Fireproofing your grow area

[vonforne]

When I apply one sheet of drywall to another I use core board screws. They are designed with this in mind. Use your regular screws 1 1/4 inch to apply the first layer and the the core board screws to apply the second.

 

[ganjaLeaving]

Any one have a diy to make a high temp shut down?
I saw CAP has a high temp shut down that aslo included a 15min delay, so your light didn't start up to soon. Darn thing is $150. If it is like most of my other DIY project's. I'll prolly have $149 tied up trying to make one.

First thing that comes in mind is a thermostat set to highest value, that triggers a relay connected to panel/main electricity source

thermostat 15$
relay 5-10$

 

[Bulldog11]

This is a great thread don't know why I didn't see it before. I am also a master carpenter and general contractor. I have been building houses and commercial buildings for a long time. Every year fire saftey gets more and more strict. When I design a room I always think of every thing you had mentioned. The only few differences in the rooms I design is, 1. I use a commercial corrador door. These doors have a fire rating of 90 min. (I get these for free during a demo of a suite in a commercial building.) Next I use 5/8 sheet rock on all walls and lid. This gives you a fire rating of 30 min. Last but not least, I use fire rated ply wood to hang all my ballast and equipment. This way if there is a short from this equipment there is no way for a fire to start. 3/4 ply will work as well, but to be safe the fire rated will not burn. Hope this helps somebody in the future, Peace and Love.

 

[yamaha_1fan]

my grow is in the basement and all the electrical and plumbing are exposed. My growroom is a former woodworking area and the former owner installed sprinklers. I have one inside the grow, and one right outside near the sub panel and ballasts.

Worked out good for me.

I think if you have access to the plumbing, installing the sprinklers is easy. Looks like they just tapped into the cold water lines and soldered in the sprinklers.

 

[norcal_sourD]

Verrrrry interestink..

 

[labtec]

a "pigtail" is a power strip with multiple plugins. look for one that says "circuit breaker" or surge suppressor" on it.

 

[nola]

Nice thread.

this would be an excellent thread to get pinned.

 

[SoSincere]

great info, thanks so much. now that i feel i have my perfect setup i need to focus on saftey precautions like these. I will be fireproofing everything as u outlined, and will also setup a remote monitoring system outside of the grow using 2 panasonic bl-c131a units (plug and play/ wireless, $250 on amazon).

 

[Luther Budbank]

This thread got me thinking. Removing all the combustibles sounds like good advice. I got rid of the styrofoam and mylar I was using to reflect light. I picked up some aluminum coil in the roofing area of the store for $5 for 6" x 10'. I did an experiment where I put some mylar on the aluminum and lit it with a lighter. The only part that burned was the part that was protruding past the aluminum. I made much safer reflectors by gluing the mylar to the aluminum. www.cheaphydroponics.com has high temperature shutdown & light ON delays for a reasonable price.

Product Information
Users get protection from high temperatures and power outages.The unit will disable lights if the maximum temperature setpoint is exceeded, saving lights from excessive heat.The controller also protects lights from hot starts with a 15 minute delay, allowing lights to cool before turning back on after power has been interrupted. Gardeners can use this controller to delay other equipment from starting.The best of everything in one powerful unit. Unit is rated for 15 amps at 120 volts. Controller carries a three-year warranty.

Price: $115.00

Let's all stay safe.

LB

 

[chimei]

I like this thread, fire safety is should be up there with odor control.

Expecially if you have a family, you owe it to them to make this as safe as possible.

I use 2 arc fault breakers that feed 2 seperate outlets into my room, I had to install a junction box off my main breaker because no one sells arc fault breakers for my main breaker box.

I don't use GFI outlets, I don't do hydro, and do not keep water in the same room that the pants grow in so I never thought it would be a benefit.

Is there? I don't mind if I actually am buying more safety, I figured the arc fault was the most important thing.

I also use connected to my balast/light the 15 minute timer so that is prevents hot starts on my light if there are ever interupptions to power during storms, etc.., and it is set to anything over 90 F it cuts power to the balast/light.

I also use a smoke detector that is hard wired to a baby monitor based which then is connected to a monitor in our bedroom so if there ever is a fire during the night I will be woken up from the monitor going off. (And there is an estenguisher in the basement)

After reading this thread I am thinking, even with all my effort I still have issues because fire if it did happen spreads so damn quick and likes to go up.

I have a baement with a room I framed and put up I grow in. Since it is in the basement there is unfinished cealing above which is basically the subfloor for the floor above the basement. (Which is 2x4's for the framing and plywood for the above floor) That is a danger I can see now. If the light did burn for some reason, the heat going up would probably ignite the plywood very quickly.

I was thinking of now building yet another room within this room that would just be a drywall box with the light on pulleyes, plants and a tube with the exhaust being pulled from outside of this drywall grow box.

I was wondering though, when people say sheetrock, do you mean standard drywall?

If I frame a box out in my current grow room and then drywall it and it would then look like a wardrobe cabinet, what would be recomended to put on the front of this drywall cabinet for access that is more safe from fire, but still pretty good at not letting light in or out and is easy to open to tend to the plants in the drywall box?

Thanks in advance for any tips.

 

[the_man]

i would use a 3/4 plywood door with 5/8 drywall attached to one side

then screw this into some 2 x 4 mounted inside

should make a nice door but just don't screw in into the drywall

sheetrock is a brand of drywall

 

[K.J]

great info, thanks so much. now that i feel i have my perfect setup i need to focus on saftey precautions like these. I will be fireproofing everything as u outlined, and will also setup a remote monitoring system outside of the grow using 2 panasonic bl-c131a units (plug and play/ wireless, $250 on amazon).

Wow, that Panasonic camera is amazing! I'll have to save my pennies and get one for my future grow space.

This is a VERY important topic and I'm happy to see a healthy thread on it. The recommendations in the OP seemed to be geared more towards a larger grow room, rather than a smaller cabinet. Does anyone have specific recommendations for cabinet growers?

 

[AlienResin]

AFCI's

AFCI's

Hey Great thread.

M.Potter. I'm actually just in the midst of designing my new room. I'm planning on using a 240volt 30-40amp subpanel. Are there any issues with AFCI breakers at 240v?

From the subpanel I am planning on running 240v breakers for the ballasts and couple 120v 15amp breakers for air conditioner, fans etc. My question is should all these breakers be AFCI's ideally or is just the one feeding the subpanel required. As well are AFCI's all good on 240v?

 

[FrankRizzo]

Bump

 

[SuperHemp]

I have an automatic heat-activated aerosol generator. It's an ingenious little device that will put out fire cleanly and near-instantly. The aerosol (potassium salts) is supposedly easy to wash off after activation and leaves no residue. It has three activation modes, one is instant activation upon the moment open flame occurs, then there's thermo activation at 175 degrees celcius, then there's the failsafe method which goes off at 300 degrees C.

They are a little bit expensive. I paid around 250$ for a unit suitable for about 6'x6'x8'. This is a professional unit used in commercial fireproofing for stuff like engine rooms and electrical rooms and is warranted for 15 years or up til activation.

The price may be steep, but freedom is priceless. In the (unlikely) event of a grow area fire the aerosol generator will put out the fire safely without sirens and policemen/firemen invading your burning/burnt former grow area. My house is empty except for the dog between 6am and 4pm, and this unit enables me to not worry at all about the possible consequences of a fire erupting in the grow area when I'm out of the house. I have no criminal record and i intend to keep it that way.

 

[j6p]

I have an automatic heat-activated aerosol generator. It's an ingenious little device that will put out fire cleanly and near-instantly. The aerosol (potassium salts) is supposedly easy to wash off after activation and leaves no residue. It has three activation modes, one is instant activation upon the moment open flame occurs, then there's thermo activation at 175 degrees celcius, then there's the failsafe method which goes off at 300 degrees C.

They are a little bit expensive. I paid around 250$ for a unit suitable for about 6'x6'x8'. This is a professional unit used in commercial fireproofing for stuff like engine rooms and electrical rooms and is warranted for 25 years or up til activation.

The price may be steep, but freedom is priceless. In the (unlikely) event of a grow area fire the aerosol generator will put out the fire safely without sirens and policemen/firemen invading your burning/burnt former grow area. My house is empty except for the dog between 6am and 4pm, and this unit enables me to not worry at all about the possible consequences of a fire erupting in the grow area when I'm out of the house. I have no criminal record and i intend to keep it that way.

A $250 price range for automatic fire suppression is quite inexpensive when compared to the consequences of grow fire out of control in one's empty house. Are you using the Aero-K? Do you have a link with unit prices? TIA

 

[SuperHemp]

I am not in the States so I do not know about price levels over there. I have a FirePro, http://www.firepro.info/

You have to know someone in the fireproofing business or who works at a place where they use automatic fire extinguishers (like a boat builder) to get a reasonable price. My unit's MSRP is over twice what i paid, 250$ is what a fireproofing business with a good discount pays. Products intended for businesses and industry do not go cheap to the general public

 

[Graceweed]

I wish I read this before.....my growtent got burnt with all the connected disasters
This thread should be a visible stickie, a must to read and learn about before reading anything else imho, please mods, stick it!

 

[j6p]

I messaged one of the grow forum mods and requested that they sticky this thread. Fire is a major threat for indoor grows, but is seldom discussed.

Originally Posted by SuperHemp
The price may be steep, but freedom is priceless.

 

[Alienate420]

This is a subject I'm very anxious about. I tried to find the aerosol technology with pricing and in the United States and this is what came up.

http://www.server-room-furniture.com/fire-suppression-thermal.html

The company selling it is Peripheral and it seems to have just started selling them over the internet around the U.S. I need to figure out how to order when I'm not so high...