Random pic.

[Rich Rule]

hi jon hancock, funny you should say that, i"m thinkinking about putting a small swimming pool in next door to our mulch heep,a coil of plastic pipe pipe a few feet down with with a small electric pump to the pool, free heating hey!

 

Great until it catches alight. A farm I used to tip at didn't turn the chips often enough. One early Monday morning I couldn't get into the farm as there ere a couple of Fire Appliances in there so I got out for a chat.

 

The pile had gone up about 9pm on the Friday and they were still dowsing the embers Monday morn. 60 odd hours. That place was an almighty mess.

[rookery]

SO, IT IS TRUE THAT THEY CATCH FIRE, our heap gets mighty hot, but ive never seen one catch fire, how common is it

[Johny Walker]

yrs back a lad asked if the steming chip was as hot as it looked ,yes you can bake tateys in it , i dont beleive ,ok , 10secs later amitey scream dick head put his hole arm in to test it , it was med/rare ,had to explain that to mi sister ,his mum

[Rich Rule]

Great until it catches alight. A farm I used to tip at didn't turn the chips often enough. One early Monday morning I couldn't get into the farm as there ere a couple of Fire Appliances in there so I got out for a chat.

 

The pile had gone up about 9pm on the Friday and they were still dowsing the embers Monday morn. 60 odd hours. That place was an almighty mess.

 

Never a truer word spoken. To my knowledge the same chip pile has gone up twice and another place we used to tip has gone up in a similar fashion.

[rookery]

they tell me its gets to 80 c in the middle, never put a thermometer in in but i can beleive it

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

ironicly its more likely after rain, when the microbes get activated by the moisture.

 

Very common

 

the heat is great for steralising the mulch though!

[tommer9]

I have often found white charred/ ash woodchip in the middle of the pile when i get rid of it. There is about 20m3 in that heap- its getting moved at the weeknd to make way for a lorry load of sawlogs as my usual storage area for them is now a swamp after so much rain and running in and out with the tractor to get wood and silage. Had a four wheel drive tractor stuck last week, so better not send an eight wheeler in there....