BC 1400 fire in air cleaner & engine bay anyone?

[Ekka]

Guys

The standard BC 1400 doesn't have a pre -cleaner assy.

The intake for the air cleaner goes down the engine bay.

Hot chip/wood dust from near the exhaust, in this case smouldering has got sucked up into the air cleaner and started a fire inside the aircleaner.

Has anyone else had a fire inside the aircleaner, or in the engine bay near the exhaust?

I'm helping out a mate and looking for others who may have experienced this.

 

[timbertree]

Have the same problems with leafs getting sucked up near the clutch/exhaust and smoldering. Mentioned it to my local Vermeer dealer when chipper was in for upgrades. They contact corporate to see if there's anything they can do. Haven't heard anything back, so for now we just pop the hood and blow it out after job.

 

[Ekka]

Well

This is what happened.

Smouldering chips were sucked into the air cleaner. A fire started inside the air cleaner burning the element and cover.

Debri was sucked into the turbo which blew it into the engine, the turbo itself blew up and the drive shaft broke sending more metallic debri into the engine.

The engine blew .....

.... we are looking for other victims of poor design to take Vermeer on. And the irony is Vermeer have an optional air cleaner assy upgrade with pre-cleaner that overcomes the problem. This means they are aware of it.

Had this have been a vehicle there would have been a mass recall. The damage in this instance could easily run up to $15k over here.

We are looking for more evidence of fire risks. When the incident occured we had to exstinguish the fire with water around the exhaust pipe below the clutch ... a fire trap.

I was on site when this happened and there was simply a pop sound with such thick blue smoke coming out of the chipper shute that we couldn't see the truck. We shut down immediately and threw the clutch out, when the smoke had cleared the above is what we found.

 

[Lawn Masters]

They SHOULD be recalling these units then and upgrading the filter system at no charge for this. matter of fact, I think they should pay for the damages seeing as how it was caused by their faulty design to begin with.

 

[Ekka]

It's early days yet and Vermeer are being "cagey".

The engine is a Cat and they buck passed to them, no word in 2 days. They said they'd take sump oil samples and were having a look at the service history. A possible angle of defence would be the owner didn't sufficiently service the machine resulting in the failure.

The machine is approx 2 years old with 1450 hours on it, Vermeer claimed spontaneously that it was out of warranty, quite obvious but not neccessarily makes them off the hook.

Question is would the incident have occured regarless of services anyway? By the way this machine was serviced 100 hours earlier.

No auto shut down occured for low oil or overheating anyway, both were fine.

We need to find another incident to help our case. Personally having been there when it happened I help put out the fire I can say what a stupid design! I also understand that the BC 1400 is about the only machine Vermeer make without the centrifugal pre-cleaner assy standard.

 

[treeslayer666]

bc 1400

I've had nothing but problems with my 03 bc1400 since the day I bought it new in 10/03 including smoldering leaves/debris. It ate a knife at 150 hours, replaced drum at 200 hours, 4 heat shields, new chute, vibrates bolts out constantly, all switches replaced (winch, chute rotation), the list goes on and on. And to top it off every time it goes to VERMEER for service it comes back all scratched up, dings and small dents. They don't care. Now with the latest recall for rubber motor mounts ( their solution to the vibration problem that has plagued this chipper from day one and cost me big bucks to fix) the rear main is leaking 20 hours since I got it back. Keep in mind, this chipper just turned 720 HOURS FRIDAY!!!!

Vermeer will do nothing for me(even tried to scr*w me on a trade to a 1800) and Bandit or Woodsman wont give me sh*t for it on a trade.

Biggest equipment mistake I ever made. I wouldn't't buy anything, even a bolt from VERMEER ever again.:angry2:

 

[Yellowdog]

. Keep in mind, this chipper just turned 720 HOURS FRIDAY!!!!

Vermeer will do nothing for me(even tried to scr*w me on a trade to a 1800) and Bandit or Woodsman wont give me sh*t for it on a trade.

Biggest equipment mistake I ever made. I wouldn't't buy anything, even a bolt from VERMEER ever again.:angry2:

while I haven't had quite the same problems (thank the good Lord), I have had my share of problems with service. Machine comes back filthy and scratched up after I clean it before taking it in, machine comes back with loose radiator bolts after a simple radiator drain, broken fittings, and parts that don't even go with the machine (or I would hope not as I haven't found where they go back to!)
I got charged 19 hours for 500 hr. service on a BC2000 (oil change, pack bearings, adjust clutch, replace oil send unit, drain radiator, and a few other minor service items. Vermeer couldn't show me the segments and the time to complete each so I got 12 hours refunded to me. Can you believe that? I had already paid them so I could take my machine then started looking at the bill and questioning it. To add insult to injury, I was charged overtime for 4 hours +/-!! What was that for I haven't a clue. Wasn't a rush job and I was out of town while it was being serviced anyway. Now Vermeer wants me to sign a work order estimate before any work is done. That ain't gonna fly in the long run!
I wish Bobcat made big chippers. The local bobcat dealer in San Antonio takes care of its customers! I will give Vermeer one more chance to take care of me too...then I will raise hell or sell my machine for another brand.

 

[Ekka]

Geez guys, seems to be a bit of a pattern here for Vermeer.

20 hours to do a service and o/t ontop!

Good on you for beating the bill back down.

On this case Vermeer has totally declined to entertain any discussion of bad design and refuses to make any contribution to the repair.

 

[treeslayer666]

Vermeer BC1400 Problems

Has anyone else had problems with the bc1400??? We could get vermeers attention if we get a list of P/O'd customers together. After all, we could have bought a real chipper with our $36k but instead we bought their junk.

Any vermeer reps reading this??? Whats the problem with your chippers???
Why wont vermeer stand behind their product??

 

[trevmcrev]

3600hrs on our bc1800a and no probs other than routine maintenance. Trick is we service it ourselves. Most service items can be sourced elsewhere if you do your homework. eg vermeer oil filter $39, fleetgaurd $9.

 

[Ekka]

Yeah the 18oo's are a lot better machines, lot better built and reliable.

And you are right about servicing it yourself.

 

[ROLLACOSTA]

I was going to buy a 6'' vermeer chipper ,that was untill I heard about all the problems users were having with theres..

Touch wood my 352 stump cutter isn't doing to bad so far ,just a few leaks here and there..


What pee's me off, if these were cars,the manufactures would be bending over backwards to help,another thing my Isuzu truck came with 4 years full warrenty ,my Nissan came with 3 years warrenty,so why the hell do chippers and grinders only come with one year warrenty,I mean it's not as if there cheap..

Man I feel for your buddy Ekka big time!!

 

[treeslayer666]

Bc 1400

We do our own service and maintenance. We flip the knives every 10 hrs, oil & filter every 50hrs, grease every other day, etc. My problem with vermeer's service dept is how they treat my chipper while it was in for the 3 recalls. And when I mention scratches, dings, scuffs, etc. to the service manager all his MONKEYS play dumb. "it was like that when it came in" B.S.
I know the bc1800 is a more rugged chipper but why is it that vermeer will not take care of me on the 1400 (seeing all of the problems ive had with this unit) and get me in a 1800???? (without loosing my shirt)
The bottom line is that vermeer would not help out from the first problem I had. I wanted to trade up to a 1800 after having the machine 3-4 months.
No help from vermeer...they wanted me to take a $10k hit. NEVER AGAIN

 

[ROLLACOSTA]

got an update Ekka

 

[a_lopa]

Ive seen enough tree equipment brought new that would suggest we are the guinea pigs,thats why i refuse to buy anything new other than saws and climbing gear. I simply can not afford the time/money/hassles.

vermeer really have let this guy down.

 

[Ekka]

got an update Ekka

Yeah, Vermeer dug in and wont part with a cent ... it's the guys problem and not a fault of their design "they reckon". Tough ****!

The turbo failed, the fire in the air cleaner was real, the fire in the engine bay was real.

You're right Lopa and Rolla, if these were cars they'd be recalled.

 

[ROLLACOSTA]

I'm finnished with Vermeer ,the new model 352 stump grinder ,makes my old model [13 months old] look a complete p.o.s,resale value gone right down the dunny i'm betting..

I sure feel for your friend Ekka,has he tried your government health and safety people,fires in engines are a serious health and safety issue imo.Especially in your climate..

 

[Lawn Masters]

Why the hell does ac/dc's song Back in Black play every time I go into this thread?

I dont really know what to tell ya. as already stated, this IS a health and safety issue, and Vermeer just wont help with it.