Fire Safety: How do you prevent a disaster?

bluter said:
look at your breaker box first. you need to determine if you have enough service coming into the house in the first place. a lot of older breaker boxes don't have the room, or all the circuits are soaked up already. in extreme circumstances, or if the house is 50yrs or older, you may need to upgrade the existing breaker box.

the place where my veg room is is unable to add breakers or upgrade the box due to age. i had to change plans and calculate load on an existing circuit to make it work.

my flower room is on a dedicated 15A circuit and draws less than a third of what it can carry.
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It was upgraded few years ago + there’s plenty room to add breakers. All that would be needed is another 15amp breaker to my room or just a 25 but I like the idea of adding a 15. CL🍀 :idea: :thumb:
 
CaptainLucky said:
It was upgraded few years ago + there’s plenty room to add breakers. All that would be needed is another 15amp breaker to my room
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you're gold then. best possible circumstance.


CaptainLucky said:
or just a 25 but I like the idea of adding a 15. CL
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20 and 25A circuits require specialized outlets. you can use a standard outlet, but it is against code, and not legal for an electrician to install.
 
you can have 25 outlets on a 15-amp circuit as long as you aren't drawing more than 12 amps through that circuit at any given time. On a conventional 120-volt circuit, this translates to 1,440 watts, even though the breaker can handle up to 1,800 watts and won't trip until you exceed that amount.


Here is a load calculator for anyone who wants to know exactly what they are using. .


https://www.digitalrebellion.com/webapps/powercalc
 
OGpapa said:
you can have 25 outlets on a 15-amp circuit as long as you aren't drawing more than 12 amps through that circuit at any given time. On a conventional 120-volt circuit, this translates to 1,440 watts, even though the breaker can handle up to 1,800 watts and won't trip until you exceed that amount.


Here is a load calculator for anyone who wants to know exactly what they are using. .


https://www.digitalrebellion.com/webapps/powercalc
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leave yourself 30% head room if you can. electrical can pull real hard on timers when firing up. don't calculate everything to the limit you have available.


edit : i don't know of an electrician that would run that many outlets on a single 15A circuit. in canada the limit is 12. electricians are taught to run a max of 6 or 8 in new builds.
 
Just because I have 48 plugs(2 different circuits) in my living room, doesn't mean in use outlets. I have outlets everywhere for convenience 4 plug outlet every six feet thru house. Better than using power strips.




I do live in a non restriction area. The home was built long ago. We bought it last year and have renovated the entire property. I did follow code on the majority of the build. But the home was built by a craftsmen so it's hard to say those hand cut boards and beams are up to code. ;) :rolleyes:
20230126_095527.jpg
 
OGpapa said:
Just because I have 48 plugs(2 different circuits) in my living room, doesn't mean in use outlets. I have outlets everywhere for convenience 4 plug outlet every six feet thru house. Better than using power strips.

20230126_095527.jpg
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by law in canada you could only have 12 outlet boxes max on a 15A circuit. or your home insurance means zip in event of fire. if you've had past renos, you need to account for junction boxes as well.


edit : to be clear - the code requires a safety factor of 100 for everything electrical.
 
BAKIND said:
I have an electrician coming to run a 4.5mm wire to my grow area, and also he is going to make all extension cords and power strips. I have asked him for the best quality. Having read this thread. I think I am going to have him put the grow, on a dedicated 15 amp circuit, or I'll let him do the calculations and see what's best. I am in South America we have 220v. I want to make sure I have capacity for future expansion. I like the idea of having a fire extinguisher near by.

I am also going to re examine the way each of my grow tents is set up including the wiring. Good thread!!
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O.K, so the electrician came, and he replaced the wiring that I needed to the grow with 4.5mm wire, put in a 20 amp breaker, and he has to come back to finish up some things for me. We did the numbers, and I have room for future expansion. Now I am going to work on making things safer inside my tents. When I have everything done, I will take pictures.

I am going to have also individual breakers for each tent. That's going to make things much safer.
 
BAKIND said:
O.K, so the electrician came, and he replaced the wiring that I needed to the grow with 4.5mm wire, put in a 20 amp breaker, and he has to come back to finish up some things for me. We did the numbers, and I have room for future expansion. Now I am going to work on making things safer inside my tents. When I have everything done, I will take pictures.

I am going to have also individual breakers for each tent. That's going to make things much safer.
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that's the way to do it. the 20A supplies the local distro. local distro supplies the room. everything is on a double breaker.
 
OGpapa said:
Just because I have 48 plugs(2 different circuits) in my living room, doesn't mean in use outlets. I have outlets everywhere for convenience 4 plug outlet every six feet thru house. Better than using power strips.




I do live in a non restriction area. The home was built long ago. We bought it last year and have renovated the entire property. I did follow code on the majority of the build. But the home was built by a craftsmen so it's hard to say those hand cut boards and beams are up to code. ;) :rolleyes:
20230126_095527.jpg
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That’s convenient having 4 outlets but the main reason I’m using the strip is for surge protection, that and it works well with a tent. CL🍀
 
CaptainLucky said:
That’s convenient having 4 outlets but the main reason I’m using the strip is for surge protection, that and it works well with a tent. CL🍀
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Totally understandable. I use surge protectors for my tent also. It's not 100% I lost a TV a few years ago in Florida lighting storm. But nothing else.
 
CaptainLucky said:
That’s convenient having 4 outlets but the main reason I’m using the strip is for surge protection, that and it works well with a tent. CL🍀
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surge protectors will protect your equipment in the event of a short burst of unplanned over supply.

they do not stop a runaway draw problem if you overload the circuit or prevent a fire from occurring in that situation. most folk don't use surge protectors properly, they think they work on draw, they do not. they work on the supply side.

in a grow space what you want is a fused drop box or power strip. they are very different from a surge protector and act as a kind of second breaker box, shutting power off before the main breaker trips, if a runaway or over draw from the equipment side occurs.
 
bluter said:
surge protectors will protect your equipment in the event of a short burst of unplanned over supply.

they do not stop a runaway draw problem if you overload the circuit or prevent a fire from occurring in that situation. most folk don't use surge protectors properly, they think they work on draw, they do not. they work on the supply side.

in a grow space what you want is a fused drop box or power strip. they are very different from a surge protector and act as a kind of second breaker box, shutting power off before the main breaker trips, if a runaway or over draw from the equipment side occurs.
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If you overload the circuit wouldn’t the breaker in the breaker box trip? CL🍀
 
If we all just take some time and a little caution. A little bit goes along way. What Bill has gone thru nobody should. If we all learn something from his issue, that's what matters.
 
SolutionLogic said:
Now you've got me nervous about my panda poly. I'll have to add some flashing over my lights. I've been building shogi walls, so that will help with supporting the poly. But that doesn't mitigate wood over top of a heat source.
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Good morning my friend. :ciao:
Panda film melts and drips flames everywhere, seen it first hand.
Unfortunately there aren't a lot of reflective products that won't burn.
I'm using drywall now in the new room.
It's the best thing I could find to reduce the fire hazard.
Does anyone know a reflective wall covering that's not flammable?
Other than drywall?
Best suggestion is remove everything that you can thats flammable.
Install smoke detectors and get a Big fire extinguisher.
Double check all wiring, equipment & circuits, anything suspect or old should be replaced.
Let's see if we can find something for the walls.:thumb:
Take care.
Talk soon.




#Vivosun #LoveWhatYouGrow
Bill284 😎
 
CaptainLucky said:
Bill’s busy with his Vivohut why don’t you tell me?
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Never too busy for you Amigo. :ciao:
CaptainLucky said:
Burned down his house maybe
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Yes.
You didn’t know? Did you think i was actually Fire Marshall Bill?:rofl:
I had a fire as a child, now this one.
What are the odds?
The brand new weegro^w light blew up before the circuit breaker popped.
It was on dead low, just out of the box.:rolleyes:
Lost all my mom's but I survived. :thumb:
Lost some hair and major smoke inhalation but survived.
Be careful Cap'n it's not a trivial matter.
Follow as many precautions as you can.
And Be safe!
take care.




#Vivosun #LoveWhatYouGrow
Bill284 😎
 
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