preventative measure to take for fire?

what are some important things i should be doing to minimize the risk of fire? that is my biggest paranoia of doing my first grow. i dont care how much it costs, if someone has some good information it would be helpful. i know for one thing the ballast is not to be resting on material like carpet, etc...what about power strips? are there some better then others? are there any safety measures built in grow equipment? for example, if an earthquake happens here and the light falls, will the light shut off? i will be going in a tent. i will also be zip tying the strips to the roof of the tent and avoid water contact.

Hate power strips, unless ur only runnin small items. Moisture, i Almost burnt the house down. A drop of water dripped onto my plug. Thank god the breaker did its job and tripped it. Plants were without lite untill i got home, tho they all recovered just fine. Heat, keep it cool, basements are great, but i have a small heater that turns on if it gets below 68. I also keep my 3 lights on their own breakers, dont have to, but helps my sleep at night. If somethin does happen and ur lucky enough to be home, get a extiguisher. I have a couple Marine, their good for electrical and whatnot. Good luck, be safe...

Fditty00 said:

Hate power strips, unless ur only runnin small items. Moisture, i Almost burnt the house down. A drop of water dripped onto my plug. Thank god the breaker did its job and tripped it. Plants were without lite untill i got home, tho they all recovered just fine. Heat, keep it cool, basements are great, but i have a small heater that turns on if it gets below 68. I also keep my 3 lights on their own breakers, dont have to, but helps my sleep at night. If somethin does happen and ur lucky enough to be home, get a extiguisher. I have a couple Marine, their good for electrical and whatnot. Good luck, be safe...

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im probably going to be hooking up an a 250/400w ballast with bulb, 4" inline fan, 6" circulation fan, and a light timer and fan speed controller. if i shouldnt be using power strips what should i be using?

You can, i have never had a problem with them. Just make sure they fan handle the amount of power needed. The worst that could happen is short out.

It's not what you are plugging, it's what you are plugging in to. If you have a good main box, good breakers, good wiring and good outlets then you have no problem. If you have doubts about those things have them checked out. Never hurts to put in a few outlets, and if you really want to do it right - run a new dedicated circuit to the grow area and put in new outlets. I told the elec guy it was for a group of servers and computer equipment.

Lol. I told mine i was putting in my entertainment unit inside, and putting my theater in the ajoining room. I had him put outlets on the ceiling as well. So now my ballast wires are all hooked on the ceiling, and out of tripping distance.

Illegal Smile said:

It's not what you are plugging, it's what you are plugging in to. If you have a good main box, good breakers, good wiring and good outlets then you have no problem. If you have doubts about those things have them checked out. Never hurts to put in a few outlets, and if you really want to do it right - run a new dedicated circuit to the grow area and put in new outlets. I told the elec guy it was for a group of servers and computer equipment.

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yeah. im probably going to have everything plugged in and running for about a month without any plants, see how it runs. im also going to do 250w instead of 400w.

The 400w isa fine choice. Basement or upstairs? How many plants?

Fditty00 said:

The 400w isa fine choice. Basement or upstairs? How many plants?

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i live in a condo, so im going to either put the tent in my living room or bedroom(leaning towards the bedroom). im going to do 250w, if all goes well i might upgrade to 400. im not a heavy smoker at all, maybe a bowl or 2 a night. im thinking 4 plants would be good. i know temp wise i can handle 400 no problem in winter(now) but once summer comes along im curious to see how the tent temps are since it gets warm here on the second floor. im buying all the equipment on friday.


i bought the strains on saturday from attitude. they are nirvana ice, nirvana ak48. they also sent out ufo#1 dna hash plant and ufo#2 moby dick(never heard of either). ive smoked ice before and enjoyed it. smells like fruity pebbles.

Yeah, u should be good. Dont overlook a extiguisher tho. Lowes has em for like $16. Good luck..

I regret buying the 400w and not the 600w. Youre better off just using cfls then the 250w.

As far as fire, keep track of everything that goes into each circuit and if you have to use an extension cords make sure there in good shape. Also run your lights at night when youre home.

renyman said:

I regret buying the 400w and not the 600w. Youre better off just using cfls then the 250w.

As far as fire, keep track of everything that goes into each circuit and if you have to use an extension cords make sure there in good shape. Also run your lights at night when youre home.

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What makes you think that CFL's would work better than a 250 watt HPS
I can tell you right now that they will not produce what a 250 watt can
Here is a pic of a plant under a 250 watt HPS

That is not my pic, the user is Mindmelted

Now renyman, please find a CFL grow that gave results like the pic above with 400 watts since that guy was using like 5 CFLs as well. I know you aren't going to find one