Skid steer fire.

[paulsharvey]

I think that the insurance company would have the burden of proof to establish facts, not speculation, necessary to deny a claim.

Insurance would have to show intentional damage or fraud by Mr 4570; I was meaning that it would be hard for Insurance or Mr 4570 to make a claim against Kubota. Even if we are talking Kubota Insurance, that's a separate entity than Kubota. I'm more talking about curiosity, and prevention

 

[4570Man]

Insurance would have to show intentional damage or fraud by Mr 4570; I was meaning that it would be hard for Insurance or Mr 4570 to make a claim against Kubota. Even if we are talking Kubota Insurance, that's a separate entity than Kubota. I'm more talking about curiosity, and prevention

It would be good practice to open the hood and check for debris and nest before every use. A fire extinguisher would also be a good idea obviously. I’m pretty good about bringing a blower and cleaning up any debris that fall on the machine. This machine has never even been in the woods and it was almost brand new. It was completely clean from natural debris. I can’t rule out the possibility of a bird or mouse nest.

 

[2manyrocks]

Given the time of year and how hot it has been, I doubt mice or birds built a nest in the engine compartment.

 

[Sid Post]

Given the time of year and how hot it has been, I doubt mice or birds built a nest in the engine compartment.

With ambient temps being ~100F the past few weeks, a bird's nest under the hood of my tractor is not a concern for myself, especially when it burns my hand to grab the handrail to get on board.

 

[MHarryE]

Not a track loader (I do have a SVL75-2) but insurance - I was moving out of country and needed to sell my SUV. While in process of moving, my wife drove me to the airport one evening to catch my flight to Europe. Next afternoon, taxi driver dropped me off at my new office just as everyone was leaving work. My secretary saw me, told me to see my boss, the CEO, my wife called, there was a fire at home. It turned out that when she walked through the door into the garage that morning, she saw the SUV had a blackened windshield. Opened the door, melted plastic hanging, driver side seat burned, controls for windows burned, melted, hanging from door, and worse. She called 911, fire department came, cut the battery cables, pushed it out of garage. Fire started in vehicle but apparently died due to lack of oxygen. Thank goodness, wife and daughter were in house. Insurance ponied up and paid without question - $3,000 more than I had on the For Sale sticker in the window. Six months later on a return trip, my daughter gave me the mail that had come while I was gone. One was a recall from the SUV maker alerting me they were having a problem with shorting in a power window switch, do not park indoors, take to dealer immediately. I sent that to the insurance company who told me I would get my deductible returned if they could get money from the maker but alas, no luck. Not a big deal, family was safe, that's the big thing. But proof that many manufacturers will not stand behind their product in a case even when they have issued a recall for the fault. If something had happened to my family, I would have had to sue. So don't count on Kubota, count on your insurance. My two cents worth.

 

[HAR]

I don't know if you guys want to talk about fire extinguishers for heavy equipment in this thread or maybe start one on that topic? With these enclosed cabs, I start to wonder if it would make sense to install something like the ones a race car driver can operate from his seat. Looks like they install hard lines to the areas where fires can start and the driver can trigger the fire extinguishers from the driver's seat. I don't know anything about them myself.

I was thinking the exact same thing....much like some aircraft....extinguishers that focus on the engine bay

 

[paulsharvey]

They may intentional not do a system like that, because aren't most/all ABC extinguishers corrosive? Where a small fire or more likely, an accidently discharge, leads to engine investing a corrosive powder.

 

[LouNY]

There are numerous fire surpression systems that could be installed on ag equipment.
Some use dry powders many use other agents/gases to do so. A dry powder system to me would be the least desired not because of the cleaning issues but of the inhalation of the powder.
Some of the gaseous systems that use the 3M™ Novec™ 1230 Fire Protection Fluid seem decently safe, more safe then powders or fire.
Race Car Fire Suppression Systems | Summit Racing

 

[sansbury]

I was thinking the exact same thing....much like some aircraft....extinguishers that focus on the engine bay

At least in small aircraft most extinguishers are BC rated, and it's one of the few applications left where Halon is officially permitted. You can buy a handheld one, figure around $400 for a 1.25lb one. At least for in-cockpit use you're looking almost entirely at electrical fire suppression as there's no access to the engine bay and all the fluids/etc are on the other side of the firewall anyway.

There are some systems out there for my plane for engine fires, I don't know anybody who has one and they are not cheap--I think 15-20K installed. I think they are based on what you see in race cars etc. I think those are also BC systems. You can get big ABC extinguishers rated for aircraft uses and they are priced about what you expect, if you add two zeros to what you expect.

 

[paulsharvey]

Aviation foam suppressant is 'safe' I think. It doesn't (or didn't used to) require anything special to clean, no enivro concerns, and I've seen it tested, and they just washed it down into retention ponds after test.