How to Prevent a Marijuana Grow Room Fire

By Aaron Hitchens | Published: January 17, 2017

A marijuana grow room fire is one of the worst things that can happen to you.

When I get really high from a Sativa strain, I start freaking out about marijuana grow room fire.

Tormented by nightmarish imaginings, I race around my grow op doing things like:

Tightening all the nuts and bolts on my light stands.
Checking my ratchet light hangers.
Sticking an electrical outlet tester into all my grow op outlets.
Looking at every inch of every extension cord, outlet strip, and AC cord.
Measuring the distance between my lights and my plants.
Doing temperature readings of all surfaces near my lights and on my light housings and reflectors.
Making sure the white poly plastic on my walls is fastened down properly so it can’t fall off and catch fire on my lights.
Smelling all the appliances, ballasts, fans, and other electrical devices in my grow op to see if I detect any odor of short circuit, burning dust, or other mishap.
Checking to make sure GFIs are all working.
Looking at my C02 burner and wondering for the thousandth time if I ought to get rid of it.

After wasting many a high in marijuana grow room fire paranoia, I still do it.

If you ever see a grow op fire, you see why I say: Better safe than sorry.

Other than being paranoid, what should you do to prevent grow op fires:

Have a professional electrician install 30-amp arc fault breakers, 30-amp wire, and heavy-duty outlets for every 1000-watt light you run.
Have the electrician check to make sure all circuits related to your grow op are properly grounded.
Firewall your marijuana grow room. Read here for more information.
Remove all flammable materials from your grow room. This includes the obvious stuff like paper, paint, varnish, and cloth, but also includes rolls of reflective material, pieces of wood, etc.
Install a fire door on your grow room.
Install an elevated fire suppression automatic extinguisher. Look here for more details.

Install LTH (light, temperature, humidity) sensors that operate wirelessly and are linked to a system that will automatically text and otherwise alert you if temperatures in your grow op go past a pre-set maximum.
Switch to LED grow lights instead of HIDs (way less heat, no hot bulb). Read here for LED grow lights made for marijuana.
Switch to tank C02 instead of C02 burners.
Keep your grow room super clean to prevent dust, debris, plant materials gathering.
Use only the highest quality extension cords and outlet strips rated for the amps you’ll draw.
Keep fresh fire extinguishers very handy.
Consider being a stay-at-home parent to your marijuana plants and don’t leave your grow house while the lights are on.