Fear of Fire....is it justified?

[Santa Claus]

So I'm about to build my first room. With 7 1000K's, a chiller, an ac unit, a dehumidifier, ballasts, pumps, scrubbers, fans and everything else and am starting to get paranoid about the possibilities of something failing and creating a fire. Furthermore I travel a lot and there will be many days where I'm not home...annnnd I'm renting and older apartment. Just the thought of all these systems running while I'm not home has me a little freaked out.

So is this concern justified? Do those of you who are in the same situation worry at all or run any auto extinguishing systems. FYI - I'm going to be running a UC system/ 6 plants and 7 vertical 1000K's and everything else to support it. There will be times I will be gone for a week having a friend stop by occasionally to check on it.

Thanks, :harvest:

****Thanks for responding, I've tried to respond to your posts but for some reason they are not showing up...any ideas?

 

[f1ydave]

I don't think so, but I hope you have enough cooling for all of that.

 

[Santa Claus]

Ya....me too.
I have designed my own vertical cool tubes and will be routing all the balllasts out of the room. Just want to ad to my orig post -

I know it depends on exactly what I'm running, but with everything I listed, what do you think my total wattage/amps will end up being?...ballpark of course

 

[Tobor the 8th Man]

There will be times I will be gone for a week having a friend stop by occasionally to check on it.

Thanks, :harvest:

Don't even think about doing this. Even if it is OK time after time. It is a ticking time-bomb situation.

 

[DaPurps]

Well... are you drawing in 120 or 240v lines on those ballasts ?

On the 110 your pulling 9.1Amps each x 7 = 64 Amps

On the 240 your pulling 4.1Amps each x 7 = 29 Amps

That's just on the ballasts...

What kind of service does this 'old' apt have ? I think your pushing it.

Oh, i see your about to build it. Well once you plug it all in, it's gonna flip the break guarenteed.

 

[Santa Claus]

Damn, I really like this place too... right on the beach!

-I have 90amps going into the apartment
-I have another business which justifies extra electrical work and have approval from the landlord to wire the apartment however I want.

FYI - I was going to run a webcam and auto fire extinguishers in the room

 

[Bobby Smith]

Yeah, odds are an apartment can't handle that electrical load (or even half of that, in all likelihood).

However, if it can and your only concern is about fire, pick up a couple of these and you'll be fine:

 

[Papa]

fires happen.

 

[420Gator]

you gotta have some balls to throw all that in an appt. i wouldnt rock more than 2-4 lights depending on outside conditions. if u wanna stay gone for several days go with dirt

 

[BigCountry]

Get a permit for installing some glass blowing kilns and get a proper electrician to install a subpanel for you. Dedicated dual-protected breakers.
Run them at 240v
Keep them off of any wood or flamable surfaces.
Buy Flame Defenders (Sunlight supply) They will automatically extinguish flames when the temp reaches 155 degrees.
Keep all wiring off of the floor (no janky stuff)
Use proper hardware hanging your lights

 

[Str8Dank]

you gotta have some balls to throw all that in an appt. i wouldnt rock more than 2-4 lights depending on outside conditions. if u wanna stay gone for several days go with dirt

yeah man i'm with 420 on this one! dirt and a shitload of it is the only way i would feel comfortable being gone for a week at a time personally. i'm envious of you for having the gear to setup this kind of system but i'm concerned you wont have the juice AND it's going to be extremely loud for your neighbors above, below and on all sides if you are in a apartment that shares walls like that.

you dont have the juice with 90 amps to pull this off i don't think. at 120 you have like 70 amps of lights just about and the other 20 you need for voltage drops or brownout buffer just for the lights. even a 1 ton ac is going to pull another 10 amps but with 7k you need like 2 tons min and that's just at the 3k btu per 1k light ratio which it is usually recommend that you have 3 to 5 k per 1k light so that's bare minimum. add on the pumps, fans, dehumidifier and you're well over 100 amps i believe. I've never setup a run like this nor am i a electrician but i know a little bit and i'm sure im right in what i've stated.

get ready for electrical upgrades bro especially if you stay at this place when you are in town. if you don't do a upgrade and squeeze by somehow never even dare turn on a toaster, microwave or hair dryer in this place lol.

 

[Underground]

I'll probably throw a few heat detectors in mine and use one of these relays in the holding circuit for my contactor. relay here
Extra protection can't hurt anything. Well I guess it could if it nuisance trips and herms your plants.

 

[BigCountry]

High Temperature Shut-down relays are life-savers. I know more than grower who has been away from the scene, something came undone, temps got into the 90s-100s and they lost their crop. Get the one with 15 minute on-delay to prevent hot-starts on ballasts and bulbs.

 

[Underground]

Hell use two of those relays and connect one of them to something like this click hereand program it to call your phone numbers so you know if anything happens.
And always fuse your lights individually even if they didn't come that way.

 

[Carson]

do not grow in your apt.

 

[Bobby Smith]

GoD, have you ever installed/used either the Flame Defender (link in post #7) or the Mabo (you linked in post #9)?

If so, especially if you've seen/used both - any comparisons between the two? Which would be your preference and why?

This thread reminded me that I need to get one of them sonuvabitches...........so thanks OP, I appreciate it.

 

[Bobby Smith]

Actually weve used the flame defender's, THe thing with these fire suppressant systems is they will go off if your AC shuts down, At 155* degrees the defender will go off, So your AC could pop a breaker and you could have it go off, The MABO which is coming to me from nl, hasnt arrived, Im tracking it and it just left philly. But fwih its got a gel in it, If it reach's a certain temp it explodes and puts the fire out. It looks pretty cool though.:icon_spin:

Yeah, was gonna put a high temp shutoff on my lights anyways, so that shouldn't be much of a problem..........appreciate the info.

 

[Santa Claus]

Thanks for all your responses...this is helping very much with my decision. I have one week to either be moved out or stay so time is of the essence.:anim_44: If I don't do this grow here, then I have to search for a new home, sign a lease, blah blah blah. I'd like to stay here, which is why I'm really trying to find a way to make this work.

The Positives
- I looked at the main breaker going into my apartment. Looks like there are 2x90 amps coming into my place, so 180 amps should be sufficient.

- I know an electrician who would do all the work/ the circuit breaker box is in the same room, so he said he can run a new temporary panel (not built in the wall) and set it up however I want to be easily broken down if I moved.

- So if I WAS mostly home and did this:

Get a permit for installing some glass blowing kilns and get a proper electrician to install a subpanel for you. Dedicated dual-protected breakers.
Run them at 240v
Keep them off of any wood or flamable surfaces.
Buy Flame Defenders (Sunlight supply) They will automatically extinguish flames when the temp reaches 155 degrees.
Keep all wiring off of the floor (no janky stuff)
Use proper hardware hanging your lights

, am I correct to think this is just as doable as anybody else running a UC system in a small room with proper power. The risk seams to be if I wouldn't be around to smell, hear, or see anything failing.

Lastly - For those that have a pretty good understanding of electronics (like BigCountry), what would be safe specs to give to my electrician to start the process and get a quote from him? Thanks Again -SC :harvest:

 

[Underground]

Thanks for all your responses...this is helping very much with my decision. I have one week to either be moved out or stay so time is of the essence.:anim_44: If I don't do this grow here, then I have to search for a new home, sign a lease, blah blah blah. I'd like to stay here, which is why I'm really trying to find a way to make this work.

The Positives
- I looked at the main breaker going into my apartment. Looks like there are 2x90 amps coming into my place, so 180 amps should be sufficient.

- I know an electrician who would do all the work/ the circuit breaker box is in the same room, so he said he can run a new temporary panel (not built in the wall) and set it up however I want to be easily broken down if I moved.

- So if I WAS mostly home and did this:
, am I correct to think this is just as doable as anybody else running a UC system in a small room with proper power. The risk seams to be if I wouldn't be around to smell, hear, or see anything failing.

Lastly - For those that have a pretty good understanding of electronics (like BigCountry), what would be safe specs to give to my electrician to start the process and get a quote from him? Thanks Again -SC :harvest:

Assuming your electrician knows what's going on? Give him spec sheets or model numbers for the actual equipment being used. Discuss plans for future changes, because sometimes they will affect how something may be done now. 7-1000w fixtures will draw 32+ amps themselves on a 240v circuit. That 90amp main is going to really limit you. You'll only be able to load it to 72 amps including everything else in the apartment.