Grow room accidents (serious)

[Iamnumber]

Hi,
I have not seen any thread about serious accidents regarding grow room. I hope people would report such to this thread, preferably with bit more details on why (fire started for example). Or close calls and how/what saved from full blown accident?



I would keep extraction related accidents out of this thread



Possible accidents:
Fire, Water , CO2 poisoning, electricity, Something falling/tiping over.


Only confirmed (to you, to a person you know, Newspaper/media) - I am trying to wrap my head around if people have really died by using co2 incorrectly (for example)

 

[TychoMonolyth]

Not quite an accident, but a friend had to pay (he knew he would have too) to remediate a grow op house he purchased. $35k.

The amount of black mold was unbelievable.

 

[Douglas.Curtis]

Ballasts heat up when resistance in the cords goes up. A ballast drawing enough electricity becomes a fire hazard.

Make sure your lamp cords are not hanging where the HID lighting can shine on it. Infra-red light heats up the cord, raising resistance. As the resistance rises, the ballast becomes less efficient and requires more power to keep the lamp lit. As more power goes through the cord, the heat goes up even higher, causing more resistance and drawing even more power.

Watch your cords.

Not quite an accident, but a friend had to pay (he knew he would have too) to remediate a grow op house he purchased. $35k.

The amount of black mold was unbelievable.

TRUTH!!! Growing tropical (and in my opinion) sub-par cannabis at high temps and humidity is a mold magnet. Black mold is EVIL!!! It has extremely negative mental and health effects. Wow.

Massive side benefit to growing at high altitude, premium hash, temperatures and humidity. Mold does not like cool and dry like cannabis does.

 

[Douglas.Curtis]

.

 

[Ibechillin]

Douglas.Curtis beat me to it, had a ballast go up in flames randomly one day for the exact reasons he mentioned. Havent kept a ballast in the same area as the light fixtures since.

 

[Hydro8]

I have heard of grow tents collapsing from the lights, filters and stuff hanging from them. Then.. the hot light bulb starting stuff on fire.

After hearing a couple of these stories I never hang anything heaver then a thermometer from my tents. I poke holes in the top and hang all my lights and filters from the building ceiling.

 

[caliprop215]

My buddy was growing in his small closet. He didn't have a door so he used a blanket. The light and hood got sooooo hot it lit the blanket on fire. Full blown flames. I didn't think so it was possible for that to happen.Good thing he was home or he wouldn't have a home....

 

[Steven/nevetS]

BHO Boom!

BHO Boom!

Not my grow room but after a few successful runs with the bho tube for personal use, i read on a thread years ago to burn off excess gas.
Went into the kitchen with my pyrex dish put it in the sink & put a lighter to it.
Boom! Burnt my eye brows off and im sure people would have seen the flames from outside.
Note to self, let it evaporate on its own.

Lesson lerned & now create my own golden honey rock/oil.

 

[Blazeee]

I have heard of grow tents collapsing from the lights, filters and stuff hanging from them. Then.. the hot light bulb starting stuff on fire.

After hearing a couple of these stories I never hang anything heaver then a thermometer from my tents. I poke holes in the top and hang all my lights and filters from the building ceiling.

One of my buddys offline had this happen to him in a large tent, luckily he said he caught it in time and it must not have been collapsed for long.

I have also had the IEC plug (where the cable from the ballast to the cable from the reflector) melt on me years ago, luckily it tripped the electric and there wasnt a serious accident. Could the cause of that be due to what Douglas posted earlier?

 

[TychoMonolyth]

Holy crap.... As someone considering starting an indoor grow, this thread is perfect. And kinda scary.

 

[positivity]

Don’t forget the obvious. Have a fire extinguisher for Murphy’s law. I did bho once didn’t like it and never did it again. I’m still happy with that decision.

 

[Sertaiz]

automatic sprinklers would seem to be a good part of anything that gets hot when you arent there.. ..

 

[weedobix]

ive had a couple of small fires, probably 3 or 4 floods & been electrocuted once or twice too. back when i started i had an extension socket catch fire, could of been much worse had i not been around at the time.
glad i only really ever grew in out buildings.

 

[thailer]

the Titan brand timers or similar hydro store timers with 1000w lights can sometimes lead to melted black smoke covered timers. i only found this out after going to my room to find the lights out and the timer covered in black gray smoke/melted. i guess its known to happen.

just recently i plugged in a 1000w magnetic ballast i've had running for five years directly into the dedicated socket and black smoke spewed out of it then melted the cord. I'm really glad that happened while i was there in the room because it was pretty shocking to see.

 

[Douglas.Curtis]

Cheap fire insurance anyone? I use the HydroFarm Digital timers. They're less than $25 and run a 1000w HPS for a year without trouble. This is what I use. Dual Outlet Digital Timer

After a year, it gets demoted to lower wattage lights, fans, pumps and such.

 

[Malato]

Had the ceiling in my closet cave in. Luckily heard it begin to happen so was able to hold most of it up until my girl got home to help me. Seriously sucked finding insulation inside of my nugs.

Not my grow room but after a few successful runs with the bho tube for personal use, i read on a thread years ago to burn off excess gas.
Went into the kitchen with my pyrex dish put it in the sink & put a lighter to it.
Boom! Burnt my eye brows off and im sure people would have seen the flames from outside.
Note to self, let it evaporate on its own.

Lesson lerned & now create my own golden honey rock/oil.

You evaporated some of it off before doing it, or you took the whole dish full of liquid tane inside?

 

[buzzmobile]

Cheap fire insurance anyone? I use the HydroFarm Digital timers. They're less than $25 and run a 1000w HPS for a year without trouble. This is what I use.
After a year, it gets demoted to lower wattage lights, fans, pumps and such.

I use the analog version made by Intermatic. They're bulletproof and have been steadily turning lights on and off for almost 15 years.
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Intermatic-40-Amp-240-Volt-Electric-Water-Heater-Time-Switch-WH40DL3/203557614

 

[f-e]

I have fixed countless ballasts where the iec leads plug in. It's almost an eventuality. I used to blame people disturbing them by pulling the cables, but have found many just get hot because the contact area is so small. The manufacturers should be using hot condition versions (they used to) but most use cheap crap fit for a printer. If your puzzled, the hot version looks almost the same, but has a keyway. Kitchen appliances often use them.

Next up is chocolate block. The cable connector with the little screws in. Often found in strips that you chop to size, hence the name. These are an electrical connection for cables, not a mechanical one. Most people over tighten the screws, almost cutting through the copper. Then continue to move them around, year after year, until it breaks off. Occasionally this thinned bit of metal burns before breaking.

The main service fuse of a house. Often many years old, these can be poorly connected, or simply over loaded, but heating them up can be a nightmare. Check there cold occasionally. I was woke by a call about a fire in progress once. I rushed to the scene, to be greeted by a thick wall of smoke as the front door opened. I hid behind the lounge door, peering round it at a mini volcano. It was spitting and smoking. As it dawned upon me I was there to fix this shit, not shield myself behind the door. I pinned the thing to the wall with my foot, and pulled the fuse, but it was pointless. The incoming cable was doing an impression of a sparkler as it got shorter. They had to call the electric board, who dug up the pavement to isolate it, and pull in a new cable. The growers didn't clear the house though. It was busted days later. The owner who was out the country, went on the run for two years before committing suicide.


The places people grow, and the equipment people use, is often not fit for purpose. People just don't know in most cases. I could list more, but have put myself in a very somber mood now. I'm moving away from the keyboard...


Be bloody careful.

 

[Iamnumber]

Thank you everyone for wonderful responses!! Keep 'em coming!

Not quite an accident, but a friend had to pay (he knew he would have too) to remediate a grow op house he purchased. $35k.

The amount of black mold was unbelievable.

Can you elaborate this bit more?


Did the grow take up whole room without any (vapor)barrier between plants and structure of the house? (Like grow tent or grow cabinet)


Did the room have ventilation to exchange rooms air every so often? I do not think this would have helped but I would like to double check this detail so I have more info when I warn someone about this risk.

 

[RGG]

I've managed to empty 400l water tank, Water was dripping through the ceiling on a rented property at 3am that woke me up

another time i managed to forgot to turn the water off for ibc water storage tank not only did i flood the entire building which had several rooms the building essentially had a moat around it in the summer... not good. 12 hours later when i went back i noticed!