire unless SOMEONE gets slightly maimed.

 

[muddstopper]

I would guess by now those 2008 brush piles are either burnt up or rotten away. Anyways if you have a lot of green brush, take two or three bales of hay and soak them good with diesel and start piling the brush on top. throw in a match and watch it go. The hay will soak up the diesel and act like a wicks and burns very hot.

 

[Creamer]

So my car is a bomb? (plastic tank)
It even has a built in detonator ! (electric fuel gauge)

You forgot about the electric fuel pump which is cooled by the gas.

Of course engineers have worked out the details like conductive plastics, and grounded electrical but the biggest factor is that you cannot have an explosion without oxygen and thanks to the vapor pressure of gasoline there is no oxygen in the tank. Now diesel - with its lower vapor pressures - can be dangerous. that takes some extra precautions.

 

[Sysop]

XM42

 

[Fastowl]

I have about 50 large piles (some are 15 - 20 feet wide by about 10 feet high) of prickly pear cactus that were dozered late last year. They are spread out over three fields. They are pretty wet from all the rain the Hill Country has been having this year. I have tried to burn them using kerosene with little success. Some of the piles also have some cedar trees mixed in the pile and although the cedar is dead and it catches on fire quickly, it's not enough to catch the entire pile of cactus on fire. Could I get some suggestions as to how to get these piles to burn completely? The cactus piles are already growing and sprouting new plants and flowers!

Bill, I am about 75 mile north of you. I have been cutting brush for the last four years with my Bobcat and shear, digging agarita and cutting the occasional cedar (I wish I had more cedar and less mesquite, it is a real pain to kill). Anyway part of the reason i use a shear instead of a dozer is that the brush piles from a dozer tend to have one heck of a lot of dirt in it and therefore even after you burn your pile you end up with a big lump that you need to go in and respread and separate out the remaining brush. My burns leave nothing except a black circle. Hard to get a good burn.

That being said I suspect that you are going to light them off (I burn in the rain or right after) and I would get in there with some kind of front end loader towards the end of the burn and stir things up.

For the future, if you are not finished clearing. Arial pear spraying where you are costs about $26-28/acre via helicopter. Takes 1-2 years to see how well you did. Then you can follow up with some selective spot spraying. I am not sure about when you would aerial spray if you have a lot of cedar or how well it would work with cedar. Again I have oaks and mesquite. There is a 2 week window in the spring that is the preferred time to aerial spray for pear in my area; after the live oaks drop their leaves and before the mesquite leafs out; this gives you maximum penetration to the ground/pear. I looked at fixed wing spraying and helicopter and settled on the latter; it tends to be a bit cheaper and they can be much more precise. They fly their route via GPS and can avoid the large oak mottes if you tell them to.

As far as cedar removal, consider some kind of shearing with a skid steer or tractor. Cedar has the advantage that after you cut it is is dead. Pick up the trees with a grapple, stack it and when you burn there is nothing but a little ash,