Great article on oil by the Torygraph

RenewableCandy · Post by **RenewableCandy** » 21 Jul 2013, 23:34

I have taken a look at the charred wreckage of the said heap, and sadly it appears that the seat of the fire was at the top, rather than in the centre, thus implying the fag-end rather than spontaneous combustion hypothesis. Which is a pity, because that means that rather than marvelling at the weirdness of nature, I am reduced to chafing at the extent of human* stupidity.

*Many dogs of course also walk past the Plot, usually with their owners. I credit the said hounds with enough intelligence not to smoke.

Post by **kenneal - lagger** » 22 Jul 2013, 00:57

We had a fire in a local composting scheme which burned over winter. It started spontaneously in the autumn and the fore brigade said that they couldn't put it out as they would have to move about a 1000 tonnes of compost to do so. After many months of atmospheric pollution the local outcry was so great that the fire brigade did go in and put it out eventually, with the help of some large earth moving machinery and a lot of water. The company doing the composting, conveniently for themselves, went bust before they could be sent the bill for the clean up!

biffvernon · Post by **biffvernon** » 22 Jul 2013, 08:18

Steve, I didn't say "no the can't" I said, "What if I were to say, "No they can't!"?" and then went on to show how, at first glance, one might jump to the conclusion that it couldn't but, with reference to an authoritative paper, gave the explanation of why it could.

vt, for sure there are situations where oxidation reactions can cause fires without any biological heating. Linseed oil soaked rags are a well known hazard where this can occur if conditions are just right. But I've not heard of hay catching fire without some initial biological activity resulting from too high a moisture content. If it were possible then hay fires would be a lot more common. They are very rare because farmers know and understand the issue and usually act accordingly.

featherstick · Post by **featherstick** » 22 Jul 2013, 13:20

I think this thread is about to spontaneously combust, given the amount of heat generated in the dark.

RenewableCandy · Post by **RenewableCandy** » 22 Jul 2013, 20:41

No, to this thread didn't spontaneously combust: I chucked a fag-end in. Apologies.

JavaScriptDonkey · Post by **JavaScriptDonkey** » 23 Jul 2013, 19:39

RenewableCandy wrote:No, to this thread didn't spontaneously combust: I chucked a fag-end in. Apologies.

Just so long as you didn't suggest that you might wonder what would happen if you did chuck a fag-end in then that's probably okay.