Here is an exciting moment: Crank up the chainsaw ( a long-reliable Stihl 026) and have it immediately burst into flames. I had gloves on and so avoided being burned, but the case is damaged. I sure hope the saw can be repaired at a reasonable cost. However, it is a bit unnerving. It is also a major pain, as I have a pasture to reclaim and some Osage Orange (Bois d’Arc) to cut for fence posts, woodworking and also to send to several folks who have been promised some.
I’ve been using chainsaws for over 40 years and had lots of mishaps — kickback — blades stuck in large trunks when the trees moved in unexpected directions– high branches falling — blades hitting in-grown metal or rocks — but I have never experienced anything like this.
Anyone else experienced this sort of thing?
Joe
Replies
I would imagine the people at Stihl will be very interested in finding out why this happened - probably even give you a new saw.
SO I would think. I bought the saw new, but 15 years ago, so it may be a matter of normal wear and tear. Still...I emailed them yesterday and called the closest authorized repair shop today. The shop was profoundly disinterested in anything but the work. Have not yet heard back from Stihl.Joe
I've never had a chainsaw do that, but did have a motorcycle burst in to flames between my legs after kick starting it. I was wide awake after that and have since always double checked the gas line after putting a tank back on!
Greg
I never had a chain saw catch fire either but ,,, I did have a 1962 Super 90 Porsche jump time , backfire up through the two big I think Solex carburetors and catch fire , that was a sad day in a life , on the ride home from work one day .
d
Like you, I have never had the chain saw catch a fire. But I did work in a University setting where one of the Doctoral candidates had the department pickup checked out when it of a sudden coughed and belched fire. The poor grad student was excitedly picking green weeds, gravel, dirt, whatever he could find for a few minutes. His wife sitting on the passenger side was taking it all in when she came up with a brilliant idea. Danny, why don't you try this fire extinguisher. The end.
Joe - There was a recall on these saws about 10 years ago. The Stihl company replaced the gas caps, and I think I remember that the problem was the old cap design had enough internal displacement in the gas tank to cause a slight overflow when the user filled it and screwed down the cap. The small amount of gasoline flowed down over the exhasut manifold, and ignited.
I suspect as a long-time chainsaw user you'd have noticed if there was a gasoline overflow and washed it off before cranking it, but a related problem you might not have seen was a pinhole leak in the gasoline feed tube, which could have caused a similar fire - gasoline igniting on the exhaust manifold.
Interesting. I suspect a pinhole this time, and possibly a spark from the wiring harness because all of the flames were in the back of the saw and not near the exhaust manifold.J
Of course the pin hole would be a good guess, but once, I guess I didn't get the cap on tight before starting it. When it came off, it soaked my leg with gas, but didn't ignite. Man, I was lucky, and knew it. If you have ever seen the sparks from these saws when it is dark, I don't know how it didn't ignite with that much gas fumes in the air.
I have an 029 and had to replace the gas feed tube that runs from the tank to the carb about 2 years ago. I bought the saw in '01 or '02. The tube had cracked along it's length enough that I could prime and start the engine, but once the gas in the primer was out it sputtered and died. Could be you had a similar crack, small enough to still get suction, but big enough to let out fumes to ignite once it got warmed up. Did you notice any gas smell other than the normal stink from filling it up?Andy
No, the flames were instant. The saw started, and within seconds or less, so did the flames.Joe
Interesting. And I'm guessing there isn't enough left to do a proper autopsy. Is it worth fixing?Andy
Actually, I smothered the flames fairly quickly. Hard to say if it will be worth repair.J
That's never happened to me, but I saw it happen when a guy refueled a hot saw and slopped some gas.
That I could understand. In my case, the saw hadn't been run in about three months. Sure wasn't hot.J
After reading the post and having had Stihl's for many years... it sounds like the work of those Al Queda boys to me... perhaps a call to Homeland Security would be in order. :>)
Regards...
Sarge..
I have a buddy that works for homeland Security (In the HQ no less) and he would not know what end to grab on a running chainsaw. I would not suggest bring them in on it. They seam to be mostly "city boys". They may think that the chainsaw is a terrorist weapon, or some such.
Doug M
That really doesn't surprise me Doug. I have doubts that many of today's crop of fine, young men could hook up a set of jumper cables to a battery properly or replace a simple washer in a leaking faucet.. much less change out a faucet. Values have taken new priorities. :>)
Regards...
Sarge..
The hell of it is, most faucets today don't have washers. It is a real production and expense to repair them.J
That was obviously a trick question!Chris @ http://www.flairwoodwork.spaces.live.com(soon to be http://www.flairwoodworks.com)
- Success is not the key to happines. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful. - Albert Schweitzer
Sarge, have you had me watched? A year or so ago, I was visiting him at his place outside DC and I drove out from Michigan. I have one of those nice electric plug in car coolers, and I forgot to turn it off (well in truth my other buddy that drove with me forgot to turn it off but....) Anyway the battery died. I of course had jumpers in the trunk. But I think I was the only one (out of three of us) that knew how to jumper the car. I will admit I was on the phone to my mechanic when I did it just to be safe (nice thing about having a father that is a mechanic) Once the car was started we drove to the gas station (with him following) filled up the tank (of course the damn thing was empty) then we all got in my car and did a driving tour around DC for a while to charge the battery.
So being as this is the same friend it is kind of funny you would use jumping a car as an example. Of course my buddy started driving in a brand new car vs my 10 year old car I started with, so he did not learn the finer points of working with old cars.
Doug
That did hit a nerve, I bet.... BTW.. you don't have to drive forever to re-charge if.. if... all the cells are still good (one or more not dead) and your alternator (used to be generator) is in order and throwing out a full charge. It just takes between 5-10 minutes max and it should be fully re-charged at that point.
Another thing you don't see as often anymore since batteries are mainly side post mounted as you did with top mounted post is corrosion from acid on top shorting the ground cable out. Especially in summer time those days you had better carry a piece of sand-paper in the trunk to take off the negative cable and clean the post down to bare metal to establish the ground again. And I won't even go into vapor lock in the hot summer months..
They just don't make em like they used to... maybe a good thing in most cases. But... you trade little quirks like that for computers going bad and a ton of bucks to replace them.
Sarge..
Edited 2/3/2009 3:25 pm ET by SARGEgrinder47
No not personally, but have heard of it in my logging days(since have had career change) Usually gas spillage onto a hot saw. Electrical and pinhole in gas line....hum....lighting hits twice....more likely a vapor blast from a poor gas cap and electrics. Just my thoughts...oh yeah I've knocked down a few big boys and I.ve hit an ingrown rock once, had a close call with a widow maker too. I'm glad to read that the saw took the brunt of this and not you.
Nope. Never had a chainsaw catch on fire, but there was that time I was going mach 20 with my hair on fire....
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