Equipment World Digital Magazine
Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/473140
of hydraulic fluid, the fire burned itself out," he says. Debris is high on everybody's list of fire hazards. Land clearing and forestry applications throw huge amounts of flammable material onto and into heavy equipment, says Olson. In landfills there are paper and plastic bags getting torn and shredded and those can get sucked up by the cooling fan or wrapped up under the machine. It is essential that you keep this debris cleaned out of the machine. If debris is a constant issue, look for equipment that has reversible cooling fans that clean out trapped debris. These are also available aftermarket. And you may want to look into installing an aftermarket fire suppression system on jobsites where the fire risk is high. CLEAN MACHINES The best place to put your first ef- forts in creating a machine and shop environment that reduces the risk of fire is to clean your machines on a regular basis. Removal of debris and pressure washing are fundamental. "That way you reduce the chance of igniting accumulated debris and you get a better view to all your lines and cabling so you can tell more easily if something is starting to rub, or you're starting to get a puddle of something accumulat- ing," Smyth says. "With regular inspections of fluid and electrical lines you're going to catch abra- sion before it gets to something more serious." EquipmentWorld.com | March 2015 47 Brunner Lay & "Quality First" since 1882 PAVING BREAKERS DEMOLITION TOOLS ROCK DRILLING >OL[OLY`V\ULLK[VIYLHRHZPKL^HSRVY[OLZPKLVMHTV\U[HPU^L»]LNV[ HK\YHISLKLWLUKHISLZVS\[PVUMVY`V\0M`V\ULLK[VVSZMVYJVUZ[Y\J[PVU TPUPUNVYKLTVSP[PVU·^L»YL[OLVUS`UHTL`V\ULLK[VRUV^ Call (800) 872-6899 or visit BrunnerLay.com Your for complete source BREAKING rock i Fires in the forest The North Carolina Association of Professional Loggers has produced a fire safety video that's relevant to any machine based application where wood, vegetation and other flammable organic debris can build up in a ma- chine. The video includes appearances from television loggers Rudy Pelletier of American Loggers fame and Bobby Goodson from Swamp Loggers. You can view the 33-minute video here: www.youtube.com/ watch?v=zKgi6S1HGGs USLD and static While none of the engineers we spoke to have heard of problems, there is some concern in the industry that ultra low sulfur diesel fuel carries a greater risk of creating static charge than the high sulfur diesel that was common up until about five years ago. It's enough of a concern that the Associa- tion of Equipment Manufacturers has put out a Best Practices Guidance Bulletin 6/13, which recommends you ensure the entire system you use to fuel your equipment is properly ground and bonded, including your fuel supply tank, transfer pump, transfer hose and nozzle; and that you make sure your fuel supplier is also in compliance for all proper grounding and bonding practices. You can get a copy of their bulletin here: http://www.aem.org/AllDocuments/AEM/ SRT/SRTTopics/ULSD_BP_Bulletin-Two- Column_07-03-13.pdf