Taking fire safety to the next level in my new build...

I want to get the opinion of some people knowledgeable on the subject of fire safety. I currently have all of my own circuits run with a sub panel and proper over current limiting, as well as using T-104's for flipping ballasts on and off.

There is currently no arc-fault protection, or GFCI. All of my electrical is ran high up off the floor. I have some #12 that is not in conduit run along the roof, as well as ballasts mounted to the walls and ceiling, or sitting on stands a few feet off the ground.

I obviously am looking to install Arc-Fault protection as well as GFCI. I am also looking to install armored conduit to protect the currently exposed wiring.

With these protections in place, how important is a fire proof box for my ballasts? Just a few days ago I read about Bobblehead's fire and it scared the shit out of me. Has me rethinking everything about the new room build.

The next question I'm looking to answer is about fire ratings. How important is it to build a room within the current structure with 20 minute fire ratings? My current home is a complete wood structure. There is NO DRYWALL ANYWHERE.

If all of the above precautions are taken into account, how important would it be to build an enclosed room within the home itself? What sort of fire rating does 2x4's and 6x6's have? Does lining the roof and ceiling with Orca create a serious issue should a fire break out? I also want to line the floor with Vinyl billboard tarp or EDPM pond liner.

I feel like if I install AFCI, GFCI, armored conduit, and a ballast box, there is little chance of a fire breaking out. I guess a bulb could explode, but this is incredibly rare, and I'm not sure it would start a fire unless there was some sort of kindling around...

Assuming I do build a room within a room, where would be the best place to install automatic fire extinguishers? Inside the room, or outside? The room I intend to build the new room inside of has A Frame ceilings so installing fire extinguishers above the new room would not be an issue.

Sorry for the haphazard post. I've got a lot of ideas floating around, and am working on a budget, so I would like to be as safe as possible, without cutting corners, but also not going overboard with expenses.

I wouldn't mount ballasts to the ceiling. What do you think will happen if a ballast catches fire? Better to have it on the wall with a spacer between the ballast and the wall or on a shelf. Get afci circuits. Automatic extinguishers are rated for a certain area, mount them high and center. Sprinkler heads are $5-10 a piece and can be hard plumbed into the water line. I won't use reflective film anymore, just white paint. Concrete floors. You can look up the fire rating of your materials. It will vary depending on thickness and type of material... There a thread around here about building a fire-safe room. I probably posted a link in my thread. Oh and get a smoke detector. They make smoke detectors that will send you a text message. All of my smoke detectors are interlinked and hardwired, so if one goes off they all go off. There's a lot that can be done, just take your time and do some research. Do you have a normal extinguisher on hand yet? That's a good first step.

bobblehead said:

Concrete floors.

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The only concrete floors I have access to are in the garage. The garage door is close to the street, and the side door is exposed. Both of these present security issues with sound and moving girls in and out. The garage does have drywall though...

bobblehead said:

Do you have a normal extinguisher on hand yet? That's a good first step.

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Yes I have one ready to be used. It's old as fuck but still in working condition. I tested it!

How important do you think building a fire safe room would be? Do you think taking the above precautions is enough to safely grow in the existing space?

the first step in building a fire proof room would be to use fire proof materials . like steels studs & double 5/8ths sheet rock on both side with as little penetrations as possible .
metal conduit for all your electrical , keep all your electrical in one location . ballasts, timers , everything , with fire supression in that area too .

Drywall is cheap. Like $8-9 for a 4x10 sheet. 2x4's are $1.50-2. Build a proper room. You don't want to go through what I went through. Pond liner is fine. .. just get the auto extinguisher.

bobblehead said:

Drywall is cheap. Like $8-9 for a 4x10 sheet. 2x4's are $1.50-2. Build a proper room. You don't want to go through what I went through. Pond liner is fine. .. just get the auto extinguisher.

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Would you mount the ballasts inside the room or out? Is a fireproof ballast box necessary?

Thanks so much for your input bobble.

Idk, depends on the size of your grow. I'm containing most of my electronics and wiring in a lung room with an auto extinguisher, and I am putting sprinklers in the grow areas. If you can contain everything in 1 room then do it. Think about it, is it worth taking a chance? Maybe one of your circulatory fans will catch fire. You never know. Best to be certain you're gonna wake in the morning or pull up to your house instead of a pile of ashes. I'm extremely lucky imo.

bobblehead said:

Idk, depends on the size of your grow. I'm containing most of my electronics and wiring in a lung room with an auto extinguisher, and I am putting sprinklers in the grow areas. If you can contain everything in 1 room then do it. Think about it, is it worth taking a chance? Maybe one of your circulatory fans will catch fire. You never know. Best to be certain you're gonna wake in the morning or pull up to your house instead of a pile of ashes. I'm extremely lucky imo.

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I'm thinking the ballasts in the lung room is going to be the way I go. Have two fireproof rooms flipping 4-6k inside a large lung room. All electrical, ballasts, in 1 place with a auto extinguisher covering that area.

Are there smoke detectors which cut power? Or maybe a simple high temp shutoff of some sort to cut power to the ballasts/fans in case of a fire? I'm not really liking the idea of mounting sprinklers in the grow rooms, but as a last line of defense it would be worth it I suppose.

I am very well aware of how lucky you were Bobble. The reasons you listed above are exactly why I am taking the fire safety to the next level.

The fire department will be happy to unload their hoses in your house if you don't have sprinklers.... either way you'll have water damage, but with sprinklers there's less fire damage. or get more autoextinguishers... but that gets pricey, and I'm in a basement with floor drains. No brainer.

I would wire my own high temp cutoff with dpdt relays. But Idk where you're comfort level is with wiring. It might be something you want to buy prefabbed.

bobblehead said:

I would wire my own high temp cutoff with dpdt relays. But Idk where you're comfort level is with wiring. It might be something you want to buy prefabbed.

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You must have edited this is quickly I didn't see it...

I am perfectly comfortable doing all my own wiring. I'm looking to build my own flip box as well as anything else that is necessary. So you are saying just a 120v high temp shutoff, commercially available, wired into a 240v box just like a 120v timer would be wired into a 240v flip box? Or is there a specific shutoff you would recommend?

I would use both a high temperature thermostat and a smoke detector to drive some type of circuit that would dump all the power if either condition occurs. This could be done with either a contactor or a shunt-trip breaker. A shunt-trip would be my choice over keeping a large contactor enerqized continuously.

*edit* - The newer "combination" AFCI breakers include a GFCI function.

For what its worth i would hire a electrician to make sure everything is perfectly balanced that will be 90 percent of what will catch fire, or trip
Really fan catching on fire ??? never herd of it have used same fans for 5 years but safety is safety
tell him you want to have band practices in Garage ... approx power in PA and all gear 20,000 watts
will anything catch fire or trip on us when we Jam once he goes all over your wiring???
have him do it all up plug ends .
then all i would do is run surge protectors on everything your good to go just buy decent ones that will trip at said load rating Bottom line if you do your own electrical you still need to have it inspected and pull a permit..
Cause by chance house burns down and you kill the neighbour cause there house burnt down they got someone to point the finger at and your Done paying for the rest of your life..
If a permit was pulled and a certified electrician did the work you Save your ASS

rives said:

I would use both a high temperature thermostat and a smoke detector to drive some type of circuit that would dump all the power if either condition occurs. This could be done with either a contactor or a shunt-trip breaker. A shunt-trip would be my choice over keeping a large contactor enerqized continuously.

*edit* - The newer "combination" AFCI breakers include a GFCI function.

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Thanks for the input rives... I may have more questions for you to come.

DrFever said:

For what its worth i would hire a electrician to make sure everything is perfectly balanced that will be 90 percent of what will catch fire, or trip

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Maybe someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't running 240v electronics pull evenly from both legs? There shouldn't be an imbalance when running ballasts at 240(220)v. In the states 220 is from two hot 120v in opposing phase... I think...

DrFever said:

Really fan catching on fire ??? never herd of it have used same fans for 5 years but safety is safety

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I've had ballasts running for 5 years that never caught fire... but there there was that one that did... Anything electric has the potential to start a fire. I think it's unlikely for a fan to do anything more than die, but you never know... and I don't ever want to get caught with my pants down again.

Thanks for the input Dr. Fever. I agree the OP should consult with an electrician. I happened to have one show me what I'm doing wiring circuits and he's checked my work since then, but I let him upgrade my panel to 200A before I did anything.

Glad to see you're stepping up the fire prevention. In the construction industry a 2hr rated fire wall consists of 2 layers of 1" fire rated Sheetrock. It's expensive but to building code. As for ballast. I've worked in mills on lots of HPS magnetic ballasts that have been chard up but never caught fire. Not saying it can't happen. Heat is the #1 killer of electronics. I like using muffin fans to cool ballast banks and ensure longevity of my installs. Even on digital ballast. im not a big fan of gfcis or afcis on motors since they tend to false trip quite often. Smoke detectors, a clean environment, and a little commen sense on not overloading circuits goes a long way.

SC

Why not have loads of water suspended and teetering, attached to a string that runs through a series of pullie's through the room?

If one part of the string breaks because of fire, it dumps water and turns off switches by falling. Cool huh? Daring as shit though.

Before the buckets or even sprinklers go, have them toss OFF the switches.

But's that stopping a fire.

People only want to slow them down, suffocate them, make it unlikely. I've recommended the idea before. LOL It would work, wouldn't it? I mean once a fire is going, that string breaks. Everything else is just making is less likely to spread.

I have a similar question about automatic fire suppression and if there is a new system I should be looking at...have considered the halon systems at Advanced Tech in the past but when I looked recently I think it said something about how halon was no longer being produced/used in extinguishers. Is there a newer option?

devilgoob said:

Why not have loads of water suspended and teetering, attached to a string that runs through a series of pullie's through the room?

If one part of the string breaks because of fire, it dumps water and turns off switches by falling. Cool huh? Daring as shit though.

Before the buckets or even sprinklers go, have them toss OFF the switches.

But's that stopping a fire.

People only want to slow them down, suffocate them, make it unlikely. I've recommended the idea before. LOL It would work, wouldn't it? I mean once a fire is going, that string breaks. Everything else is just making is less likely to spread.

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I can think of about 300 things I would rather do to prevent fires than suspend a "teetering" container of water above a room full of electricity...maybe I'm misunderstanding here

Nope, I think he's on point. The only changes I would make are to use comically large water balloons and heat-triggered crossbows.

I'll post some pics once everything is teetering above my electrical wiring.