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Am I being too paranoid?
- Thread starter mtbazz
- Start date
Nope....
Had a ceiling mounted light a few years ago that was old.
One evening i turned on this hallway light, than went to the other side of the house. I was gone 2 minutes. When I returned the hallway was full of smoke. Basically the lamp failed, burned through the insulation in the lamp and was starting to char the drywalll. The breaker never tripped. Also, this was about a year AFTER I had an upgraded electrical panel installed to replace the 1972 era breakers that were there.
I'll look into the fire supression systems and heat sensors mentioned, but in the meantime its gonna be lights out and the girls will be on "natural" light cycle for a few days.
WelderDan FTW! Shop lights+you= Getaway
I just returned home form a week long vacation. I had a house sitter and a grow sitter, I require quite a bit of piece of mind to be able to relax. My friend camping with me also has a grow and had a house sitter. He got a call that one of his ballast had caught on fire and filled the house with black smoke. Luckily his 3 dogs alerted the house sitter to the situation. It can and will happen, at the worst of times. The morning I was leaving for my trip I had my first bulb ever explode in the hood, a wall fan go out, and a chicken ran away.
SirSteely
Member
I wonder if that chicken had something to do with the lamp and fan? But yeah a grow sitter would be nice.
i guess you guys electrics are more volatile then over here. never had a lamp catch fire or make smoke yet on me in 2o years. in fact i have never had a ballast break down on me in all those years till recently a 250 watt hps just stopped lighting up the bulb. but nothing dangerous at all resulted. if you buy good quality bulbs and don't splash them with water when they are running, they shouldn't explode. but even if, it will just scatter some hot glass shards on your plants. they will get burn damage but will not catch fire due to being hydrated. so if your room is clean and not a fire hazard even a burst bulb shouldn't mean a fire. like i said, i can only talk from my experience. if your used to something different, then you already have your own answer.
Well my buddy just figured out the methane from his backed up septic and an oxygen producing agent he treated his septic with helped create the fire. He had a small explosion last night.
lmfao I might just put this in my sig
Get a dlink camera at radioshack or off ebay.. $120
Remote viewing of ur grow from ur phone.. Priceless!
Seriously, i used to be a stressball but now that i can at least see that lights and fans r on (or not) it makes it much much easier to get away for a day or two..
I have also done the shoplight trick.. Works well also..
Ya shit does happen.. But being asleep in ur bedroom isnt gonna be much different then being out of town (except u wont die in the fire)
Also, i dont have one but they look pretty sweet.. The flame defender auto fire extinguisher is sweet..
Remote viewing of ur grow from ur phone.. Priceless!
Seriously, i used to be a stressball but now that i can at least see that lights and fans r on (or not) it makes it much much easier to get away for a day or two..
I have also done the shoplight trick.. Works well also..
Ya shit does happen.. But being asleep in ur bedroom isnt gonna be much different then being out of town (except u wont die in the fire)
Also, i dont have one but they look pretty sweet.. The flame defender auto fire extinguisher is sweet..
i'm runnin arc fault breakers (damn they're expensive!), fire suppression and a water cop. monitoring via video doesn't do much good if your at much of a distance other than to allow one to personally witness a fukin disaster! always someone close to prevent rippers, burglars and evil doers.
Hillside Grower
Member
T5's on a timer, flame defender if you are really worried. I leave my gardens for a day or 2 once and a while and there's a lot more lamps than in a tent.
Get out, get a life!
Get out, get a life!
Hillside Grower
Member
Oh yeah... the answer to your question is YES.
I'd rather turn some plants hermie than come back home to a burned home. Using a small wattage light to keep the day/night cycle correct would be ok in my mind, but I would never leave a 1000w lamp running on its own for 3 days.
Take a desk lamp, CFL bulb and a simple timer. That'll be sufficient and rather safe to use unattended.
Take a desk lamp, CFL bulb and a simple timer. That'll be sufficient and rather safe to use unattended.
seedbuster
New member
I'm with Marco61 on this. A small wattage lamp just to keep the light cycle going is alot safer than leaving a 1000w HID running. You could also install an automatic fire extinguisher for added peace of mind.
I'd be more worried about somebody breaking in and potentially getting the authorities called out than a properly set up room catching fire.
I'd be more worried about somebody breaking in and potentially getting the authorities called out than a properly set up room catching fire.
I leave my gardens, a 4kw and 2kw, for 2-3 day vacations all the time. Make sure they are watered and everything is in place before I go... The camera idea is a good peace of mind. Wireless, remote video is fairly cheap. Also of course make sure all electrical is up to snuff... no overloaded circuits...
If you're really that paranoid about a fire, you may want to reconfigure your electrical. But, if everything is already solid, you are just too paranoid
If you're really that paranoid about a fire, you may want to reconfigure your electrical. But, if everything is already solid, you are just too paranoid
S
Slip Kid
I have similar issues about leaving and in the end I've opted to stay home.Over the yrs I've had 3 ballasts catch fire all when I was in the room.One of the ballasts, a shitty sunleaves 600 was fully engulfed in flames and lit the plastic coating on the wires up.Generally things are going to be fine but, if I had to leave I'd use flouros to keep the light cycle up.I've seen a guy leave a 10k grow for the weekend and his a/c unit blew the first night.He didn't have a fire but the place hit about 130 F and ruined the grow.I can just barely go out to work and comeback without grievous worry.The shop lights are perfect but there's still thieves.I need a vacation too!! You can't be too paranoid anynmore.
Stop being hermits people..
U dont need to babysit ur ballasts..
Wire them to code..
Mount the ballasts to something flame retardent
Get an autofire extinguisher and a camera.. N go have some fun once in awhile...
Ive had one ballast catch fire.. I wasnt there at the time. It scorched the plywood it was mounted to but didnt catch..
Unnerving to be sure but its only happened once in 6 years..
U dont need to babysit ur ballasts..
Wire them to code..
Mount the ballasts to something flame retardent
Get an autofire extinguisher and a camera.. N go have some fun once in awhile...
Ive had one ballast catch fire.. I wasnt there at the time. It scorched the plywood it was mounted to but didnt catch..
Unnerving to be sure but its only happened once in 6 years..
lol you won't convince the op, or a bunch of others it seems. it does make me wonder what kind of electrical work we are talking about and what kind of cheap chinese ballast? a good quality digital ballast doesn't even get really hot anymore, so how that will cause a fire unless you put something flamable directly touching the bulb, i do not know.
one thing i will say is that i only ever use 600 watt lamps, and i get them from a second generation electrical suppliers, they have stuff manufactured to their specifics and standards. this shit does not catch fire. yes the bulb can explode on very rare occasions, but that will not cause a fire in a clean set up thats not a fire trap to start with.
but yeah next set up, we will add a camera to watch the ventilation, lighting and watering, as well as a camera or 2 watching the area to see if anyone is showing undue interest. but thats not because i think they will catch fire, it's so i can be sure they are turning on and off at the appropriate time and that i know the smell is being contained because my ventilation is running.
if you really are in such danger from your set up you might want to watch out going to sleep at night, lol.
one thing i will say is that i only ever use 600 watt lamps, and i get them from a second generation electrical suppliers, they have stuff manufactured to their specifics and standards. this shit does not catch fire. yes the bulb can explode on very rare occasions, but that will not cause a fire in a clean set up thats not a fire trap to start with.
but yeah next set up, we will add a camera to watch the ventilation, lighting and watering, as well as a camera or 2 watching the area to see if anyone is showing undue interest. but thats not because i think they will catch fire, it's so i can be sure they are turning on and off at the appropriate time and that i know the smell is being contained because my ventilation is running.
if you really are in such danger from your set up you might want to watch out going to sleep at night, lol.
