Cardboard brooder box just caught fire !!!

[Trollkiller]

Quote:
Check your heating pad as most of the newer ones will shut off after a while and you have to turn it off an then back on again to get it to work some more.

 

[hcammack]

I know how lucky and stupid I am and I am making sure to be very careful with these lights from now on. What is a safe but realativly cheap alternative to a cardboard box or plastic tote? I don't know of one?

Henry

 

[hcammack]

Quote:
The light fixture I was using is directly adapted to the type of hot red brooder bulb I was using.

 

[ChickenTender63]

Henry,

Metal is by far going to be the best material that you can use in this application, but isn't very practical for everyone. The next step would be to build one out of wood. The wood, even though it is still flammable and combustible, will take much more heat before it would ignite.

Henry, if you can build a quick wood box out of 1"x pine, and be sure that the heat source is a couple inches away, you should be fine. Or if you have a piece of tile backerboard (concrete board) that you can place between the wood and heat source, you will be fine.

Cardboard as you now know, will go up quickly, and plastic will start to melt and produce toxic gasses if the heat source is allowed to get too close. If you have a means to keep the heat source several inches away from a plastic tote, and can check on it often, you can probly get away with it.

This is one thing that has been scaring me really bad the last few days with folks displaying the pictures of the incubators made out os a styrofoam cooler. The same thing is going to happen there. Styrofoam will melt quickly if the bulb is too close to it and then start the fire.

Folks need to watch this very close. Most of you have these types of set-ups and they are in your own home. So, when it happens, you don't just lose a barn of chickens, you lose your home, your memories, and possibly your family.

Please learn from Henry tonight. Take a good look at how you have things set up, and make sure you aren't next.

 

[ChickenTender63]

Quote:
The light fixture I was using is directly adapted to the type of hot red brooder bulb I was using.

The problem here is not the light fixture, it sounds like he had the correct lamp and socket. The problem was getting the heat source too close to a combustible material (cardboard)

 

[Colored Egg Farmer]

Wow glad your alright. Just another reason to be careful when heating baby chicks.

 

[ChickenTender63]

Quote:
And please don't feel bad about telling us what happened. I am proud of you for that. You may have just saved someone else from having a far worse situation by helping educate!

 

[PoultryPedia]

I've had problems using smaller brooders because then the chicks can't move very far from the heat lamp if it gets too hot in the brooder as heat builds up or temperatures fluctuate throughout the day.
I've preferred cardboad over plastic because I can cut holes in cardboard or adjust top flaps of the box to increase/decrease ventilation and heat escape, as needed.
Haven't had any fire issues. I mainly use regular 100-watt or lower bulbs. When I've used high-watt heat bulbs, I've used true heat lamps (not just 'shop lights') and suspended them where they wouldn't touch anything. (A couple doubled loops of yarn strung from an overhead/ceiling hook can work for this). I wouldn't recommend clamping the heat lamp to the box itself.

 

[hcammack]

I may have to go out and try and string this from the cieling. The tote is much to small and I will try and make a trip to Wall Mart or somewhere else tonight or tomorrow for a much bigger area for them. I am going to try and slip by with plastic I think because I only brood a very small number of chicks once of twice a year. The heat lamp is several inches away from the side of the plastic tote and I have been checking to make sure its not to hot. I can't wait till week three for these guys because then they get put out in the tractor over night and its much safer out their.

Thanks for all the sugestions advice and support,
Henry

 

[Henrietta23]

Glad you caught it in time! I had a heat lamp pull its hook right out of the ceiling and fall on the wire screen. It started to melt the plastic edge but I heard it fall and ran in a fixed it almost right away. Scary stuff!