Burn Pile near catastrophe

[patrick_g]

I tried to light thte pile behind the house day before yesterday and it didn't go. Tried again way harder yesterday plus a few bucks worth of diesel and got lucky. It barely caught after smoking a lot for several hours. Finally it burned at about a 3-4 rate on a scale of 10. It is still burning a little this morning. I'll have to use the pallet forks to pick up a lot of stuff around edges and repile it. Also some of the larger logs have several feet sticking out where they fell when the pile collapsed and need to be recentered.

IT would go better if I whacked up the big stuff with a chainsaw and piled it correctly but it was in the teens and I'm lazy.

Pat

 

[RobertN]

It is a wonder I am even here today. I stopped on the way out to fill up a 5 gal can of diesel and figured why not fill the 5 gal utility with gas. Although the cans both have very distinctive spouts, I managed to grab the wrong one. Started two piles with gas then when back and added gas to the first fire TWICE! Didn't catch my mistake until I saw a flame flickering out of the gas can spout! Slapped my glove over it then sat down with cofee until my knees stopped shaking.

Go out tomorrow. Buy a 5 gallon YELLOW Diesel fuel can. There is a reason Gas is red, Keroscene is Blue, Diesel is Yellow; so this does not happen, nor does someone accidently put gas in your diesel tractor and blow the engine up!

 

[patrick_g]

Misidentified fuel is not so bad... sometimes. I gave the OEM fuel tank off my new Raam3500 to a buddy so he could put the gasloine contaminated fuel from his fuel tank somewhere and get his tank back into normal service. He had a problem with the mixed fuel as being in CA it would be a hassle to dispose of it.


This is s good news---bad news story(or maybe even better news!) The good news is a neighbor stole the tank from him and I didn't really need it back as I took it off to put a larger tank in. He was happy to be shed of the Hazmat problem.

The neighbor had a personal diesel truck and a rented Ryder van and he apparently fueled both with the gas-diesel mix. As the neighbor left the neighborhood (moving away) both the Ryder van and the guys P/U were running very poorly. We missed a chance to get the lisc number on the Ryder van and tell the rental agency to be alert for a damaged engine that was not coincidental but we did have a hearty laugh at the thief's expense.

Pat

 

[Soundguy]

We had a 'gas' can go missing at work one day.. Actually.. it was a reg gas can.. but had 5g of clear diesel in it that we had brought to the job site for one of the old trucks there that didn't move much.. and might need fuel. By the end of the day.. fuel and can were gone... however one of our day labor's was brok down about a half mile from the job.. car sounded pretty unhappy when he would try to start and run it.

Soundguy

 

[turnkey4099]

We had a 'gas' can go missing at work one day.. Actually.. it was a reg gas can.. but had 5g of clear diesel in it that we had brought to the job site for one of the old trucks there that didn't move much.. and might need fuel. By the end of the day.. fuel and can were gone... however one of our day labor's was brok down about a half mile from the job.. car sounded pretty unhappy when he would try to start and run it.

Soundguy

And that is why my diesel can is red. That can contains diesel plus whatever paint thinners, gas used for cleaning parts, etc that I use during the year. It then sits oh so innocently just inside the shed door waiting for the thiefs to show. Yep, it has worked. Since I am the only one who belongs in the the shed I don't worry about someone else grabbing it by mistake...Me? That seems to be a problem

Harry K

 

[patrick_g]

Harry is a naughty boy! (but deserves a round of applause for striking back against the forces of evil!)

During the "FUEL CRISIS" when we were getting gas every other day in long lines, siphoning/stealing fuel was on the rise. I was driving a 1964 Ford 1/2 ton that was propane only and the fuel line from the tank was disconnected/plugged. After a rash of gas thefts in our area I filled the tank with mostly water and let nature take its course.

Had I had easy access to the "right stuff" I would have been seriously more aggressive as to tank contents.

Pat

 

[RobertN]

And that is why my diesel can is red. That can contains diesel plus whatever paint thinners, gas used for cleaning parts, etc that I use during the year. It then sits oh so innocently just inside the shed door waiting for the thiefs to show. Yep, it has worked. Since I am the only one who belongs in the the shed I don't worry about someone else grabbing it by mistake...Me? That seems to be a problem

Harry K

My wife, my Dad and I all use my tractor. My diesel can is yellow, so there is NO confusion. My Dad works for a Dodge dealer. People pump gas in diesel truck pretty often. It costs over $600 to dispose of a 35 gallon tank of diesel/gas mix in Sacramento. And, a lot more to fix the damaged engine.

I have a seperate can for "other" stuff; oil, thinner etc.

I certianly don't want to make the gas on a fire mistake either.

Typically, if I need a boost, I use my leaf blower. I have a 1 gallon sprayer that I'll put diesel in to spray it where needed when starting a burn pile. It's maked too...

 

[patrick_g]

Robert, When in California I got pretty well trained to look for the GREEN pumps to get diesel. So did my buddy who pumped several gal of gas into his diesel tank before realizing his error. The plastic around the nozzle and the handle etc were GREEN which +++U+S+U+A+L+L+Y+++ meant diesel, didn't.

He contaminated his 45 gal rear tank and had to complete his vacation towing a camping trailer while only having the front tank with 19 gal capacity. (This is the guy I gave the tank to which was stolen and caused the thief plenty of grief.)

Luckily he noticed it was gas not diesel irrespective of the decor.

Patrick