Compact Fluorescent Lamps = Fire Hazard?

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alphahydrox

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Aug 23, 2007
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I built my own wooden hood for a 15 gallon tank where I house two 15 watts CFL's. I noticed that the wood gets a bit hot but nothing extreme.

The past days my dad was bothering about the hood because he thinks its dangerous and that the wood won't stand the 2 CFL's heat and this has frustrated me a lot. So I come here and ask if there is any real danger at all. Because I just wanted to save a couple of bucks by building my own hood but my dad comes, ruins everything and tells me to take it off. :rant2:?

Anyways, is there any real danger at all? Like the wood catching on fire and burning my house down? the bulbs breaking killing my fish and burning the electric circuits? water splashing on the bulbs and causing some fire? anything?
 
fire doesn't start with just heat. you could take a heat gun to a piece of wood and it won't ignite. besides, it would warp to hell before then and i think you would notice that quite easily.
 
There is no way two properly wired 15 watt compact florescent lights can heat wood up enough for it to burn. Think off all the several hundred watt metal halide canopy's that people have, that don't catch on fire. Think of anything wood being out in Death Valley. Sure its hot, but not a fire hazard. I'm sure somebody here will give you a creditable source that you can use to convince your dad.
 
Them said:
fire doesn't start with just heat. you could take a heat gun to a piece of wood and it won't ignite. besides, it would warp to hell before then and i think you would notice that quite easily.
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actually wood can start on fire with a heat gun, i have done home improvement were i would remove old paint from my trim work and if you sit to long on the wood it will catch. also i had just for fun went to see on bear untreated wood and it does also without the help of varnish or paint. still i think the 2 cf's would not create the heat needed for ignition.
 
I have 576 watts of cf lighting in a DIY all wood hood. Ive had these type of set ups for almost 4 yrs, with no problems. This is not a guarantee that it can not happen, but my experience with it.
 
i would say if you cannot put your hand on the wood because its that hot then you may have something to be cautious about. otherwise its normal with lighting that it produces heat...
 
I put 4 15W bulbs into my daughters perfecto hood, which is made of a very soft plastic.

even with the bulbs enclosed, and running 12 hours a day, it doesnt seem to get hot enough to even melt the plastic, and it gets hot trust me.... im going to add fans someday.

my LEDs sitting not even 1" away from the bulbs dont seem to be affected either.
 
Thank you guys so much. The bulbs aren't that close to the white painted hood. The wires are properly set up. I used a lot of non-conductive tape around open wires. And there is a hole on top to let the hot air out. I kind of convinced my dad about it and he is not b*tching about it anymore. Thank god.
 
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