Post by Jay Blair on Jan 6, 2006 18:00:50 GMT -5
As I have mentioned before, I use office waste basket style strip shred paper shredders to shred scrap paper for use as bedding in both my indoor bins and base layer in my outdoor "lasagna" style raised beds that I BISF garden in.
When purchasing shredders I always verify that they have a thermal overload safety shutdown feature, however, yesterday I discovered that this is not all the safety precaution that should be considered. Especially if you do as I do and replace the desk side sized waste basket with a 20 to 30 gallon trash can to hold the equivalent of a 40 pound bale of paper shred.
I was running three shredder units simultaneously to shred bedding addition when the oldest one of my shredders went into thermal shutdown.
Even after the shredder motor shut down, flaming erupted within the unit.
Luckily for me I keep ABC fire extinguishers in each room and was able to extinguish the fire potential before it expanded from the plastic shredder housing and ignited the bale of shredded paper in the can.
So if your worm operation gets to the point that your paper shredding goes into larger scale than normal desk side waste shredding, I would advise the following precautions.
1. Use only shredders with thermal overload shutdowns.
2. Retire any shredder from use if it gets to where it continues to run more than 4 seconds after the paper has passed through the shredder.
If it requires a slap or hit to release the activation switch, the shredder has "too many miles" on it for safe operation in my opinion.
The 6 year old shredder that smoked on me had been hanging in on position for the last few days of use.
3. Pause at least the same amount of time as it takes to shred a paper scrap before feeding another into the shredder to minimize unit heat up. Never run a shredder continuously until it thermally shuts down. Pre tear the scraps by hand to lengths not longer than 18 inches helps to regulate thermal heat up of the shredder.
4. Keep an ABC grade all fire compatibility fire extinguisher next to the shredding area. I prefer the cO2 gas filled models to the dry chemical filled types as clean up is easier if they have to be used.
5. Unplug the shredder unit and remove it from atop the shredder receptacle, especially if the can is full .
I have seen shred strips stick up into the "shredded paper out" slot when the shred gets within a few inches of the shredder unit and reactivate the shredder auto on switch.
Unplugging and removing the unit eliminates this risk potential.
After ensuring that I had no fire risk remaining, I did a controlled burn experiment of some of the shredded paper in my patio clay chimmea. A 1 cu foot pile of paper shred completely blazed within 15 seconds after just one strip was set afire.
So if you dramatically increase your shredder activity and exceed the manufacturer suggested use procedures , keep in mind that the fire potential exists and take appropriate precautions.
Also consider dating your shredders or otherwise devise a means of tracking operation hours and retire them from use when you consider it unsafe to continue operating them.
Paper shredders are an affordable time saving piece of operational equipment in any expanding worm operation. As with any tool , common sense safety steps should be used in their operation.
When purchasing shredders I always verify that they have a thermal overload safety shutdown feature, however, yesterday I discovered that this is not all the safety precaution that should be considered. Especially if you do as I do and replace the desk side sized waste basket with a 20 to 30 gallon trash can to hold the equivalent of a 40 pound bale of paper shred.
I was running three shredder units simultaneously to shred bedding addition when the oldest one of my shredders went into thermal shutdown.
Even after the shredder motor shut down, flaming erupted within the unit.
Luckily for me I keep ABC fire extinguishers in each room and was able to extinguish the fire potential before it expanded from the plastic shredder housing and ignited the bale of shredded paper in the can.
So if your worm operation gets to the point that your paper shredding goes into larger scale than normal desk side waste shredding, I would advise the following precautions.
1. Use only shredders with thermal overload shutdowns.
2. Retire any shredder from use if it gets to where it continues to run more than 4 seconds after the paper has passed through the shredder.
If it requires a slap or hit to release the activation switch, the shredder has "too many miles" on it for safe operation in my opinion.
The 6 year old shredder that smoked on me had been hanging in on position for the last few days of use.
3. Pause at least the same amount of time as it takes to shred a paper scrap before feeding another into the shredder to minimize unit heat up. Never run a shredder continuously until it thermally shuts down. Pre tear the scraps by hand to lengths not longer than 18 inches helps to regulate thermal heat up of the shredder.
4. Keep an ABC grade all fire compatibility fire extinguisher next to the shredding area. I prefer the cO2 gas filled models to the dry chemical filled types as clean up is easier if they have to be used.
5. Unplug the shredder unit and remove it from atop the shredder receptacle, especially if the can is full .
I have seen shred strips stick up into the "shredded paper out" slot when the shred gets within a few inches of the shredder unit and reactivate the shredder auto on switch.
Unplugging and removing the unit eliminates this risk potential.
After ensuring that I had no fire risk remaining, I did a controlled burn experiment of some of the shredded paper in my patio clay chimmea. A 1 cu foot pile of paper shred completely blazed within 15 seconds after just one strip was set afire.
So if you dramatically increase your shredder activity and exceed the manufacturer suggested use procedures , keep in mind that the fire potential exists and take appropriate precautions.
Also consider dating your shredders or otherwise devise a means of tracking operation hours and retire them from use when you consider it unsafe to continue operating them.
Paper shredders are an affordable time saving piece of operational equipment in any expanding worm operation. As with any tool , common sense safety steps should be used in their operation.
