Home Insurance And Growing Question

[rustyjams]

For the sake of arguement, what would happen if my house burned to the ground due to a grow room fire. Would I be covered on with my home insurance since I am legal to grow? Sorry if this is a dumb question but would like to know.

 

Anyone?

[trichcycler]

depends on your negligence while circumventing a federal law I'd think ?  there may be the issue of this type of activity

voiding your coverage. Grow houses now need to be legally disclosed in the real estate biz, for the mold risks/removal. 

[t-pain]

theres a few posts on home insurance here in the forums, i suggest you read them. lots of info and experience.

 

http://michiganmedicalmarijuana.org/topic/44289-homeowners-insurance-pay-for-stolendamaged-plants/

[rustyjams]

Thanks T, I'll have a look.

[trichcycler]

moral of that thread, ......avoid the fire !

 

Use the advice from those who've had a fire, to rush on the advice of those who have not.

[rustyjams]

Nobody can predict a fire.  My biggest hazard would probably be an overloaded plug but I try to use the utmost caution with quality equipment. I've done some reading and get good and bad results.

[trichcycler]

keep your electrical demands at less than half of your electrical capabilities I hear. smoke alarm, auto room shut down, extinguishers, fire/phone dialer, etc will help sleep well.

[rustyjams]

keep your electrical demands at less than half of your electrical capabilities I hear. smoke alarm, auto room shut down, extinguishers, fire/phone dialer, etc will help sleep well.

For Pete's sake, If 120v is 966 watts then my plug is already overloaded if i'm using 1000w HPS. Not including pumps, fans, etc. I think it's time for an electric upgrade?

[Guanotea1]

Yes, it's time for an upgrade.

 

However, the real metric to shoot for is 80% continious load, at least on all new breakers / wires / outlets which is 100% what I recommend. 50% is a good rule on old or unknown condition electrics though. That leaves you a SUBSTANTIAL overall safety margin because the new wires/outlets/etc used in res construction already has a hefty safety margin built in.

 

When you are doing H.I.D. lighting multiply the wattage of the light by about 10% (so 1000W becomes 1100Ws) and you get a good idea of actual continious draw. You can also use the specs listed on the ballasts!

 

When in doubt consult an electrician and be sure to have your equipment or overall wattage consumed in front of you (including any AC etc) because they may be very surprised by the high level of continious load you are planning on running it's way more than a typical room. My guy was like a 15A will be fine I had to convince him look at these loads even with the floro's in the veg I still need an AC and a good amount of margin left!

 

I replaced my outlets and had my electrician wire up a dedicated 20A for my veg room, for example. Some of my outlets looked OK from the outside but where cracked and failing on the inside. Scary stuff!

 

With everything new and the straight shot of new wire all the way to my breaker I feel confident in loading all the way up to 16A continious or about 1840W total (115V X 16A).

 

1800W's, btw, is exactly the same continious draw as the gigantic space heater my gf bought.

 

On an old 15A 115V breaker (and worse with some knob/tube wiring or god knows what) a 1k light which probably consume 1.1K continious is pushing it!!!

 

For you I would talk to one of the many many many grow friendly electricians out there for a consult.

Edited December 12, 2013 by Guanotea1

[Guanotea1]

And an electrician can help you install GFCI's which I recommend for your water pump circuits (and most pump manufacturers recommend) for personal protection!

 

Honestly I'm a pretty cheap dude but the two things not to skimp out on are the power distribution and the safety gear. Most everything else you can get away without all the fancy shiny big aircon hoods nutrients with pretty labels hortilux eye brand bulbs etc etc and do just as good or almost as good as the next guy (some cases better). Don't get sucked into those traps and you can have a safe and productive grow room and still spend less than most guys! 

 

I've been thinking about an auto power shutdown, can someone point me and rusty in the right direction? I have some fire suppression and obviously fire/co detectors but the juice will just keep flowing and flowing in an emergency .

[trichcycler]

CAP HLC 1E CAP HLC-1e HIGH TEMP SHUTDOWN

The HLC-1e by Custom Automated Products protects your garden from overheating. The HLC-1e constantly monitors your garden temperature. If the garden exceeds the temperature that you have set, the HLC-1e turns off your lights so that crop damage will not occur. It then turns on the Temp Exceeded" light to let you know that an overheating situation occurred. When the temperature returns to normal, it will turn your lights back on. It comes with a 15' remote temperature sensor. The HLC-1e is rated at 15 amps @ 120 volts. 3 year warranty.

[trichcycler]

interesting bit about this to keep in mind. I run my lights @ 220volts, not 120, and this is made for 120 operation. The way around that is to use it in between the 120 timer and  the CAP light controller on the wall. I require two, one for the veg light bank, and one for the flower room bank of lights, as both banks are within one 8 total atmosphere controller. the little timers snap a relay that allows the lights to run 240, yet using a 120 timer, like voodoo or something..

 

the fact that it comes back on  once cooled down is the key

[Kingdiamond]

I have auto extinguishers in both areas of My grow hung directly over the ballasts.

 

http://pimg.tradeindia.com/00275680/b/0/Auto-Safe-Automatic-Fire-Extinguisher.jpg

[trichcycler]

good job !

[Guanotea1]

Yes all of these ballasts should come with high temp shut downs since runaway temperatures are possible in most ballasts especially those that use fans as their primary cooling mechanism! It might be prudent to note that basically none of the ballasts marketed to the normal commercial market include any fans just giant heat sinks... And they are quite expensive!

 

But thats not they way our ballasts are usually made, so goood call on the auto fire extinguisher above the ballast table. I gotta get me one of them. I think between that and a high temp shutdown and good power distribution including GFCI where water gets close to electricity the grow room is probably one of the safest places to be! Heck yes guys good job good info here:)

 

BTW, as it is now, a (very unlikely!) fire in my grow room could raise temperatures to about 90F and beyond and you know what would happen? My fans would kick on in my otherwise sealed system to bring in more O2 until the fire burned through the fans wires!! and of course that's the last thing my grow room fires needs holy moly. On the other hand, pretty hard to start a fire with 4' of fieldstone on the walls and very little flammable substances nearby, (wonder how mylar burns?) but better safe than sorry.

 

As for the mold bullshiet my grow rooms are the most climate controlled areas you can imagine. So unless you are doing something dumb with your warm moist air it's a nonissue. Sealed AC'd dehumidified rooms pretty much the ideal way to keep a structure happy.

[rkdent]

I found this for Michigan....    http://michigan-marijuana-lawyer.com/growing-marijuana-in-your-home-may-cost-you/

[freddyncharlie55]

It would be better to keep your house from everything that can make a fire, but I think that some home insurance companies will give you all information you need on this point.

[adams1980]

Hello freddyncharlie55, I think it is not worth insuring your house only from fire, sometimes you can pay only a little extra, but you will get wider coverage. You never know where the danger may come from. My brother-in-law is always insuring his property since storm ruined the roof of his parents’ house. At the beginning of previous year his fence, his lawn and garage gate were severely damaged because of the landslide. He is always using https://www.moneyexpert.com/home-insurance/ services. His insurance company paid him almost immediately so he had the possibility to replace all the damaged parts in the shortest term. The amount paid allowed him to even benefit from more expensive products and some additional stuff in the garage.

Edited July 6, 2020 by adams1980