grow room safety

Where to fires normally originate? At the ballast? At the light socket? If so I think storing a ballast inside a fireproof grow room is the safest bet, forget the extra heat gain.

Assuming a dedicated circuit is being used with no amp overloads.

I had a digital ballast give up the magic smoke, so IMHO I would say the ballast area has the greatest chance of a fire if they fail in a way that does not immediately trip the breaker.

2nd I would guess near the bulb itself if something were to come in contact with the hot bulb, or if a hanger gave way on one side of the hood causing it to fall sideways and possibly set your walls on fire (if plastic covered but maybe even wood if given enough time).

3rd, again IMHO, overloaded extension cords or power strips. It is too tempting to daisy chain multiple power strips together. Most good ones have built in fuses or breakers but some of the cheap ones do not.

4th, getting high in your grow space (or smoking) and you loose track of a lit what ever and it comes in contact with something flammable. Happens every day, a smoke in the couch, in bed, dumping an ash tray in the garbage with a hot cherry...

Smoke detectors and a fire extinguisher or two are you best friends. A smoke detector in your grow space "could" false alarm if the humidity is to high.

Timers can be a fire risk as well...make sure you check the rating

Yea lol that smoke detector could be a double edged sword when it comes to stealth. Good thinkin bout the timers as well. I think a ballast should be safe on top of something non flammable in crawl space. Can't see anything igniting around it if something should go wrong.

What I'm getting at is I wasn't sure about mounting it directly on the sheetrock wall with screws like I've seen some people do. If the damn ballast were to combust connected to sheetrock walls it could be a damn problem. Fireproof sheetrock or not.

from the few reports i've seen, the ballasts seem to be the usual culprits
and i applaud your concern for fire safety, you see way too little of that here
one new product that is out there is the First Alert extension cord, it detects insulation break down and will shut off power
insulation failure is the most common source of extension cord fires

Other than the ballast (I have a fan on my magnetic, in another room) and bulb failures, I'd say the next highest risk for fires are extension cords.


Piggy backing extension cords or power bars, accidentally overloading one, or using differently rated cords into each other.
I regularly check mine for kinks, heat, defects, and keep the unused outlets taped up with electrical tape. I also make sure to use under 75% of what my power bars are rated.

Power above the waist, water below the waist is a good rule of thumb.

I had a MH bulb catch fire on me after a hot start once. I was new to the game and didnt know that the bulbs needed a cool down period. Tripped over the cord..knocked it out then immediately plugged it back in. So i guess i would add power outages to the list of things to be concerned about. They sell delay timers that wont turn on for 15 mins if power is interrupted but they're a but pricey.

I really just want to applaud the concern for fire safety. Us cannabis growers do not want to be lumped in with meth labs as a hazard.

I have only ever left the house once while my HPS was on, it was to te airport and back, and I got worried as hell. I set up some floros if I am ever gone for more than a day, that HPS just scares me....

renyman said:

I had a MH bulb catch fire on me after a hot start once. I was new to the game and didnt know that the bulbs needed a cool down period. Tripped over the cord..knocked it out then immediately plugged it back in. So i guess i would add power outages to the list of things to be concerned about. They sell delay timers that wont turn on for 15 mins if power is interrupted but they're a but pricey.

Click to expand...

I'm new to the game and didn't know about hot starts. A digital 1000w hps works the same way? You have to let it cool down for a period of time before starting back up?

Like another poster said that makes me pretty concerned about power outages.. If the power goes out and comes right back on the bulb could ignite?

Would a hot start fire be the same thing as a bulb failure fire?

Think it could burn through a cooltube?

I increased safety in my op with one of these...

GypsyBush said:

I increased safety in my op with one of these...

Click to expand...

Thats what i am looking for Gypsy. Where would be the best place to pick one of those up?

I just did a quick search on google...

this seems to be the best price around...

http://www.growlightexpress.com/timers-instruments-52/50-amp-timer-box-313.html


larger image
larger image 50 Amp Timer Box

$429.95 $314.95
Save: $115.00 off

The 50 Amp Timer Box allows the user to run up to 8 - 1000 watt light systems and up to 10 amps of accessories from the same timer. An inline fuse protects the timer. Internally, the timer operates a contactor to control the power supply to the receptacles.
Specifications:
POWER CORD: 1 - 50 Amp Range Cord
BREAKERS: 1 - 20 Amp Quad Breaker 240 volt and 1 - 10 Amp Breaker 120 volt
RECEPTACLES: 8 - 240 volt (lights) and 2 - 120 volt (accessories)
Digital Timer Specifications:
* 7-Day Digital Timer
* 42 Weekly ON/OFF Settings
* 6 Daily ON/OFF Settings
* Manual Override
* Battery Back-up

PlutonicChronic said:

I'm new to the game and didn't know about hot starts. A digital 1000w hps works the same way? You have to let it cool down for a period of time before starting back up?

Like another poster said that makes me pretty concerned about power outages.. If the power goes out and comes right back on the bulb could ignite?

Would a hot start fire be the same thing as a bulb failure fire?

Think it could burn through a cooltube?

Click to expand...

It was likely that my bulb was faulty or i cracked it or something screwing it in, but still, the thing caught on fire so thats worth noting. This was the delay i was talking about:

http://w2.hidemyass.com/index.php?q=aHR0cDovL3d3dy5ob3J0aWN1bHR1cmVzb3VyY2UuY29tL2MtYS1wLWN1c3RvbS1hdXRvbWF0ZWQtcHJvZHVjdHMtaGlkLWxpZ2h0aW5nLWNvbnRyb2xsZXItZWxlY3Ryb25pYy1ob3Qtc3RhcnQtaGktdGVtcC1wcm90ZWN0aW9uLTE1LW1pbnV0ZS1kZWxheS01MC0xMTUtZi1wNDg1MS8/b3NDc2lkPWJiMjI4MmUyNGVjZTdmNDhiOGQ1Y2IzY2QzMjk1MDhk

heres the link:

http://www.plantlightinghydroponics.com/cap-hlc3e-high-temp-shutdown-w15-minute-on-delay-p-1724.html

renyman said:

It was likely that my bulb was faulty or i cracked it or something screwing it in, but still, the thing caught on fire so thats worth noting. This was the delay i was talking about:

http://w2.hidemyass.com/index.php?q=aHR0cDovL3d3dy5ob3J0aWN1bHR1cmVzb3VyY2UuY29tL2MtYS1wLWN1c3RvbS1hdXRvbWF0ZWQtcHJvZHVjdHMtaGlkLWxpZ2h0aW5nLWNvbnRyb2xsZXItZWxlY3Ryb25pYy1ob3Qtc3RhcnQtaGktdGVtcC1wcm90ZWN0aW9uLTE1LW1pbnV0ZS1kZWxheS01MC0xMTUtZi1wNDg1MS8/b3NDc2lkPWJiMjI4MmUyNGVjZTdmNDhiOGQ1Y2IzY2QzMjk1MDhk

Click to expand...

Thanks for the link that looks perfect but I can't quite afford it atm. I'd be alright if a hot start ruined my bulb but cant have any fires starting.

U get along alright without a delay timer?

I don't know what kind of reaction a hot start can give off but im thinking a cooltube could hold the flames

PlutonicChronic said:

Thanks for the link that looks perfect but I can't quite afford it atm. I'd be alright if a hot start ruined my bulb but cant have any fires starting.

U get along alright without a delay timer?

I don't know what kind of reaction a hot start can give off but im thinking a cooltube could hold the flames

Click to expand...

I think if it was common we would hear more about. My bulb was probably just fucked. I found this too which seems reasonably priced.


http://www.hydrosuppliers.com/product_info.php?cPath=50&products_id=2667

If you are handy with electric you can pick up a GFI (Ground Fault Interupter) outlet like the one pictured in the center and all the outlets after that will be protected and it will trip out before the main breaker for that circuit will. That is added protection and will trip and save you if you have some of the smaller problems.

I think most of the problems come from bad wiring more than anything, running too many amps thru too small of wire which causes them to heat up and melt together, things touching that aren't supposed too and stuff like that.

Then you can do extra things if you wanted like put the ballast in a metal box that is grounded so if it decides to melt itself together it should trip the main breaker for that circuit, I'm not referring to the main breaker in the breaker panel just the breaker for that branch.

A GFI will trip pretty easy so your best bet is to spend $10 and use one of those.

Mostly just thinking ahead, like are there other wires running across the ballast so if it decides to heat up is it going to melt the wires together. Just look at everything and make sure it looks safe and do a few what if scenarios and you should be alright.

I think a lot of the usual problems come from people trying to steal the electric more than anything or like was mentioned with using cheap outlet strips without breakers in them and chaining them together. When you have everything running touch the wires and make sure they aren't running hot, that will be a sign you are pulling too many amps thru it.

You are thinking ahead so I bet you'll be alright.

Just adding to la9's comments about GFI's.

This is the #1 thing you should look in to, because you are dealing with water. Any house built in the last 20 years or so (depending on code) will have GFI's in the wash room, kitchen, and outside.
They do sell GFI breakers but they are more expensive (typically 5X the cost of an outlet)
One more thing, if you are handy and decide to install a GFI make sure you hook it up right. If you don't it will work, but will never trip like it is designed to.

A couple more things I want to add. House wiring is mostly 14g @ 15amps. 1-2 outlets in a kitchen might be 12g @ 20amps.
If you are buying extension cords, power bars, timers, splitters... try to buy grounded (3 prong)

If your breaker is tripping you could be overloading the circuit. Add up your appliances most should have label how many amps they use. If in watts you can convert by watts div volts. Eg. heater 1500w div 120vac = 12.5amps so you can see there is 2.5amps you can use on that circuit, just enough for 4 T8 (2 bulb 4' fixtures)

Lumatek does have a breaker designed into their ballast.
Hot starts.... a cool tube might be the only solution to contain most of the glass if it ever happens.

I've done all the math for amps/breaker/wire but the main thing that concerns me is the hotstarts. I hear power fluctuations can cause them.
The house lights flicker from time to time as I'm sure everyones do. This is enough to cause a hot start?

I see a ton of people who don't have delay timers so I'm thinking it will be alright? Just can't afford one atm but a ruined bulb or fire is even more costly.

Is it possible to have a hotstart without a fire/ruined bulb? Or is one all it takes...

Lumatek states to wait 20-30min for cool down.
You could probably build a delay timer with a 120vac relay, regular on/off timer and a ups power supply. Maybe a ups might do the trick, depends on the features.

Shit, now you have me worried, I might have to look into this.