Safety measures or am I over thinking it?

Question/Need help

Thank you to everyone who answered my previous question. My next question is how important are safety measures/ how worried should I be of fumes or a fire starting with my 3D printer?

Should I invest in a fire suppression system to go inside my printers enclosure?

Do I need to invest in specialized outlets for it to plug into?

Any recommendations on good ventilation systems for when your printer is inside the house you live in?

I’m located in the US and plan on mostly just using PLA and PETG if that helps.

in prusa3dby DiscussionUnlikely72

100%

16d

Zilincan1

16d

Fire hazard was minimalized to degree that FW can detect and turn off. Like too hot bed/nozzle or not working as expected. Outside like burning cable... it cannot detect. Some people add fire alarm, same as in kitchen, as just-in-case protection into enclosure. Some fire detection devices are even made for it (detect, throw foam on it).

Smart plug is more when you use it remotly and observe it like that. So if you see something bad, you turn it off. And also to minimalize power consumption when not printing (more for leds, rpi, etc ...). Like I can remotly turn on printer(with rpi-octoprint), start leds and webcamera device, print item and the turn all off. Zigbee ikea power plug has consumption cca 100mA/h with consumption meter.

JustAberrant

16d

I think filtration is a good idea. Seeing what the filter from an enclosure looks like after even just PLA is kinda eye opening.

Fire suppression seems a little over the top for most users. Fire alarm and not having the thing near anything flammable seems a good middle ground. Mine is in my basement on a metal table against a concrete wall so I figure worst case if it catches fire it's just going to burn itself up.

Dat_Bokeh

16d

I don’t think I’ve ever heard of a Prusa starting a significant fire before, there are a ton of thermal safety features built in. There have been a few cheap Chinese printers in the past that were notorious for starting fires, but even they have gotten a lot better in the last few years.

Honestly random cheap electronics (from a brand no one has heard of) on Amazon are probably more likely to burn your house down.

Tech-Crab

16d

I'd love to see data to back this up - but I share this perception.

ESPECIALLY if you have any devices with li-ion's that aren't from a major manufacturer and use or charge (but especially charge) them in your house. Which of course pretty much everyone does. I put a lot of effort into being safe in this regard, but at the end of the day I'm absolutely in that bucket, too.

Zilincan1

16d

It was Anet A8, which had bad connectors on board and bed. Since that, the next version and next itterations helped(like v1.1...).. Fix on those were simple by removing connector and direct solder to board the cables.

There where few other burned ones, but from photos they were heavy modified via printed parts and electronics. So hard to say, if cheap clones or modified. Cca till covid, it was like "reported" one per year (different brands or not written). But since, I haven't heard about any.

CampaignLow7899

16d

Never heard about Prusa printers, but once happened to me that my print melted down on my Ender's 3 build plate. This happened right in front of me in the office. Later I saw also how very expensive printers burn (20k+ Euro). So it's for you to decide about safety measures.

neroe5

16d

Firealarm and don't spend all day next to melting plastics

If you print more hazardous materials like abs and asa you need more ventilation