Canola Bin On Fire

[sumdumguy]

I talked to a neighbour today. He said they had a bin fire yesterday, Canola that they thought was dry. Straight cut, maybe a few green patches. Now they are taking a load out of every bin with fingers crossed.

[blueversi]

Saw one near Birch Hills couple weeks ago with flames burning on a canola pile underneath the bin

[Oliver88]

Sounds crazy to hear of actual flames!

I'll continue to swath I think.

[Braveheart]

Dry canola or not are any of these bins aerated?

[sumdumguy]

My neighbour's was aerated but not monitored.

[fjlip]

All swathed, cooled, staying cold. Keep swathing, same as last 40 years.

[tweety]

Some people really have to learn the hard way.

[hobbyfrmr]

I heard of one near melfort and the 3rd hand talk was thst there was fire and flames. Its difficult to comprehend, i would have to "see it to believe it".

[Klause]

In the past two weeks we've hauled 37 superB loads of heated canola anywhere from 2 to 90% for a crusher.


It wasn't all straight cut... there is just a hell of a lot of heated canola this year.

Check those bins and because they were cold last week doesn't mean they alone this week

[agchat]

Just came back from plugging the Stormax in. Canola bins all down .7 to 1.6 C from last week on each sensor. Third week in a row they have dropped a bit. Couple more weekly plugs, and if they still are dropping a bit will only check monthly after that.

[TOM4CWB]

Canola Watch ALERT: Sudden rise in heated canola
November 14, 2015 Some canola growers have reported rising temperatures in their canola bins.

Growers are encouraged to check all canola bins as soon as possible. Heating can start small and go unnoticed for days and perhaps weeks. Cooling the bin and stopping this early heating now can save a lot of money in lost grade and lost delivery options.

Reasons for the increase in heated canola are wide ranging. They include hot harvest in August, high moisture at binning, green weed seeds and green canola seeds. Cool temperatures, rainfall or humid conditions at harvest will increase risk factors. (Top 10 risky situations for canola storage)

What to do? Temperature cables are a good way to monitor whole bins. They may not always detect initial hot spots, but they will show temperature increases that suggest a whole bin is at risk. Without cables, accurate assessment requires a physical transfer of canola from one bin to another. Hand probing through doors or roof hatches is unreliable for finding hot spots near the core of the bin. When transferring, move at least one third of the canola out of a bin. If green counts, moisture, weeds or dockage are high (in short, anything that may increase the storage risk), transferring the whole bin may be safest.

Feel and smell the canola as it comes out of the bin. If canola has started to spoil, start looking for delivery options. Many of the companies on this list will buy heated canola.

Does your storage measure up? Cool conditions in the fall make it difficult to dry canola using aeration alone. Is it time for a heated air system, or a dryer? For more on storage considerations, the Canola Council of Canada has archived videos on floors, fans, bins and storage safety.

[macdon02]

Lol the one at birch hills was full of barley. Heater on aeration with stir augers. Has been burning over a week.

[sumdumguy]

I saw a bin of burning grain smouldering between Regina and Moose Jaw. The grain was already taken out of bin and spread out. Big pile. Big loss.