Five years ago, our square baler caught fire because of a defective drive shaft. I only had two fire extinguishers and three litres of water, which wasn’t enough. After this I wanted a better solution and decided to build a water tank that we could fit to the tractor’s front linkage. 

After losing a baler in a fire, Thomas Wagner decided to build a firefighting extinguisher tank with several refinements.

A key part of the design for me is that it would not depend on the tractor for pumping, so if there was an issue you don’t lose water. This ensures full operational safety even in an emergency.

We used an old 850-litre hot water tank. I then fitted four 5-litre compressed air cylinders to the top, and each of these is filled to 150 bar. 

The tank is filled with water through the inlets at the top.

To reduce the pressure in the water tank to 5-6 bar, I used a standard off-the-shelf pressure relief valve. The tank will empty in around seven minutes through the 10m long hose with a high-pressure nozzle. It can spray the water up to about 15 metres.

The fire is extinguished with a 10m hose and high-pressure nozzle. It also has a tap for washing your hands.

It only needs two of the compressed air cylinders to empty the water tank. I have fitted an air connector to the third cylinder and can use it for blowing out the radiators. The fourth tank is there as a backup. 

A swath roller encourages even the biggest straw swaths to pass under the front-mounted unit without any problems.

To prevent overpressure in the tank, I installed a safety valve that opens at 8 bar. There is also a tap on the left-hand side of the head for washing your hands. A swath roller ensures that no crop is bulldozed when baling big swaths of straw. 

Thomas Wagner

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