Fire Proofing

[entheogens are neat]

There are some things I can't figure out about the possible fire hazards in my future indoor grow room. I am going to be doing all the wiring myself and this being the first time ever doing electrical work adds concern.

The plans are: The floor will be coated with a layer of duct tape, which is on top cardboard with wood on the spots I where I will be walking. The walls will be Mylar and the ballast made from an old computer case and silver tape (donâ??t know the name). I wanted to wrap the clip on lamps in silver tape (fire hazard)? The floor where the plants go on be made of spray painted white dense foam which I may want to cover in silver tape. The lamps will have 20 watt CFL's and the ballast will have a 400w HPS light in it.

Standing temperature of the room is about 70 degrees, how much will this go up? Estimates of Mylar room being 8x8 with slanted ceiling 5.5 feet at its tallest, the grow spot being 4x4.

I would love input on what the experienced growers have had with fire proofing trial and error and if the duct tape floor is a bigger hazard then just cardboard.

entheogens are neat Reviewed by entheogens are neat on 11-09-2006. Fire Proofing There are some things I can't figure out about the possible fire hazards in my future indoor grow room. I am going to be doing all the wiring myself and this being the first time ever doing electrical work adds concern. The plans are: The floor will be coated with a layer of duct tape, which is on top cardboard with wood on the spots I where I will be walking. The walls will be Mylar and the ballast made from an old computer case and silver tape (donâ??t know the name). I wanted to wrap the Rating: 5

[bejay]

first off attics can be a poor spot for growing depending alot on your climate they can easily be excessivly hot in the summer and to cold in the winter and im sure the 400 hps without any ventilation to cool it can easily raise the temperature by 10 degrees so if at all possible a better location should be considered.
tape, cardboard, foam doesnt really sound like a very good idea the floor needs to be strong plants soil and pots just watered can be quite heavy 3/8 plywood or thicker would be adequete for a floor to support you and the plants.
while you can use other materials to make temporary walls even cardboard, foam, plastic sheeting could be used it does need to be secure so no tape holding it up staples, nails or screws with large washers should be used so there is no chance of it falling.
obviously anything that gets hot should not be very close to anything flamable your ballast and hps light is your main concerns your light should be secured with heavy enough chain to support its weight, and you may need to keep the ballast off the floor also depending on how hot the case gets most of this stuff is just common sense but it can go a long way in preventing a fire if you do not feel confident in wiring the room up you should probably find someone to do it for you or atleast find someone with experience in home wiring to help you, in fact that should be the first priority before a room is even started.

[stinkyattic]

You should build your grow room as sturdy as you can for safety and permanence.

I am going to be doing all the wiring myself and this being the first time ever doing electrical work adds concern.

I wouldn't recommend that. Don't you know someone with electrical experience? You are going to want at least 1 dedicated 20A breaker with a home run all the way to your breaker box, just for the grow room.
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The plans are: The floor will be coated with a layer of duct tape, which is on top cardboard with wood on the spots I where I will be walking.

Well, that's a fire hazard right there. Cardboard is very flammable. And when it gets wet, it rots. And it WILL get wet no matter how much duct tape you put over it.

For the floor you really need at least 3/8 inch plywood. Half-inch is better.

Duct tape is seriously expensive, not a good floor material, and wears through very fast.

Paint your floor with an oil-based white primer. That will keep mold from growing. I recommend KILZ brand.

The walls will be Mylar

That's appropriate!

and the ballast made from an old computer case and silver tape (donâ??t know the name). I wanted to wrap the clip on lamps in silver tape (fire hazard)?

What's with the silver tape? I believe it is conductive too. Just spray paint everything white. Including the lamps. If you can find heatproof white paint that's even better but not necessary.

The floor where the plants go on be made of spray painted white dense foam which I may want to cover in silver tape. The lamps will have 20 watt CFL's and the ballast will have a 400w HPS light in it.

Don't bother with the foam. If you do the floor right, you can just put them on the floor. I like to put mine in kitty-littertrays ($2 each from Family Dollar) to avoid spills and mess, and to make everything easier to clean. You can just pick up the whole thing and slide it around.

Standing temperature of the room is about 70 degrees, how much will this go up? Estimates of Mylar room being 8x8 with slanted ceiling 5.5 feet at its tallest, the grow spot being 4x4.

It will go up when the HPS is running and you are going to need exhaust fans.

I would love input on ... fire proofing trial and error

There's no trial and error in fireproofing. Take it seriously. Your house burns because you did the wiring yourself to grow pot, your insurance policy goes out the window.

My final advice is, the plan you had will end up being MORE expensive even just for materials and super pain in the ass to install. Just do it solid the first time. Get an electrician to install a bunch of outlets for you up there and tell him or her that it is going to be for a future cooling unit that you are going to install yourself or something... or a photographic darkroom... or whatever. be creative.

[BONG0]

There are some things I can't figure out about the possible fire hazards in my future indoor grow room. I am going to be doing all the wiring myself and this being the first time ever doing electrical work adds concern.

Its not very hard, i have no experiance and i rewired a metal halide street light ballast last night to ac/dc current and used a vacume cleaner plug for the wall, it works great! iv never done any electrical work.

hear are some pics.....

[stinkyattic]

Oh bongo, I hope you didn't steal it.
And btw there's no such thing as ac/dc current. It's one or the other. DC comes from batteries, solar panels, simple generators. It's short for DIRECT current.
AC has to come from an inverter. It's alternating current. I believe it's for ease of transfer over the trunk lines...
Putting a new cord on something and doing wall wiring are a bit different.
And when you do a replacement cord, you have to make sure it can carry the current. Otherwise the resistance is too high, and it can overheat and start a fire. So if you've got say a 1000 HID, you need a nice heavy-duty replacement cord rated for like 18A at 120v (if you're on 120 and the lamps is designed for that).
No stealing street lights!!! You can buy them at the hardware store and keep your morals intact!

[entheogens are neat]

Thank you all for the invaluable information. It would have taken a lot of screw ups for me to figure that all out. I am still going to however wire an outlet myself becuase I can't have friends know what I am doing. This is very hard because when they see the purple haze I have I will have to lie about the source and I hate lying. Plus I have to work while my roommate is gone and with assurance that he won't be home.

Anyways I was just up there working and noticed there is nice filtered ventilation. I was wondering what material I could use to make 1 wall out of to keep my Mylar room from overheating? Something that will still keep the air separate, I figure thin cardboard will work fine but any ideas are helpful. Is Mylar very flammable/what is its operating heat maximum? And there wouldn't be any fire problems by hooking up a computer case ballast to wood/Mylar, correct (400w hps)?

Also to test my wiring how long do you think I would have to wait up there and watch for smoke?

[JackdaWack]

Well first off its not jsut the concern of wireing it or anything correctly, but using compatible materials, for exaple your plug from your vacum cleaner could be under guaged for the proper amount of watts your running. So it could easily over heat and melt then create a fire. you need to make sure all your wiring is sufficient in guage you use electrical tape, and every component matches or is under the proper wattage

[stinkyattic]

I am still going to however wire an outlet myself becuase I can't have friends know what I am doing.

No DO NOT DO THIS

This is very hard because when they see the purple haze I have I will have to lie about the source and I hate lying. Plus I have to work while my roommate is gone and with assurance that he won't be home.

THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS PURPLE HAZE!!!

And if you hate lying so much, then how can you live with deceiving your roommate, who could be evicted, arrested, or killed by your wiring experiments?

I figure thin cardboard will work fine but any ideas are helpful.

The thread is called fireproofing but you insist on going with flammable materials....durrrr.

Also to test my wiring how long do you think I would have to wait up there and watch for smoke?

You can come over here and watch the smoke come out my ears trying to talk sense into you...

It's not just the 'up there' you have to worry about. It's deep within your walls where you can't see it.

SAFETY IS JOB #1!!!!!!!!

[entheogens are neat]

THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS PURPLE HAZE!!!

And if you hate lying so much, then how can you live with deceiving your roommate, who could be evicted, arrested, or killed by your wiring experiments?

Well Neville's haze, and I won't really be deceiving him if he doesn't ask. I am also going to study up on electricity and wiring before I put anyone in danger.

The thread is called fireproofing but you insist on going with flammable materials....durrrr.

Well it will be on the opposite side of the main heat (actually it wasn't going to be, but is now).

You can come over here and watch the smoke come out my ears trying to talk sense into you...

Why don't you come over here, I'm on a fixed income

[stinkyattic]

.... I won't really be deceiving him if he doesn't ask.

Uh, yeah. Whatever you say.



May I also guess that you do not own the building? If my tenant was fucking around with the wiring I'd beat him 6 ways to Sunday.

Go ahead. You're going to do it your way anyway....just trying to keep you safe and out of jail. Have fun!