Combine fire threat: Keep machine clean with leaf blower

AMBOY, Ill. — A garden tool that will be making an appearance in many yards and gardens can also help prevent combine fires.

“Keep a leaf blower in the cab and keep your combine clean,” said Mark Wolf, the store manager for Johnson Tractor in Amboy in north-central Illinois.

As harvest ramps up, combines will be running long hours. With recent dry conditions across much of the Midwest, the danger of field fires and combine fires increases.

Wolf said the addition of a battery-operated leaf blower to the combine and using it at least once a day, at the end of the harvest day, to clean off the combine, is a top fire prevention tip.

“If they have their own service truck and an air compressor, they can use that. They are probably blowing the combine off to maintain it, but that is something they should be doing throughout the day,” he said.

In addition to using the leaf blower to keep the machine and the grain head free of dust and debris, Wolf said operators should take a few more minutes at the end of the harvest day to do a walk around of the combine.

That tip comes from one instance of a combine fire, where the machine burned after the operator had left it at the end of the harvest day.

“In the 33 years that I’ve been here, I think I’ve only lost one combine, through the Amboy store. That combine that burned, burned after they left it for the night. So, don’t wait until the next day to blow it off. Blow it off before you leave for the night,” Wolf said.

“Take the time to leave it running and walk around the machine while it’s running to listen for a squeak or for noise. Farmers know what their combine is supposed to sound like to they know when something is not right.”

While utilizing a leaf blower to rid the machine of dust and debris is a top fire prevention practice, Wolf said farmers should also make sure that the cleaning hasn’t caused a fire hazard.

“Be careful when you’re blowing it off because if there is something warm or hot, you’re going to speed it up. Do it at night so you know it’s clean and if you smell something or see something, you’re aware of it then,” he said.

Johnson Tractor offers customers combine clinics, where technicians go over all the necessary combine preparations prior to harvest.

The company also offers customers combine inspections, where technicians go over a combine to check for wear that can cause breakdowns and fires.

“We offer combine inspections and the technicians will go through your combine, they take pictures and video and then we’ll have you come in and show you what’s going on, what needs to be fixed immediately, what can wait,” said Ken Updike, who works in the parts department at Johnson Tractor’s location in Juda, Wisconsin.

“It gives the farmer a good idea of where the wear points are and some things they may not have noticed.”

Wolf said that technicians target mechanical parts that can malfunction and create a spark.

“We are looking for worn sprockets, worn pulleys, a loose bearing, that’s going to cause a spark. We’re looking for those loose components during an inspection to avoid a bearing failure,” he said.

Updike advises farmers to watch for debris buildup as they go through fields.

“Try to reduce your trash buildup. You see some combines where the top of the feeder house is just covered with crop debris or leaves or whatever,” he said.

“It doesn’t take that long to take a rake or a broom and just pull it off there. It’s an ignition source that you need to get rid of.”

Fire extinguishers are another part of the fire prevention tool kit for combines, and Updike said farmers should check the dates on extinguishers and should also make sure that whoever is operating the combine knows how to use them.

“You should have one by the cab, one by the engine compartment. Check the dates on them, too, because they do expire — they aren’t good forever,” he said.

“If you do have one that is expired, use it to have a little training session for whoever is operating your combine, ‘Here’s how it works.’”

Wolf said soybean harvest can be especially hard and create fire hazards.

“Bean dust is a finer dust so there’s more of it. The chopper bearing is the main thing because that’s running at a faster speed. The rotor is running at a faster speed,” he said.

“The combine itself is not moving any faster through the field, but the components of the combine are turning faster and anything that’s running faster is going to create more heat.”