If Your Chainsaw Falls in the River?

[max2cam]

This question came up on another forum about cutting trees out of a canoe river -- an activity that I occassionally partake of.

Say -- perish the thought -- you drop the saw into the river and it fills up with water but is otherwise undamaged.

What is the best thing to do?

My opinion would be to drain all the water out of it immediately, then refill it with gas and oil (lube the piston first thru the sparkplug hole), fire it up and get it up to operating temperature. I think that would burn out the moisture and it would not be necessary to dismantle the saw. I'm betting here that it would start okay.

Other thoughts?

I'm basing my opinion on the time my motorcycle went into the Wisconsin River and the dealer told me not to take it apart, but just drain its crankcase and tranny, etc. then refill and fire it up. He told me that's what they do with snowmobiles that go thru the ice.

 

[SilverBlue]

Was that cutting trees out of a canoe while in the river? Or clearing trees from the river?

The only other thing to be observant of while draining would be to make sure the crankcase is clear of water to prevent static lock.

 

[max2cam]

Yes, absolutely agree to drain as much water as possible out of the crankcase to avoid bad things happening.

The river gets blocked by falling trees or by those that form log jams during flood stage. These can be a real mess and hinder canoe passage. The smaller rivers have got to be cut open periodically or they become very difficult to navigate.

I have cut both out of a canoe, while standing in the river, or balancing on a log while cutting another log. It can be tricky. Lots of time the bar is in the water and lots of jets up. This is warm-weather work. I have never yet dropped a saw into the river, but can see how this could easily happen. (Once I lost my glasses in the river when a branch caught them. I jumped in after them and found them too.)

http://www.atthecreation.com/

 

[tony marks]

that may be the thing to do. but what if the watergot a lotto sand in it... is the mentioned,, not gonna raise heck with u cylinder wall and rings... seem like ,,it be better to flush out the sand before trying to crank it ... i know a lotto fresh water just got silt in the bottum but some got a lotto sand too. jmo

 

[HUSKYMAN]

Two strokes are easy to clean the water out of. The only danger is hyro-locking the engine when it is running and water comes in. It could bend the rod or bust the piston or crank.

When 2 stroke sleds go thru the ice they survive 99% of the time as long as the water doesnt sit for a long time, and the engines are shut down before submerging.

 

[max2cam]

If sand got into the engine that would throw a different light on the problem. Very much so. And I could see that happening here if the saw went under for any length of time say in a deep hole.

How fast does a chainsaw sink anyway?

 

[Treeman14]

Originally posted by max2cam
How fast does a chainsaw sink anyway?

That depends on its displacement.

 

[SilverBlue]

Exactly where would you expect the sand to get into the engine? Not through the carb. If the muffler has a spark arrestor or the piston is blocking the exhaust port that’s not going to be a problem either. If there were no sign of sand in the muffler I would not be too concerned and would concentrate on draining the crankcase completely.

 

[Kneejerk Bombas]

How about if your in your canoe, doing saw maintenance, and you have the carb and muffler off when it falls in the river? It happens to me all the time...

 

[wak110]

Originally posted by max2cam


How fast does a chainsaw sink anyway? [/B]

The rate of descent is not affected by factors such as displacement, color, brand, whether it is falling through air or water, speed of descent is directly relevent to the price of the saw

Much non-scientific research has also determined that when a piece of equipment lands on a hard surface the part bearing most of the impact will ususlly be the most expensive to replace

 

[MasterBlaster]

It's a proven fact when you drop your saw, if you say 'fall right! fall right! fall right!' until the saw hits the ground, the saw will not be damaged - sometimes it will even run better!

Don't believe me? Try it next time.....

 

[johnb]

Wet and wild

If I dunked my saw in say some cruddy water I think I would flush it out with some fresh high pressure water at maybe the car wash. That should get the sand and crud out of the crank case. New fuel maybe refuel with 32:1 for increased lube on the first tank after the dunking. Some would disagree but a cap of fuel treatment (heat)added to the tank mix would help displace water in the carb and engine by adding an alcohol evaporation to some of the water. Im sure one cap full wouldn't do any adverse harm to a motor that was already dunked. It is certainly a good question and I bet there are some more interesting stories about events like this out there!! The Hoosier





Sharpen your chain the in-laws just pulled in!!!!

 

[Wade Huggins]

Gosh, what happens if you drop your saw in the Ocean? Will the salt eat away at all its vital parts? Man.... so much to think about now, well I better go sleep on it! Wade

 

[WRW]

Wade,
Ocean water has the same salt content as your blood. Sweat & tears have higher concentrations.
You got any saws with the vital parts eat up?

 

[HUSKYMAN]

Low octane fuel will cause the cylinder walls to corrode much faster than ocean water

 

[tony marks]

well ill be dang. i thot ocean water was as salty as it gets. figured the sharks hunting ground was salty cause they mainly eat old salts ,and navey lifers.
oh well guess i was wrong. but i dont stick my body parts where,, i cant at least see what it was,, that ateum.
and that aint kidding. spent three in the navy,starting as a 17 yr old kid . decided then ,i just didnt like that ole dark water.
no offense ,to each his own.

 

[WRW]

Tony,
Yeah, old salts are also called "tars" and I always thought that was because of their shoe material (like tar-heels) and was gonna comment on why that water is so dark...but come to find out it's short for tarpaulin??? Why, I dunno, but Webster says it's so.

 

[Stumper]

They are called tar heels cause they didn't wear shoes-guess what they kept stepping in?