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"chippy cheap heat"

Thermal reaction of wood chips
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While having a coffee at my local diner i overheard a conversation between two guy's who worked in the lumber industry, The topic was about the spontanious combustion of Wood chips were they where being stored outside a wood proccesing plant. The combustion of the piles of wood chips was caused by the improper mixing of two different types of wood chips which when stored together, caused a chemical thermal reaction between the two. The conversation dealt with the difficulty of extinguishing the slow burning piles of chips. It seems that it was next to impossible to accomplish this without a major effort which would involve taking apart the mountains of wood chips to get at the smouldering fires within. At this point i was reminded of a time i was mixing fiberglass resin and had added too much catalyst to the mix,,the result was a container of resin which began to super heat. I had tried to smother the resin in a tub of water and was shocked at the amount of energy given off by the chemical reaction of the resin. It took as i remember, about an hour before the container of resin (which i had submerged in water)cooled down enough to handle. The thought came to me in a blinding flash that; the problem these two guys where faced with was in all reality a "BOON" I began to think of a way in which these elements could be brought to-gether in a contained environment to create heat for use in making steam, and off course, heating buildings cheaply. I am of course typing this as i'm thinking on the posibillities, so forgive me if i do not have all my ducks in a row yet. My intention is to begin a dialogue and see where this leads, as i am fairly certain there is some value to this idea. Anyone???????
Thunderbucket, Dec 12 2004

Spontaneous fire info http://irc.nrc-cnrc...ca/cbd/cbd189e.html
Wood chip pile fires. [bristolz, Dec 12 2004]

Wood expert http://www.housesmartcentre.com
"It's just that easy" [mensmaximus, Dec 12 2004]

Worldgineer's seaweed scheme. Seaweed_20Power
[bungston, Dec 13 2004]

[link]






       Some suggestions for a newcomer: Use paragraph breaks, and think out your ideas BEFORE posting them.   

       That out of the way, it's at least a plausible idea. Instead of pumping gas into a house, pump in two chemicals that react exothermically. Safer than gas that way, actually, because either chemical alone can't explode or cause a fire in case of a leak (at least, not if you choose ther ight chemicals).
5th Earth, Dec 12 2004
  

       My most humble appologies for my terrible use of the keyboard, it's a problem i deal with constantly. As to "Thinking about the ideas" before posting them, I was actualy trying to begin a dialogue on which to build further. Again, please excuse my grammar.
Thunderbucket, Dec 12 2004
  

       Last night I heard my mama singing this song
Ooo-wee, chippy chippy cheap heat...
DrBob, Dec 12 2004
  

       Another corporate garbage issue.   

       Fire the wooden accountant.   

       It's just - that easy.
mensmaximus, Dec 12 2004
  

       [Buck] - welcome. This issue of spontaneous combustion has been on my mind lately - thus my "Make Fire with Your Own Fat" idea. The thing about the wood chips: anything which can oxidize in a closed space where heat accumulates has the potential to catch fire by itself. True for wood chips, oily rags, manure, etc. Manure piles can get so hot they sterilize themselves! But this oxidation is the same as burning, only slower. So really, you might as well burn the wood chips for energy - people have a lot more experience controlling that oxidative reaction.   

       The idea of harnessing heat from naturally decaying organic matter is a whole different issue. This would be garbage, community yard waste or other wet materials which it would not be economical to burn. In fact, I think there was an idea here about growing seaweed to burn for fuel. The drying step would be very cumbersome. One could leave it wet and harness the heat of the pile, cutting out the drying step.
bungston, Dec 13 2004
  

       You've just discoverd biomass energy. It is pretty neat, but others have discovered it awhile ago. Just google "biomass energy" for a lot of other ideas about harnessing energy from biomass decomposition (including wood & chips) that are more than half-baked.
sophocles, Dec 13 2004
  

       Alot of third world countries burn their feces and garbage for heat and power. Such as india. The untouchables or Pariahs make the feces into packed bricks for burning with their bare hands. Yech!
EvilPickels, Dec 14 2004
  

       My neighbour's one and a half ton truck full of wood chips caught on fire last week. The rad hose broke, overheating the engine, that melted the wires, that restarted the truck by itself, that started the cab on fire that started the wood chips burning spontaneously by proximity.
mensmaximus, Dec 14 2004
  

       I hope you brought beer.
bungston, Dec 14 2004
  
      
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