General > General Technical Chat
Moving the lab to the attic, best way to prevent a fire?
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Kalvin:
In addtion to mentioned above, you may also want to purchase a timer clock that will switch off your soldering iron(s) after certain period. Even if you forget to power off your bench, the soldering irons will power off no matter what.

Edit: Same applies to the coffee machine: If your coffee machine doesn't turn off automatically, use a timer clock with it, too.
Psi:

--- Quote from: SmallCog on August 31, 2023, 12:27:18 pm ---At both work and home my benches have a single power switch.

This controls power to things that shouldn’t be left on (soldering irons etc) as well as lights.

Thus it’s very obvious if I’ve left things on

--- End quote ---

This!!

A master power switch with indicator light that you can flip when you leave to switch everything off makes things much safer.
If something needs to be left running overnight you run a separate power feed to it. Usually an extension cord, which makes it obvious what you have done and less likely you'll forget about it later.

Most fires that burn houses down happen when no one is there, or when everyone is asleep.
Mainly because when things fail and start a fire there's usually a bang first, some smoke and obvious indications of something bad starting to happen. Any time that happens when someone is in the room or nearby they notice it and deal with the issue before it gets out of control. It's when no one is there to deal with it that you get house fires. So by cutting the power to your entire work bench or work room you reduce the risks a lot.
Bud:
Do not store li-ion batteries, install the usual smoke/fire alarm.
Psi:
You can store lithium batteries, just need to do it in a metal cabinet and in a way that will be safe if they decide to catch fire. But yeah, not having them at all is always going to be the safer option.

Most of the time lithium batteries catch on fire while being charged, discharged or with a time delay after some sort of damage had occurred prior.

It's pretty uncommon for a lithium cell that is in storage to suddenly catch on fire for no real reason.
JohanH:

--- Quote from: jmw on August 30, 2023, 11:01:44 pm ---Since the fire hazard is mostly electrical, I was going to point you in the direction of arc fault circuit interruptors (AFCI), but evidently Wikipedia says they are not very common outside US/Canada... plus they have to be installed at breaker panel or very early in the branch circuit. Definitely inspect power cords and outlets for cracking in cold weather though.

--- End quote ---

AFCI or AFDD is slowly becoming a thing over in Europe, too. Now they are stated as optional in our national electrical standards.

An RCD or GFCI is definitely recommended if there is none installed. You can get portable ones. Portable AFDDs seem to exist, but are not so common.
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