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Post by berrygal on Mar 30, 2015 5:31:01 GMT -5
I was reading an article a few days ago about making compost, and the authors were insistent that a person needed to take the temperature of their compost heap regularly to turn it at the first sign of it getting too hot, as they claimed spontaneous combustion and fire were serious risks you were taking with compost. I have heard that this is sometimes an issue of large waste disposal facilities or mulch facilities--but I thought it unlikely that a home gardener would have this problem. That got me thinking...
I have never heard of any gardener I know that managed to ignite his/her compost due to high temperatures. Not even one of those "it didn't happen to me, but my sister's-husband's-best friend's-cousin twice removed had it happen to them" sort of thing. So here are my questions:
How big a threat is this REALLY to a well-maintained compost heap/bin? I mean, if you actually make sure to keep it at the right moisture levels & turn it every so often, is this a real threat or more like an urban legend? And--more importantly--do we have any stories? Anybody here ever actually do it? Or heard of somebody who had?
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Post by kimmsrđź•Š on Mar 30, 2015 5:41:41 GMT -5
Any time you have a pile of organic matter there is the potential for spontaneous combustion, if all of the conditions for that are present. Compost piles can erupt in flames if the internal temperatures exceed 150 F which is why most of us strongly suggest piles be turned when they reach about 135 F. Spontaneous combustion of piles of organic matter are far more common than most people think, so perhaps this link will be of some help.
www1.agric.gov.ab.ca/$department/deptdocs.nsf/all/agdex10721
There are many people that have never seen spontaneous combustion of a compost pile and they may suggest it is more urban legend than real, but they are greatly mistaken.
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Post by ahntjudy on Mar 30, 2015 7:26:41 GMT -5
Very informative article, kimm.
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Post by brownrexx on Mar 30, 2015 8:28:27 GMT -5
Yes, it was quite interesting and I had never really heard of that before except in large operations.
I think that the chances are quite slim in my pile. We turn it quite often since my husband has a Cub Cadet mid size garden tractor with a bucket. It's easy for him to turn the whole pile in 10 minutes (and he thinks that it's fun so it's a win-win for me).
Not only does it cause the pile to decompose faster, it distributes the moisture throughout the pile so a fire would be unlikely.
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Post by desertwoman on Mar 30, 2015 9:21:14 GMT -5
That was an interesting article.
I have never experienced or heard of one, until your question berrygal. Anything is possible. But really. How often do these fires occur?
As I've mentioned before, I am a "lazy" composter, living by "compost happens". For decades now. It breaks down into black gold with very little help from me. May take a few months rather than a few weeks, but I'm OK with that.
I will continue to carry on as I always have. No concerns of fire for me.
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Post by lilolpeapicker on Mar 30, 2015 10:47:00 GMT -5
I heard of one once in the news but it has been quite awhile and don't recall where it was. I do remember the neighbors being upset about it in the city limits.
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Post by armjr on Mar 30, 2015 14:34:54 GMT -5
I've heard of it happening, and I've heard of Bigfoot too, but have never seen either one.
Alan
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Post by berrygal on Mar 30, 2015 16:37:49 GMT -5
In all of the articles I've read it has occurred with poorly-maintained piles that are relatively large. I guess my question is, would a "proper" compost heap (or bin, or tumbler)--one in which the gardener kept the moisture levels where they were supposed to, flipped it periodically, etc.--really mimic the conditions enough to start a fire?
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Post by kimmsrđź•Š on Mar 31, 2015 6:23:50 GMT -5
Many people do not believe things unless they see them which is one reason why there are still people that believe the earth is flat or that the sun revolves around the earth. While I have seen piles of organic matter spontaneously combust none have been in tumblers or other small composters because the volume in them is too small for proper digestion.
As is suggested in the article if the internal temperature of a compost pile is kept under about 150 F there is very little chance it will spontaneously combust. In some 50 years of making compost I have not had any of my compost piles combust, and they stopped smelling bad when I learned how to properly make compost.
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canadiyank
Blooming
Central WA, Zone 6B
Posts: 125
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Post by canadiyank on Apr 2, 2015 1:10:51 GMT -5
I managed to ignite mine. With my weed burner! Thought I'd put it out and several hours later looked outside to see flames shooting 15 feet in the air. Terrifying! I'm lucky I didn't burn the neighborhood down.
But that was not "spontaneous" it was just dumbness. LOL!
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Post by ellenr on Apr 2, 2015 3:35:07 GMT -5
I wonder if this is what someone was thinking of when she told me that the munch pile (chopped trees) that the county kept, could spontaneously ignite. That seemed unlikely since the county kept the pile in the middle of a park. Maybe she had heard this about compost. interesting.
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Post by kimmsrđź•Š on Apr 2, 2015 6:45:42 GMT -5
Mulch piles have been known to spontaneously combust and we had one do that recently near Grand Rapids at a pallet company. We have had piles of bark spontaneously combust at the paper mill here in January and coal piles do the same all year round. That is why where such things are stored there is someone operating a bull dozer turning the piles all the time, and why you will see "steam", really smoke, rising from piles of organic matter.
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canadiyank
Blooming
Central WA, Zone 6B
Posts: 125
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Post by canadiyank on Apr 2, 2015 18:11:43 GMT -5
kimm...that reminded me of the mill here, too. They had a fire awhile back, spontaneous combustion of bark, and they had been cited multiple times in the past for issues with the maintenance and fire safety. The whole operation was shut down after b/c they had so many violations and history of violations. They had to evacuate the whole area. I drove past and could feel the heat in my car...over the freeway and acres away from the actual fire itself. It was immense.
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Post by oliverman on Apr 2, 2015 21:42:51 GMT -5
I had a hay stack spontaneously combust 7 years ago. It is a major concern when making hay, as hay baled too wet is a high risk for ignition. Many a barn has burned down as a result. Compost is not that different. I probe newly baled hay regularly to monitor internal temperatures now. BTW, if a haystack (or large compost pile) is above 170 degrees, do not disturb it without a fire crew on standby. Exposing it to air at that point can lead to rapid flame advance!
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Post by lilolpeapicker on Apr 3, 2015 8:49:37 GMT -5
One time I had picked up about 8 lawn bags of fresh cut grass from my brother. But it was so late in the evening I decided to leave them in the car until the next morning. Went out to tend to them and my car had so much condensation inside and when I opened the door it was so hot inside, I was darn lucky it didn't explode my car, gas and all. I felt so very lucky nothing happened. Never again!
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