WARNING, not recommended reading for anyone with a nervous disposition or who are prone to paranoia and panic attacks!
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I want to share my experience of an incident which happened to me last year.
In the UK all electrical plugs have replaceable ceramic cartridge fuses of different values. The system is great, as it means that for example, you can “fuse” smaller electrical appliances eg fans, lights etc, down to 3A (maximum fuse sizes 13A).
Then, if an appliance goes “short circuit”, the idea is that the plug fuse activates, and isolates just that one piece of equipment, whilst leaving everything else unaffected and still working.
Now however, I live in New Zealand , and our plugs (like most countries I believe) do not have individual protection, and if an appliance “shorts out” you are relying on the main circuit breaker to protect the appliance, which can be an issue as often it allows much more current to flow before the breaker opens, possibly leading to dangerous circumstances….
This nearly cost me everything last year.
What happened you ask?
My tent is inside a large cupboard in my workshop office. When I got started, like many, I wanted to try growing without spending a kings ransom all at once, so I didn’t get all the best gear right away. That said, I am careful when it comes to electrical gear… most of the time.
On the day in question, I went into my workshop and found that my office didn’t have any power. I panicked as I realised that my “tent” could have been out for 2 days, as I had skipped a day (as I sometimes did, knowing that the plants were full watered and everything was on a timer etc).
I rushed to the main board and flicked on the 16A breaker, which immediately flashed with a bang, making me jump and alerting me to the fact that something was clearly very wrong.
“Oh shit, there must be a short circuit somewhere”…. I frantically disconnected all appliances from the wall sockets, heater, printer, PC etc etc, not for one instance thinking about my hidden tent and all the gear inside!
FLASH..BANG, another failed attempt to re-set the mains breaker.
Then I thought about the tent and a feeling of panic overcame me.
I hurried back into the office and over to the cupboard, and as soon as I opened the wooden doors I could smell burning.
I opened the tent only to be met with the sight of very wilted plants and an acrid stench of burnt plastic.
It transpired that one of the two clip-on oscillating fans I had installed had shorted out on its cable. I removed the fan and reinstated the main breaker.
The actual problem was, the cable of the fan goes through the “knuckle” that twists (when set to oscillating), and eventually this twisting back and forth caused the copper wires to wear through the insulation and short out together. The way in which the fan had been manufactured, and the cable tie-wrapped close to the point where it was “twisting” had ensured that it would at some point do just what it did. It was inevitable....maybe even planned?
Basically it was a Chinese time delayed incendiary device.
It wasn’t an instant short as such, because the plastic cable itself had melted somewhat, telling me that it had arced for a short time before the main breaker had operated. This is often the worst sort of electrical fault, as it allows a fire to get started before the electrical fault is removed.
The smell inside my tent coupled with the thought of what COULD have easily happened (all that plastic and electrical gear) made me shudder.
I could have easily lost my whole tent…my office… the whole building!!!!
I still have two of those fans, and I have “corrected” the shoddy way in which they are cabled up from factory. More importantly, I never use the oscillating setting on them now.
What can we take from this guys? Well, I would say that you should buy the best electrical gear you can afford, and do your homework first when considering adding something to your installation.
Keep your electrical installation ie lighting arrays, multi-plugs, leads etc neat and secure as possible.
Stay away from dirt cheap appliances (unless you KNOW they are safe and well designed).
Inspect electrical appliances often, especially where they could be prone to wear (oscillating fans etc)….
I shudder to think of the ramifications if I had destroyed my office building by having an unsafe illegal grow setup. For a start, the insurance company would just walk away from it, and then what happens?
As it was, all it cost me was a new fan and a few stressed plants, which by the way, did recover with a bit of TLC. I must admit though, I had a few restless nights after that, thinking about my tent, humming away in the dead of night with all the gear switching on and off with no one there to monitor it… waiting…..just waiting.
The End…. Or is it?
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Edgar Allan Poe eat your heart out!
