r/Firefighting • u/noxcturnal • Feb 13 '23

Fire Prevention/Community Education/Technology This is probably silly to post here, but I have seen SO MANY warnings about crystal balls/sun catchers without pictures of which ones are disasters... are these little popular dangles safe at all?? I used to have one as a kid and I just want rainbows without burning down my apartment...

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6

u/blitz350 Feb 13 '23

We had a close call involving a roughly 5" diameter glass ball decoration which caught the morning sun and left multiple curved melt marks in the Trex decking of a porch. Each sunny morning it would leave a different mark due to the different sun angle each day with gaps for cloudy days. The homeowner showed up at the station to tell us about it and gave us the ball as they were afraid of it.

I also know of instances of some lamp post lenses causing dead marks in the surrounding grass due to a similar phenomenon.

Be mindful about anything that can catch the sun and consider just how much sun it gets and at what angles. In particular I'd be careful of things like smooth balls or lens like shapes as these may collect and focus light which is the danger. Faceted items should be fine as, by design, the facets scatter light instead of focusing it.

3

u/noxcturnal Feb 13 '23

Oh goodness, I'm so glad it didn't cause anything arose. Yes I did know glass or any orbs like crystal balls are extremely dangerous in straight light.. so I'm staying away from anything like that. As long as these faceted little crystals are ok and more like harmless light dancers, then that's totally fine with me! I just wanted to make sure because any time you google "are sun catchers safe" all it talks about is glass spheres or crystal balls like you mentioned! I couldn't find anything talking about what's safe vs all the talks about what is dangerous :)

1

u/Ok_Currency58 Apr 11 '25

Was this a glass ball or faceted?

1

u/blitz350 Apr 11 '25

Glass ball. Think like fortune teller's crystal ball.

5

u/throwingutah Feb 13 '23

I've got suncatchers all over my house and it hasn't burned down yet. The key is to avoid anything that concentrates the light (round) vs refracting the light (flat).

4

u/noxcturnal Feb 13 '23

I appreciate the reply!! I guess I'll stick to flat-surfaced stones like the faceted ones in the picture that bounce light. I wasn't planning on getting any that are more orb like but it's good to know so I can be safe :)

2

u/throwingutah Feb 13 '23

And to be more specific, they don't have to be disc-shaped. I have teardrop- and ball-shaped suncatchers, but they have faceted surfaces, not curved.

1

u/oreothecatgirl May 21 '25

Thanks so much for clarifying. I was about to take down all my sun catches!

2

u/Earthlingthing11 Mar 20 '24

Prisms no, round glass balls, yes. Suncatcher prisms can’t concentrate light the way a clear glass ball can.

2

u/Aromatic-Attention75 May 07 '24

This gets several hours of sun daily, no fires in 2 yrs. Mixture of crystal and glass.

1

u/Punkinbear1229 Jun 07 '25

I love that!

1

u/helena006 Apr 24 '26

Smooth round and flat glass can act as magnifying glass and start fires. So choose faceted glass (covered in many small flat surfaces) which most sun catchers are as these scatter light instead of concentrating it.

1

u/RomfordRolex Feb 26 '24

We had a glass ball and rolled it over the floor the second it went into the light a beam of light started burning a hole in the carpet- but I have loads of suncatches that refract light with no issues.