Chainsaw Muffler Ember

[Bart_]

I was chopping up some firewood including some punky rotten sections and started to smell wood smoke. I figured someone threw a fresh log in the stove as I was downwind but it was burning clean. Kept cutting smelled it a couple more times. I was noodling rotten cross grain twisted pieces that couldn't be chopped. Then I noticed a small orange ember directly in front of the muffler as I pulled the saw out, looking just like when they rub sticks on Survivor Man to start a fire. It immediately went out.

Stock 260 with spark arrestor.

Anyone else ever have this? I think the dry punk wood was the enabling factor.

 

[colb]

Watch Ghislain Ojeda have it happen to him, lol. Pretty spry guy...

 

[27RMT0N]

Yep, the muffler itself just gets extremely hot and when pressed up against combustible material, can start a fire. In the summer when I'm cutting logs with dry moss on them, it's not uncommon to smell a little smoke or to see an ember or two. Just another safety issue to be aware of when using saws....

Another 'common' one is when guys are using metal brush-cutting blades, you can hit it against a rock or whatever, cause sparks and start fires in dry grass.

 

[Reach]

We set a tree on fire last year that way, not a big fire, but big enough the climber in the tree was hollering for us to start throwing water bottles at him in a pretty good hurry!

 

[Treezybreez]

Yeah, a few years ago I was working on a dead trunk that was covered in vines. I didn't finish it the first day, so I went home. Got a call from the home owner thanking me for my extra work burning out the stump. I told her that I didn't burn the stump out! When I got there the second day, it was evident that my muffler had caught the punk wood on fire and that fire burned up most of the vines a good half of the trunk and most of the hollow stump. I was blessed that the dead trunk was out in the middle of the recently mowed grassy yard. I've got pictures of it somewhere.

 

[Jonny]

I used to have a MS260 Pro that kept melting the brake handle.
I sold it. Guess that’s not very helpful but problem solved. I wonder if a muffler mod might have cooled it.

My MS441CM likes trying to light shit on fire too. No idea really but I should probably pull the muffler and look for anything out of the ordinary. When it starts getting dark out, I can see sparks blowing out of the muffler.

 

[Jehinten]

My MS441CM likes trying to light shit on fire too. No idea really but I should probably pull the muffler and look for anything out of the ordinary. When it starts getting dark out, I can see sparks blowing out of the muffler.

Same here on a 391. I've caught a rotting oak stump on fire, making the back cut. Just smoldered for awhile.

the muffler itself just gets extremely hot

Most definitely. I got a bit worried when milling with my 661 into dusk. I had just rebuilt the saw bc it'd gotten too hot. Took it out to a log and suddenly noticed that the muffler was getting red hot.

Apparently this is common, you just don't see it during the day. Read reports of leaf blowers doing the same thing at night.

 

[Crimsonking]

When I worked at Davey, the office got a call before we left the shop one morning. A customer from the previous day had to call the fire dept early in the am because an ember the team never detected caught the stump and all the wood (contracted to leave behind) on fire near the house. Thankfully the house wasn’t damaged at all.

Edit- super dead tree.