Do I need to protect fluorescents on grow shelf?
 

Hi

I've recently constructed a grow shelf using 48 in fluorescent lights, and enclosed the shelf in 6 mm plastic. I want to put a humidifier at the bottom of the shelf, if it's running intermittently so humidity stays around ca. 50-60%, am I running an electrical risk if I don't enclose the lights? They'd be about 3-4 ft from the humidifier?

Thanks

Sorry I can't help WillisWill. Just giving you a bump in the hope someone else will be able to :bump:

Hi, I have a similar setup in my basement. I have the humidifier set on a timer running 15 min of every hour. The humidity goes as high as 85 and low is 60. I've had this running for over 2 years and have never had an issue with the lights. I put the humidifier on the upper shelf with a plastic box lid under it. The lid keeps any dripping from dropping on the light fixture directly under it. I find the humidity stays higher than when I had mine on the floor. Heat rises but water mist doesn't.

Bill

50-60% isn't very humid, so I think there's no risk. But of course it can also depend on your lights. I have fluorescents which I had to self assemble and mount onto aluminum 'boards'. Most of the wiring and connection points are apparent, so is really not safe to use in a very humid environment. But a properly assembled fixture will have all the wirings hidden away inside it, limiting the risk.

What do you mean by 'enclosing' the lights?

If the connections are well insulated it should actually be no problem unless you were to have condensation form heavy enough to drip off surfaces.
The actual tubes will stay warm enough to prevent that from happening on them

I have ultrasonic humidifiers close to T5 "light sticks" that I strung together and I have not had a problem.

I too was wondering whether this would work...couldn't find any useful info on the net so I tried it and so far works great. No trouble with the grow lights and humidifiers are set at 5-10 mins.