Help me start a FIRE !

[Boondox]

Tom -- I thought I was the only one who used a leaf blower to jumpstart a fire! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif HA! Works great, doesn't it? I set mine on the ground at idle and use it as a bellows.

Burning green wood is tough unless you have dry stuff as the primary fuel source and toss the green on top. To burn green you need plenty of heat. I usually start with some dry stuff and keep the green off to the side. Once I have a good bed of coals I'll add green and dry scrap mixed. I find having to constantly tinker with a fire to keep it going a PITA.

I also do the sprayer thing, but I use kerosene in mine. Gas? Forget it! The problem with gas is those fumes are heavy and they'll creep downhill quite a ways...then you toss a match on the burn pile and Yikes! the dry grass fifty feet away bursts into flame! /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

Pete

 

[Gatorboy]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( I don't think I'm going to use gas or diesel. )</font>

Gas, yes is a bit scary, but diesel is nothing to be worried about. Gas explodes -- diesel burns. Diesel is safer (in my opinion) than lighter fluid.

You may want to give it a try

 

[Mark_in_NH]

I am happy to say, that I have Never needed to use an accelerant to get any of my brush piles going.
I have at times disposed of old gas by pouring onto my brush, but never as an accelerant. The fumes and instant flamability have lonnngggg since disipated by the time I get around to getting the pile burnt. Usually months later.
Sometimes my piles are big and or dense enough that I need to stick my torch wand in two or three places, but it never fails to do the job within minutes.

 

[Taylortractornut]

make sure all the brush is also piled in the same directon when we buld brush piles we pack them tight with dozers. Even when hand stacking wy make sure the all the brush is parrallel with itsself. The fire burns pretty good like that. For large brush piles I have an 8 horse Briggs and Sratton engine with a 17cfm exhaust fan one skids for providing the wind. If you want to use naturs wind we always light the fire on the northern end of the pile and let the light breeze fan it. it.

 

[DKinWA]

I just use old an old flare. Light it and set it against the pile and throw some brush on top of it. It usually starts burning pretty good by the time the flare burns out. I don't recall who suggested it, but it's a good way to get rid of old expired flares.

 

[GareyD]

Hate to be a harbinger or bad tidings....but - I used gas on fires for many years, without a moments problem, and usually bragged about the grandfathers theory of fire starting "if a quart of gas starts a fire, then a gallon will start it four times faster!!"

One day I put about a half-pint of stale gas/oil mixture on a brush pile I was trying to burn...waited about couple minutes then threw a lit pack of matches into the pile....

Six weeks of debriding (relates to sitting in a pool of battery acid and being scrubbed with steel wool), physical therapy to relearn simple things, like how to hold a fork to feed yourself, brush your teeth, wipe your bottom (which you can't do for several weeks, due to fear of infection), etc., and skin grafts and too many other "fun" things to mention, they let me come home...

Now I use a quart of oil, poured down the top of the pile, diesel in a pump up sprayer, and a leaf blower to keep it all going....more work, but safer in the long run.

GareyD
P.S., Don't they call gas, thrown in a pop bottle "Molotov Cocktail"? /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

 

[bgott]

Not that I would ever do it nor advocate someone else doing it, I have heard of people dowsing the pile with gas and then running a trail of gas 20' or so from the pile and then lighting the trail so's to be well away from the pile when it blows up. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[PineRidge]

I use Jerry's method. I have a propane brush torch and it will start a fire very, very quickly. It's also economical, once the fire gets going you just shut it off. And it works wonders if you park the head of it over a entrance to a yellowjacket nest in the ground. Have also used it on the porch steps when they get covered with ice, and used it to kill weeds and grass growing in the culvert. Kind of a do-all tool of sorts.

 

[Kelvin]

I refuse to recommend the use of gasoline.

But if a person insists on using it, here is a technique that will make it a little safer. This is the ONLY way that I use gasoline to help burn a brush fire.

If the brush pile is wet or damp such that it won't start by itself, then I'll use a fireplace starter log for the initial fire. Then I'll use some charcoal lighter fluid as required to spread the fire. If the lighter fluid runs out, I'll refill the bottle with gasoline or diesel. When squirted out of a charcoal bottle onto a lit fire, gasoline responds the same way the charcoal fluid did. I have had the fire come back up the stream of gasoline about 6 to 12 inches but didn't go any further up the stream (total stream length was about 4 feet). Diesel responds much slower but is effective if it doesn't put the fire out first.

As mentioned in another response to this post, using diesel in the spray bottles is also very effective in spreading the fire once the fire has a good start.

Again, I don't recommend the use of gasoline. I know that sometimes in a pinch folks are willing to take a little extra risk. Hopefully this technique will lower the risk associated with the use of gasoline WHEN that rare time comes.

Kelvin

PS: Since learning the charcoal bottle technique, I also use the same for putting gasoline into a vehicle carburator on the rare occasions that it has to be done.

 

[F350Lawman]

I have used gasoline once when I had nothing else. The SAFEST method is to pour the gas on the unlit pile and then throw a lit road flare in from 20' away upwind. Works perfect! It lands, burns for a second and poof, the fumes ignite. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

I think I read this method on this forum some time ago.