are HIDs safe to leave on for extended periods????

hi everyone, i recently bought a powerplant hid light and digital ballast kit that supports both mh and hps. i have the thing running a mh right now cuz my greens are in veg. my question is are hid systems safe to use for extended periods of time. i know thats what you are suppose to do (obviously to have sufficient growth), but they do seem like a pretty big fire risk since they get so damn hot. i know these are kind of stupid questions but really i cannot take the risk of a fire. so suppose i were to run say a 16 or 18 hr on time and a 6 or 8 hr off time, would that be too excessive and would i be running the risk of a fire or anything else undesired? i also have a pretty nice tent that has tons of room and is lined with some sort of dimpled reflective stuff which i thought was mylar but im not really sure. trhe stuff kind of looks like a fire blanket in fact.

i would really appreciate any knowledge on the subject, it would help me a lot and ease my mind a little.

well yes and no.

they are rated for extended use.

but if you put them in a small room without adequate ventelation, its a deff fire hazard.

such things as curtains nearby hanging cloth etc.

just get some good thermometers, and check into a cooltube setup.

oh i forgot to mention i have a inline fan in a ducking system attached to the light, which is in one of those glass tubes. the whole system keeps cool air flowing over the light while the light is on. it seems very effective.

also, like i mention before, its in a grow tent which is lined with what appears to be some sort of fire "resistant" material. there are literally nothing dangling or anything like that just a plastic rubbermaid bin with a carboard box ontop the elevate my plants closer to the light. if necessary i can take a pic of my setup. im almost certain i have a very ideal setup for this kind of thing

Daily]Sifter;4941382 said:

oh i forgot to mention i have a inline fan in a ducking system attached to the light, which is in one of those glass tubes. the whole system keeps cool air flowing over the light while the light is on. it seems very effective.

Click to expand...

The fire problem people worry about is associated with the circuits. The Cool Tube will protect you if the bulb blows up.

You didn't indicate what wattage your light is.

The biggest danger is overloading your circuits, extension cords, switched timers, etc.

If you run your circuit at over 80% rated wattage over an extended period, your control box (circuit breakers) could catch your whole house on fire.

So -> how many watts on the WHOLE circuit (T.V. Fridge, etc.), any extension cords, plug multipliers.

This is the danger Proper planning will mitigate the risk.

that may be a risk itself. plugged in in my room i have a few items but they may use up lots of wattage. first off my light is 400 watt with a 6' inline fan that pushes i think like 175 cfm. i also have a large room fan that cant use up a whole lot of wattage id presume plugged in as well as a grounded light timer, and to top it all off, my imac. in one outlet i have like one of those power bar things u plug in to get more outlets with the timer and room fan plugged into that. then i have another power bar plugged into the timer to allow more things to be "timed". plugged into the "timed" power bar i have my lights and my inline fan. the inline fan has an extension cord because it doesnt reach all the way to the outlets. my imac is plugged into a different outlet across my room. may b i should move my mac somewhere else for now?

golddog said:

The fire problem people worry about is associated with the circuits. The Cool Tube will protect you if the bulb blows up.

You didn't indicate what wattage your light is.

The biggest danger is overloading your circuits, extension cords, switched timers, etc.

If you run your circuit at over 80% rated wattage over an extended period, your control box (circuit breakers) could catch your whole house on fire.

So -> how many watts on the WHOLE circuit (T.V. Fridge, etc.), any extension cords, plug multipliers.

This is the danger Proper planning will mitigate the risk.

Click to expand...

great info. best answer ive seen in a while. +rep.

i may not have been specific enough. i live in a house, i own the house and i have a tent inside my room where all this action is going down. and inside my room i have all the items mentioned above plugged in. i also have many many more items throughout the house that use up lots of wattage such as my fridge in my kitchen and a large lcd tv in my tv room. so yes, there are several things aside from my light in my house that probly use tons of wattage. will this make an impact?

Daily]Sifter;4941491 said:

that may be a risk itself. plugged in in my room i have a few items but they may use up lots of wattage. first off my light is 400 watt with a 6' inline fan that pushes i think like 175 cfm. i also have a large room fan that cant use up a whole lot of wattage id presume plugged in as well as a grounded light timer, and to top it all off, my imac. in one outlet i have like one of those power bar things u plug in to get more outlets with the timer and room fan plugged into that. then i have another power bar plugged into the timer to allow more things to be "timed". plugged into the "timed" power bar i have my lights and my inline fan. the inline fan has an extension cord because it doesnt reach all the way to the outlets. my imac is plugged into a different outlet across my room. may b i should move my mac somewhere else for now?

Click to expand...

That's not bad.

Light 400 watts
Ballast 50 watts
Fan 100 watts

So that's about 550 watts at 120 volts. 550 / 120 = 4.583 amps

Most circuits are rate 15-20 amps, so 15 amps * 80% rated load = 12 amps allowed

Things to check - amp rating on your timer - should be 15 amps

Most extension cords are not rated heavy duty, get a 15 amp cord.

Check to see if the circuit only runs stuff in your room.

You could be golden

im almost certain the circuit box is offiliated with power in my room cuz i remember my parents use to be able to shut off power in certain rooms so i wasnt able to watch tv when i was grounded. i have all my equipment plugged into one pair of outlets... like the standard two outlet pair per wall thing im guessing all houses have.... i then hyave my imac plugged into an outlet across the room from all my stuff in question. are you saying each individual pair of outlets has these "limits" which you say i cannot surpass 80%??? and apparently, i dont seem to be near the limit, and i should be good? i really want to make make sure i understand because as u can imagine i dont want to make any mistakes.

Daily]Sifter;4941607 said:

im almost certain the circuit box is offiliated with power in my room cuz i remember my parents use to be able to shut off power in certain rooms so i wasnt able to watch tv when i was grounded. i have all my equipment plugged into one pair of outlets... like the standard two outlet pair per wall thing im guessing all houses have.... i then hyave my imac plugged into an outlet across the room from all my stuff in question. are you saying each individual pair of outlets has these "limits" which you say i cannot surpass 80%??? and apparently, i dont seem to be near the limit, and i should be good? i really want to make make sure i understand because as u can imagine i dont want to make any mistakes.

Click to expand...

A circuit is generally more than 1 outlet. Probably the whole room. If you throw the breaker, that will show which outlets are being used on that circuit. The 80% is what the code says you can draw on for extended period, over 2 hours.

But with a 400 watt, that's about as safe as you are going to get.

Good Growing

thanks golddog this was very helpful

gold dog is rite u got nothin at all to worry about, id put money on it you could times all ur appliances by three and run all of em 24 hours a day, your concerns about running a 400w for 18 hours are unecessary i recently did a 600w mh on 24 hours a day my only concern was the electric bill, if it were 4000w in to one socket them maybe worry... your oven is probably 5000w kettles are 2000w, driers, washing machines any of these blow 400w out of the water, your house with be designed to take this shit they got 50 amp fuses, fukin hell come to think of it rite now i got 2 600w with a fan for the cooltubes a fan for the can and a small desk fan all in to one socket bin like that for nearly a month now