Paranoid about burning the house down?

Yes I'm very paranoid.... I suggest you go to walmart and but a filing cabinet then take out the inside and make it a brow box.... fireproof. I was growing out of a cardboard box a few weeks ago and was so scared of a fire ( i had to rewire a bunch of stuff) so I built a plywood box and then put that in the cardboard box, less likely to ignite.

I highly suggest you find somethign metal like that filing cabinet and hollow it out.

 

Hmm I don't think the rubbermaid is that much of a problem, the picture was jsut to mess with you. Do you live by yourself? Basicly all you need for the filing cabinet is a drill set ( cutting bits, screw driver bits etc ) which I personally think msot people should own anyway. Good luck with the grwo : ) I going to check out your journal now.

 

Calm down, friend. You're worrying more than you deserve to. Knowledge is power.

First things first - you're using some of the coolest forms of light available before LED's (and the jury's still out on how great those are for these sort of things).

So, fluorescents... good choice. Especially for someone who's so safety-conscious. Good on ya.

After that, you should devote some thought to your wiring - THAT's a leading cause of fires.

If you have too many watts trying to go through one wire, you're asking for trouble. I'll guess you probably have an extension cord somewhere and those are usually rated for no more than 15 amps - but don't try to push more than 12 amps (80%).

With 12 amps and (assuming you're in the US) normal wiring, you can plug in up to 1440 watts - that's a lot of CFL's.

Stick with CFL's. Keep your wiring smart and clean. Don't get electronics wet. Don't let lights touch things. Ventilate.

Now pat yourself on the back for doing things in a well thought out manner.

I worry less when I think more. Then again, I'm such a geek I'd probably use my oven to figure out what temperature Rubbermaid melts at (and eventually combusts). I'm not suggesting that, however.

Good luck with it all!

 

if I was you learn how to wire correctly, think of a system where the light has a cord already attached ur only 17, plus file cabinets still are'nt fire proof ur thinkin of a safe, peace

 

if your using cfl's, i would not worry at all. those get maybe 95f at the hottest-still not hot enough to ignite a flame. the real danger lies with hids.

 

the air temps required to set a rubbermaid on fire are fairly high,way way higher than your room,shit you need air temps of over 100C to ignite paper,and besides the rubbermaid will be more likely to warp and melt,rather than ignite,i mean you put a rubbermaid in oven it wont catch fire,just melt to a messy pulp,i think your worried about nothing,i leave my house unattended with a 400w hps running

 

My splywood box is way less likely to ignite than a cardboard box... think about all the little paper like areas in a worn box and how easily that can ignite.... thick wood would need a flame to ignite it not jsut a hot lightbulb.

 

shit that better not be my house on fire or i'm gonna be pissed!

 

Man I'm paranoid too - unlike you though, I leave a 400W HPS running without supervision for minimum 8 hrs per day - and does that thing ever get hot. My worry has lessened over time, but I still can't help but picture flames licking out of my 12th floor apt as I walk back from work each day.

 

Paper ignites 454F or 232C. I can't say at what temperature rubbermaid will ignite but it's probably not gonna happen to you! Melting it? Possibly, but remember 100F won't boil water, let alone burn anything. I'd like to point out though that 90F is a temperature CO2 users work with, it doesn't sound like you'd have CO2 for a setup like that. You can exhaust your girls with that high a temp.