Fire Prevention

[Hypnotic Exotic]

After what just happened to Pro Exotics as well as what happened to Bob Clark recently, I thought it might be good to start a thread on what we can do to minimize the likelihood of a fire. Before I give my personal tips, let me be very clear here - this thread is NOT about what Pro Exotics or Bob Clark could have or should have done to prevent it. Sometimes bad things just happen. Here are a few of my suggestions:
1) Use as low wattage heat tape as you can get away with. Mine are only 8 watts and do fine keeping the hot side of the tubs 88 degrees with ambient temps in the upper 70's and they are capable of going hotter. There is no need to go with higher wattage for racks unless you keep your ambient temps much lower which I wouldn't recommend anyway. If you need a larger basking spot, consider wiring two low wattage heat strips rather than one larger, higher wattage one (you really won't need to unless you keep large snakes).
2) Use a good thermostat. Personally I consider this the most important piece of equipment I own. Do not trust your snakes to a cheap, bottom line thermostat, period. That's the last place you want to try and save money.
3) Use the dual thermostat method. This is where you plug your main proportional thermostat into an on/off thermostat set to a slightly higher temperature and put both probes next to each other. The on/off thermostat is going to be much cheaper. This will likely be something in the range of $25 so it's a no brainer. If your primary fails, the secondary will shut it off before it gets much hotter. Cheapest insurance you can buy.
4) Make sure you have GFI outlets for everything you plug in. These are those outlets that have the little breaker built in. These are more sensitive than your main breakers in your breaker box and will trip quickly if something that is plugged into them shorts out. They are very inexpensive but if you do not know what you're doing, please hire an electrician. Not worth killing yourself to save a buck.
5) Never allow your tubs to rub on exposed heat strips. Always cover them completely with aluminum tape. Otherwise the protective plastic covering can rub off over time.
6) Use the plastic coverings over the heat strip clips. This prevents anything that conducts electricity from being exposed.
7) Secure your probes VERY well. I tape mine down with a ton of aluminum tape where they will not move, period. This tape is very heat resistant so it doesn't lose adhesiveness.
This is by no means an exhaustive list so let's hear the rest of your tips. We can not be too careful so my hope is that this thread can help prevent this from happening to another one of us.

[lance]

great thread

Lance

[Herpking]

I just got a few things, 1 ) very good thread 2) what happened to Bob Clark? 3) if people have a larger collection ( Where it takes a separate building to house them) I would purchase a sprinkler system. I don't know if they had one or not. But it won't prevent the fire but could help put it out....

[Homegrownscales]

Sprinklers 100%. Also I know you can get alarms that if a fire sensor goes off it txts or calls the alarm company or you. I'm looking into this if we ever get through the house buying process arg. And just be safe. Don't over work the outlets. Make sure you update the powerstrips those get old and fail too.


Check out what's new on my website... www.Homegrownscales.com

[Homegrownscales]

Bob Clark recently lost a good potion of his collection due to a fire at his facility. Btw


Check out what's new on my website... www.Homegrownscales.com

[Herpking]

I did not know that but it is so sad these people have thousands of thousands of snakes. It kinda stinks, like what happened to BHB a few years ago ( I think) a storm flooded their building thankfully if I remember no animals died.
Could be wrong though

[KLMuller]

There are arc fault beakers available, only slightly more expensive. They would replace a breaker in your box.

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[Chris633]

Great thread! I saw on my facebook news feed a few days ago a post by NERD suggesting that everyone consider the things they do that could be dangerous. They also commented something along the lines of how not to put heat tape on a wooden rack and that metal doesn't burn. So it made me start thinking about whether going with a metal rack (eg ARS/Freedom Breeder) over plastic (eg RBI/Animal Plastics) would be a good idea from a fire prevention standpoint. I have such a small collection that I am currently using RBI & AP, but it made think about my future plans. I am not even close to being an expert in any of these matters, so I was wondering what other people thought?

[kitedemon]

PVCx is a natural fire retardant, metal can cause arcing and shorts To be honest I don't think it matters about the rack material, inspecting every piece of heating every wire and connection every few months is likely a great way to prevent problems. Yes it is a ton of work but...

Fail safe thermostats. My belief is that any and every thermostat can and will fail eventually. A fail safe protects the animals in the event of a failure and protects against over heating of the flexwatt and enclosures as well. I don't believe it is something that should be over looked. that is the best use of a hydrofarm to my mind it is almost made for it.

[L.West]

To Kitedemon: you mention a Hydrofarm - what is this?? Can you explain it for me please.

Thanks