Should I worry about a fire?

So I have been tripping out about my pc grow box starting a fire!! Ha well the things that worry me the most is that the fans will spark something because I turned up the fans and it gets really hit the part that pluggs into the wall. Big fans are 12v and the other is a fan that is 12 volts too and the plug in is 18 v but this one is a bigger one.
Any opinions???

I have no experience in messing around with volts but i would definitely install one or 2smoke alarms nearby and maybe a fire extinguisher!

Haha that exactly what I did ha

haha and who said stoners dont think alike!

You just don't want to overload circuits. If you don't know what amps stuff is drawing, you could get one of those watt meter things at HD for about $30. You just have to add up everything on a circuit. Remember that your whole setup is rated for its weakest link...like a surge protector for example. Timers have watt limits too.

Damn that sounds pretty complicated ha ha

Panda Bear said:

Damn that sounds pretty complicated ha ha

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Well, at least you got the detectors and extinguisher.

Are the fans suppose to stay on 24/7?

Helps to leave fans running constantly, yes, but they don't have to run during the dark hours.

I don't mess around with PC boxes or fans or power supplies either, but as tet1953 said everything has some limit to what kind of load it can handle. Unless you're running something particularly demanding though you should be alright; fans don't generally draw much power, but the wiring needs to be correct and it should be capable of handling more than the intended load.

Timers for example: your common 'general purpose' mechanical or digital timer is usually rated at 1000 watts. Say I wanted to run a 1000 watt HID on this timer; not safe. I would really want a 'heavy duty' timer for the purpose because the bulb and ballast is actually going to draw 1100 watts. If you absentmindedly did this and to top it off decided also to use that single timer for fans, pumps or what have you- you'll definitely be way over load.

So prety much ur telling me don't go all out on a simple pc grow?

dude, walmart, radio shack and most electronic stores sell a universal power supply that will power most pc fans perfectly. I use them and they work fine and dont get hot. they are adjustable usualy from 3 volts up to 12 volts. this way if you need less or more air flow you can adjust the output.

How much do that cost what are they called man?

Kerovan said:

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=5472147&CatId=501

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hell, thats a nice one. good info kerovan. the one i use is a little less money but may not be quite the quality as that one.

Doesn't your house have a breaker box with breakers in it? If you over load it does it not kick? mine sure does

Haha your right man

Panda Bear said:

So I have been tripping out about my pc grow box starting a fire!! Ha well the things that worry me the most is that the fans will spark something because I turned up the fans and it gets really hit the part that pluggs into the wall. Big fans are 12v and the other is a fan that is 12 volts too and the plug in is 18 v but this one is a bigger one.
Any opinions???

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Anytime I see this question, I fear the poster knows full aware a risk exists, yet they want to be talked out of worrying about it.

Yes, you should worry. Anything that when plugged into a wall socket gets too hot to the touch, it should be removed immediately.

and if your breaker kicks and it just keeps clicking back off when you try to turn it on get a new one

Let me ask a follow up question if I can...

I have a room that is on a 15 amp breaker. I have ran everything through surge protectors and everything from different outlets. By doing this doesn't this run the circuit in series and somewhat protect it. What I mean is if I put 5 pumps that all draw 5 amps each on one single surge protector that would be bad. If I put 1 pump on one SP and then the others all on a different SP from a different outlet for each SP, essentially keeping the amps at whatever the max is (say 5amps) instead of the amps all adding up on each other. When it does this I thought that the volts increased but the amps ran in series and stayed the same.

I may be way off and not remember what I thought I remember or I could be backwards in my thinking (maybe its parallel circuits that do this)

Can someone set me straight on this so I don't catch all of my shit on fire