Solarmax 600HPS blew up - started fire

[Peacock]

I have a lumatek electronic Ballast 600 watt running a Solarmax HPST 600 Watt/Super. The room is in the basement and is 7'wide by 8'long by 6' high. The walls were covered with mylar. The plants rested on a sheet of syrofoam that was also covered with mylar. Room temperature was normally 26Celuis degrees. There was a fan on a timer that came on when the lights did.

I came home to the sound of the alarm ringing and smoke bellowing in the basement. The mylar walls melted and the floor where the plants rested was totally melted. There are 3 different areas on 3 of the walls that are scorched as if a torch flame was applied to the areas.

Lights and fan were on a 12/12 timer. Bulb is 2 months old. The bulb had flickered in the morning. I was gone about 6 hours. What happened?

Grow and help the world grow

 

[The Weed]

What type of hood do you have, did it have a glass len? I'm thinking and what I Heard electronic ballasts have trouble with fancy bulbs like that Solarmax you mentioned? That bulb do not come with that Ballast or did it. Boy dude that sucks!

 

[Peacock]

What type of hood do you have, did it have a glass len? I'm thinking and what I Heard electronic ballasts have trouble with fancy bulbs like that Solarmax you mentioned? That bulb do not come with that Ballast or did it. Boy dude that sucks!

The hood is 24" X24" without a glass. Dome type hood. will house up to 1000 watt bulb. these are good selling hoods. My guess is the bulb sparked started the mylar smoldering and sparks continued on the walls. Three smoke marks on the walls nothing left of the of the mylar on three walls and no stro. will not place anything on the concrete again and fire retardant paint on the walls. lost some plants, using a 400 watt MH for now until I fix the room and try to solve the problem.

 

[The Weed]

Good Luck Peacock.....could have been much, much worst. :surrender:

 

[Propa Gator]

Some older (few yrs?) electronic ballasts couldn't change voltage output to match 'fancy bulbs' differing requirements.
Put a cheap bulb in there and blaze it!

 

[BWC BayArea]

Some older (few yrs?) electronic ballasts couldn't change voltage output to match 'fancy bulbs' differing requirements.
Put a cheap bulb in there and blaze it!

I heard about the Lumatek fires a year or two ago and saw them on craigslist en masse. The problem with the lamps/bulbs was that the ballasts weren't designed to give the right amount of juice to ignite the lamp when it first switches on shortening the life of the lamp/bulb (if I'm not mistaken). Fires from bulbs never heard of it. Here's the last thing I read on it >Lumatek Ballast Propa Gator can u point me in the right direction? Where did u find ur info?

Peacock, I hope that u and u family are ok. Thank God it didn't burn the whole house down. If I were U I'd be ready to cash my warranty in. Be sure to read all the fine print b4 goin back to the hydro store or contacting the manufacturer. If u bought it used, still call the manufacturer. Dunno if they will compensate u. Again, sorry for ur loss. If its not asking too much can u do a product review once u get to the bottom of this? U may save some1's property or life with ur information.

 

[Dr FrankenKush]

For anyone that has discovered their grow on fire know what panic is. We left the house one day with our granddaughter for about 1 hr one day. When we got back I was sitting in a room that was next to the grow area and I smelled burning plastic. I jumped up and opened the door and 1 bucket was on fire as well as the plant in the bucket. The thick black plastic that was hanging about 2 to 3 ft away had flames licking up toward the ceiling. I grabbed the fire extinguisher and put the fire out. sustained some damage to surrounding plants, black suit on walls, and about 10 years off my life. Cause was a questionable extension cord got up under the edge of a bucket, this was for one of the fans in the area. It seemed to me that the thick black plastic retarded the progress of the fire but ten more minutes and we would have lost our home and possessions and had some f'd up questions to answer. Check every thing twice and then say on sight as much as possible. I was glad I had a fire extinguisher hand cause there wasn't any time to react....

 

[Propa Gator]

Bay Area, ^ that's the thread. I don't know much more than that, except I presumed the bulb envelope failed. Peacock, you didn't say. I can't imagine such a radiant blast unless the glass fell off the element. CMH bulbs are reported to do this with much power, rarely. I can no way remember where I read this, google cmh is how I would start.
This is a rare failure with relatively benign results. For all the mess and possibilities, you are blessed Peacock.

 

[BWC BayArea]

Damn Propa Gator, I thought U could help me figure that one out. I don't think he really said if the bulb blew and started it or the ballast started it. I'm sure we can't bank on the fire marshall investigating and diagnosing the cause. Guess we're in the same boat on that one. thanks for the response.

FrankenKush some1 must have been praying for u. Good thing no one was injured. Any of ur plants or equipment make it out of the room ok?

 

[ultrasonic]

I can't tell you how lucky you are and how glad I am your property wasn't completely destroyed! If you find out what went on, let us know, it sounds odd to me. Where was your ballast located in relation to the grow?

and Dr FrankenKush - I know what you mean about that panic - I thankfully haven't had anything happen yet, but I have 4 fire extinguishers in my house, 1 near bedrooms, 1 in kitchen on the way to the grow room, 1 in grow room, and 1 outside grow room, along with both types of smoke detectors (one for detecting flash fires, the other for smoldering fires) inside and outside the room.

Overkill? nope.

better safe than sorry...

 

[Peacock]

the ballast is in another room, about 10 feet away. I have a sink with a hose attached.
Not being home when the fire started and finished. Being prepared is one thing, but you have to be their to put out the fire.

 

[dogstick]

I was looking into that bulb untill I read that it should be powered by a 1K watt ballast. That could of been it, I dont know but gl.

 

[ultrasonic]

Regarding the Solarmax bulbs, its actually in the lumatek manual that it's a known issue for, apparently, most digital ballast.

They explain it by saying that the solarmax bulbs actually require a higher startup voltage, so the ballast's "softstart" technology doesn't give it the kick it needs to light the bulb fully 100% of the time.

Linky dinky: https://www.hydrofarm.com/downloads/fc/29001_LumatekWiringInst.pdf
its down near the very bottom

 

[Peacock]

Do you have any more info. on that bulb being run with the lumatex electronic ballast.
I have acouple of bulbs to use. Would a magnetic ballast be a better choice for this bulb?

 

[Indicana Jones!]

Bay Area, ^ that's the thread. I don't know much more than that, except I presumed the bulb envelope failed. Peacock, you didn't say. I can't imagine such a radiant blast unless the glass fell off the element. CMH bulbs are reported to do this with much power, rarely. I can no way remember where I read this, google cmh is how I would start.
This is a rare failure with relatively benign results. For all the mess and possibilities, you are blessed Peacock.

I use a CMH bulb, philips retro white, they're open fixture rated because they ARE designed to contain the fragments when the arc tube fails. CMH bulbs won't fire on electronic/digital ballast, they don't like the high frequency.

ALWAYS make sure your lamp is open fixture rated if you're going to use an open fixture. If you run a lamp designed to be enclosed in a hood and do run it open fixture and it blows (and the arc tubes on HID lights can get VERY hot!), the hot glass frags will set just about anything on fire and any kind of warranty or even insurance coverage will be tough to get.

Of course that's not to say that even open fixture rated bulbs can't rupture and is one of the reasons I'll upgrade to a enclosed hood as soon as I can afford to and as soon as I can find a hood small enough for my grow area.

Best of luck!

Indicana.

 

[Peacock]

When the lamp fractures it is like a back draft. The temperature alone will start the fire. Make sure that their is nothing flammable in the room. Poly, drywall, paint and concrete are not flammable. As I have been told by a fire fighter. Everything in the room was not flammable and therefore the little bit of flame went out.
I have talked to the distributor of solarmax, are they concerned "N0".
they may do tests on the bulb but I do not think they will.

Grow and Help the world grow also.

 

[BWC BayArea]

??? Not so SUre Bout That

The temperature alone will start the fire. Make sure that their is nothing flammable in the room. Poly, drywall, paint and concrete are not flammable. As I have been told by a fire fighter.

I'm kinda skeptical of this info. Was this dude a volunteer? Or did u leave out certain details when speaking to him?

 

[Peacock]

Hi All, Thanks for your posts and interest in the 600 watt/600HPS solarmax fire. Since my last post I have used another solarmax bulb that again flickered and burnt out after two months of 12/12 hr. use. My 400 watt mag. ballast stop working so I decided to use a 600 conversion MH bulb. This bulb does not flicker at all. It is working great. I have been talking the the people at the garden store and they recommend a 600 watt Ushio HPS bulb. The bulb has both spectrums, and I will run it for both grow and flowering. See how that works. The sales person has mentioned that they have had no returns on this bulb. He also mentioned that his supplier has discontinued selling the solarmax line. I wonder why. HEHE. An article in last months "High Times" has done a study on bulbs and the lumatex ballasts. Most bulbs run a 20 hertz, but the ballast runs at 20,000 hertz. They claim that is why most bulbs burn out permaturely. If you run the bulb for nine months you may not notice a difference. The bulb "High Times" recommends is "Sunpulse bulbs". They claim it is designed for this type of ballast.

Thoughts!

I'm looking into another ballast.
there are dimming lumatek ballasts.
The 600 Watt dims down to from 600 to 400 and then 320. So, you can use a 400 MH or HPS or a 600 watt HPS or conversion bulb. What is the 320 watt for?
or
Would you buy a 1000 watt dimming ballast for $100.00 more that has 1000watt - 750 watt and then a 600 watt dimming feature.
Is a 1000- watt bulb too much heat for a 8 X 8 foot room? Would the 600 watt be enough. Would I notice a difference in the crop?

Thanks for all the interest and the posts to date. I will continue to keep you updated.


Thanks again.