Who has had a fire as a result of your hobby?

[Big Dave]

I have been going through lots of forums lately and this warrants attention. I was quite alarmed at how many people have had to live through a fire. All I want to do is give people a little nudge and have them check all their equipment. Don't have too many bulbs or heaters plugged into an outlet. Dont have too many bulbs and heaters plugged into a breaker. A standard house breaker is 15 amps. A 160watt bulb draws roughly 1.5 amps, a 120w roughly 1 amp, 100watt - 0.9amps, 75w -.68amps, 50 watt -.45amps.

When using extension cords do not exceed it's rating. If it is warm you have a problem.

Keep curtains and anything else flamable away from the lamp holders, a 120watt bulb can be 300 degrees or more.

Don't remove any ground plugs on cords

Make sure your equipment is rated for outdoor use if it is in a very damp envirement.

I hope I don't sound like preaching but I don't want to read another horror story due to a fire.

 

[turtlepunk]

yeah a fire would be my worst nightmare!! thanks for the post!!!!!!

 

[Jefroka]

Excellent post Big Dave! I know Reptastic's house had a horrible fire but not sure what the cause was.


...Jefroka

 

[reptastic]

Yeah I did but it was never proven it was a result of my herps the fire inspector belived it was a combination of old wiring and debris inside the walls, but having 10+ encosures with lamps, uvb, heat pads, misters ect. Did play a part, good post dave I think people need to know this stuff, I tried my best to follow the ratings on the cords and lamps as that is very important

 

[Dereks-Dragons]

ive had 2 fires already from my hobby but it was both an accident on MY part. one of my heat lamps caught the cage on fire cuz it was too close to the wood side, and the other i was cleaning, put the heat lamp on the rug and i forgot to turn it off and caught my rug on fire. :/

 

[Big Dave]

ive had 2 fires already from my hobby but it was both an accident on MY part. one of my heat lamps caught the cage on fire cuz it was too close to the wood side, and the other i was cleaning, put the heat lamp on the rug and i forgot to turn it off and caught my rug on fire. :/

My wife put a lamp holder on a piece of glass that was covering a dresser and it shattered.

 

[Dereks-Dragons]

when i used to keep Reef fish tanks, i had a metal halide get so hot that it shattered the glass canopy And the bulb itsself.

 

[Rhetoric]

I've had a scare. Guru managed to knock one of his light fixtures loose and the fixture w/ bulb landed on the mulch. I had no idea until my dogs came running into my room freaking out, I went out into the living room and the room was kind of smokey. Gurus enclosure was completely filled with smoke and the mulch was starting to light on fire. His thermometer was completely torched and melted.

 

[Dereks-Dragons]

I've had a scare. Guru managed to knock one of his light fixtures loose and the fixture w/ bulb landed on the mulch. I had no idea until my dogs came running into my room freaking out, I went out into the living room and the room was kind of smokey. Gurus enclosure was completely filled with smoke and the mulch was starting to light on fire. His thermometer was completely torched and melted.

, he

my red is in a pvc plastic panel cage, he used to poush the light up to get out of the hole to escape, and he melted thru his cage with the MVB haha