Fires

Hi guys just wondering. Whats the main cause of fires when indoor growing?
Anyone had any ideas?See afew things on the tv lately about weed factories [peoples growrooms]being found through fires.
I was thinking maybe the ballast got to hot and set fire....
Any feedback would be good.

Either electrical fires from the amp load or from plant matter getting to close to the light and burning are my best guess.

Is there some type of plug which would switch the plug off at the wall if there was an overload?

yeah you can get those adaptor that people use when mowin the lawn, if the circuit is broke is cuts off

Use a computer power bar. Most of them have a circuit that will pop in the event of an overload.

Be safe, check your work... make sure your electrical isn't anywhere near any water. bring it off the floor, for sure.

and above all.. have a fire extinguisher handy... just in case.

If you use an extention cord, GET A HEAVY DUTY ONE to prevent fires. Depending on the length - the longer it is - use a smaller numbered guage... I use 12 guage for a 50 foot extention cord.

Do the math, watts\Volts so a 1000 Watt HPS on a 120Volt circuit is roughly 1000/120 8.33 AMPS (Plus what the ballast draws).....Thats more than 1/2 of a 15 AMP circuit.. Lady Vapor is right, use a 12 Gauge cord, put it on a 20 AMP circuit if you can... COOL down your ballast..Blow and suck off as much heat as you can..Its scary.. I worry about it all the time... But I have not heard of anyone having a fire yet.. but I am sure it happens...People over loading their circuits, people try to plug alot into a wall..

I was in San Francisco last summer. Many of the houses up there are old and have very old wiring systems. There was a house burnt to the ground. The firemen there pointed to the source of the fire - what was left of the grow space. They said it appeared to be due to them using long extensions cords that were too small of a cord to keep the source from getting so hot it caught fire.

I've had 2 400 watt hps lamps in use since last August on 24/0. I was a bit nervous for a while about it even with 12 guage cords as it's running on a 15 amp breaker.

If using a plug in timer to switch you lights, use a contactor to stop the high load at switch on. this will limit the chances of the timer melting

dont do your umu's inside the fale!