What happens when......

[adkranger]

...you leave a 200c.y. slash/chip/mulch pile on your landing for two years?

Ans; You have to send back a guy with a Cat and root/rock rake to dig furiously on a pile of smoldering wood mulch.

The market dried up on the operator and they just kinda forgot about the pile for awhile. I think the company owner is re-evaluating his SOPs when it comes to chip/mulch piles. Anyway it was quite impressive to watch this sleeping giant wake and really get rolling. Went from a few wisps of smoke seeping out of pile, to three small spots of flame to be completely engulfed in about 8 hours even with two visits from the Fire Company and 30-40,000 gals of h2o.:angry2:

 

[04superduty]

lol, ooopppss
hey boss you know about that huge chip pile.
aaahh, no what chip pile.
that one that we never took care of, well its starting to smoke alittle
oh,

 

[Kate Butler]

pile fire

Anybody know what the mass to square footage (footprint of the pile) ratio is that tips the pile from being a safely decomposing pile to being a potential fire hazard?

Or......how tall can the pile be and still be safe??

 

[adkranger]

Anybody know what the mass to square footage (footprint of the pile) ratio is that tips the pile from being a safely decomposing pile to being a potential fire hazard?

Or......how tall can the pile be and still be safe??

Strictly speaking size is not the most important factor whether a mulch pile will ignite or not. The keys are the material has to be compact, wet/damp and allowed to sit static for a period of time. The way size is a minor factor is the heat from decomp has to be well insulated from outside temp variations for long enough to build the heat necessary for ignition. I've seen 3 to 4 cubic yard(like what a small 6 wheel dump truck will hold) chip piles ignite. The key if you like to compost your own material is to "turn" it or mix it once in a while. This also speeds up your decomp as well. I would also not build your pile too high, this lessens compaction and allows more air surface area. Hope that answers your ????s

 

[l2edneck]

I seen a few d-9s dissapear because they thought they could backfill with chips.Needless to say......Lesson Learned.:bang:

 

[Kate Butler]

mea culpa

Strictly speaking size is not the most important factor whether a mulch pile will ignite or not. The keys are the material has to be compact, wet/damp and allowed to sit static for a period of time. The way size is a minor factor is the heat from decomp has to be well insulated from outside temp variations for long enough to build the heat necessary for ignition. I've seen 3 to 4 cubic yard(like what a small 6 wheel dump truck will hold) chip piles ignite. The key if you like to compost your own material is to "turn" it or mix it once in a while. This also speeds up your decomp as well. I would also not build your pile too high, this lessens compaction and allows more air surface area. Hope that answers your ????s

Thanks for the reply. I guess I wasn't specific enough. When one is working chipping in the woods (totally unpredictable, weatherwise AND totally unaccessible, turning-equipment wise) what size piles are "safe" and what size are not??

 

[adkranger]

Thanks for the reply. I guess I wasn't specific enough. When one is working chipping in the woods (totally unpredictable, weatherwise AND totally unaccessible, turning-equipment wise) what size piles are "safe" and what size are not??

Ok, if you don't have powered turning-equipment you have a pitch fork or other implement for handling them I would guess. Which means you'll want to keep your chip piles low, less than 2'. You seem to mention "chipping in the woods" which means you have a chipper that you actually use on site? If so you can spread your piles by moving the chip deflector or entire chipper as you chip.

??? for you; are you composting your chips or just cleaning up woods and chipping to get rid of brush/slash? Or using chips in landscape? If your goal is to compost the chips for future use in soil, garden, whatever you are going to need to pile it and stir it. If you are just reducing woody material in your woodlot and just letting chips stay as they lay, spread chips in a uniform blanket throughout area. If using chips in landscape setting, make several smaller piles vs. one big one and use them up.

Other than that I do not know how to answer your "size" question. A 2 c.y. (PU load) of loose wood chips foot print maybe 6'x6' and maybe 3' high in center would be probably be safe if you are pulling material off the pile from time to time. However if even a small pile such as this is allowed to sit static, breakdown, thus naturally compact, gets right amount moisture.....poof. I guess the short answer is this; if you have a mulch/chip pile use it, turn it or whatever your management goal is for that material. Why would you have the pile if not to use at some point anyway? If just reducing woody material in woodlot, spread evenly on forest floor.

Did I come close that time?? If not, it would be more helpful if I knew what your intentions/goals were for the material.

 

[Kate Butler]

wood chip piles

Ok, if you don't have powered turning-equipment you have a pitch fork or other implement for handling them I would guess. Which means you'll want to keep your chip piles low, less than 2'. You seem to mention "chipping in the woods" which means you have a chipper that you actually use on site? If so you can spread your piles by moving the chip deflector or entire chipper as you chip.

??? for you; are you composting your chips or just cleaning up woods and chipping to get rid of brush/slash? Or using chips in landscape? If your goal is to compost the chips for future use in soil, garden, whatever you are going to need to pile it and stir it. If you are just reducing woody material in your woodlot and just letting chips stay as they lay, spread chips in a uniform blanket throughout area. If using chips in landscape setting, make several smaller piles vs. one big one and use them up.

Other than that I do not know how to answer your "size" question. A 2 c.y. (PU load) of loose wood chips foot print maybe 6'x6' and maybe 3' high in center would be probably be safe if you are pulling material off the pile from time to time. However if even a small pile such as this is allowed to sit static, breakdown, thus naturally compact, gets right amount moisture.....poof. I guess the short answer is this; if you have a mulch/chip pile use it, turn it or whatever your management goal is for that material. Why would you have the pile if not to use at some point anyway? If just reducing woody material in woodlot, spread evenly on forest floor.

Did I come close that time?? If not, it would be more helpful if I knew what your intentions/goals were for the material.

Many thanks. Yep, chipping to reduce waste and make labor-intensive removal of slash unnecessary. I sub this out, although I AM on site while it's being done, feeding the chipper alongside the guys, and want to make sure that we aren't making possibly dangerous piles (size-wise). None of it matters in terms of esthetics, but the clients aren't interested in spending more to turn the chips or to rake them around, so I want to be sure that we're doing a "best practices" job the first time through. Yes, we do move the chute around quite a bit to spread 'em around.

I guess primarily I was wondering if there was a formula of some sort to answer the question. Thanks again.

 

[adkranger]

Sounds like you're doing it right. I'd try to spread the chip flow so they don't pile any deeper than 12-18" in any one spot and you'll be fine. Plenty of airflow over a blanket of material versus a big pile.

 

[ASD]

hear in ca caltrans spec's say no more then 24" deep.

and down the street from are yard the fire wood guys lot did the same thing as your pic. only he had a stack of wood 200' x 500' x 25' high on top of the chips/mulch that went up with it it took 2 days to put it out
and then i took us two week to grind up what was left and hall it off $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$