Keep throwing the power

So, here's what im doing at the moment (please dont laugh too hard at my poor, 3rd world attempt)

anyway, as you can tell from the title of this thread ive just started having the power go out at my house at random times. im a total noob by the way and know zero about electricity, my name is an antonym for 'electrician'.

i live in the 3rd world as well, so the electrics to my house probably arent the safest/best they could be (an epileptic, blind monkey could probably do better wiring jobs than these folk here) but i can probably put the cuase of the problem down to my extractor fan, as it's only been happening since i decided to leave the extractor fan on 24/7

im running a 400watt MH at the moment by the way at 18/6, lights on at 12pm and off at 6am

so this is the room inside, ive blacked out the window the best i can and put an extractor fan in that you can see in the top right hand corner of the window, the extractor fan is just an 8 inch, 220v, 34 watt extractor fan (this is what the side of the box tells me anyway)






here's where extractor fan leads to, this is still inside the house. it's plugged into a regular plug socket under that window.


inside the room i have my 400 watt plugged into that timer and the oscillating fan plugged in and left running 24/7, that extension cord is also just plugged into a regular plug socket next to the door.


i've stopped leaving the extractor fan plugged in 24/7 now and unplug it at 12pm when the light comes on, then i open the door to the room to get some fresh air in there and just have the oscillating fan doing its job. then around 2am or so when i go to bed, i close the door to the room, plug the extractor fan back in in an attempt to get as much hot air out of there whilst im asleep as possible, then when i wake up the next day, unplug the extractor fan again at 12pm, open the door, repeat process.

general power use in the house is usually just the fridge, the laptop (which is on most of the day, plugged in) another fan or 2 upstairs, a TV and the bitch of the bunch the AC.

i only really use AC at night because A) it's so expensive and B) hot, tropical countries are hard to sleep in, fans can do an ok job but AC is much MUCH better and this was when i noticed the power 1st went out maybe.

it was about 4:30 in the morning when i heard the beep and the AC shut down, that meant that the whole house had a power cut.
so i had to drag my half drunk and stoned ass out of bed and scale the front of my house up some shitty safety gate to flip the power back on, that was a lot of fucking fun (ive had to do this a few times now and need to stop it so the neighbors dont start getting suspicious)

the power hasnt only cut out then either, its also been when ive had the extractor fan running all day and been sat using the computer and watching tv during the day (no AC) and then, power cut.

i might be able to forget this problem for a while as im going to go into flower in a few days, so i could just set the light timer to go on about 11am until 11pm, that way i can still have the AC on at night until 11 in the morning the because obviously i wont have a 400 watt light running at the same time risking a power cut.

i think ive rambled on enough now and given you most of the info i can think of, i just want to make sure im not running a complete death trap and if theres any suggestions as to make this safer, have my extractor fan and everything running at the same time with no power cuts then id be welcome to them

do u have a breaker box? id imagine so... a pic of that would be helpful as well as of the wires from the breaker....

high man, below is a link to Phillthy's thread on electrical safety where i'm sure you will find someone with the knowledge you seek and the willingness to share it.

[URL="https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=117867"]Growroom Electricity and Wiring[/URL]

hth, AD

Without knowing more about how your place is wired, how many circuits are coming in, the loads on the circuits, etc, it is pretty hard to help you. I have difficulty believing that your house is loaded so heavily that an additional 34 watts pushes you over the edge, yet you say that you didn't have problems prior to adding that load. 34 watts is tiny, particularly in comparison to an air conditioner.

Does the fan move freely (bearings) and is the power cord undamaged? You might try and find an equivalent size load to unplug as an experiment to see if that stops the tripping. Tripping when the a/c is off is strange unless you have a weak breaker - if the a/c is of any size to speak of, it sounds like that is your biggest load, and with it off you should have plenty of headroom. Is your area known to have power fluctuations?

mowood3479 said:

do u have a breaker box? id imagine so... a pic of that would be helpful as well as of the wires from the breaker....

Click to expand...

the only picture i can get is of the one in the house, the one outside the house that i have to climb up to to turn power off or on is impossible to photo with my camera phone and especially since im hanging off a sketchy 9ft gate trying not to die in an alley in cambodia.

the writing on it says (and im sorry if im stating bare facts here but like i said, im no electrician) on the box it says

C20
230/400V
50/60hz

rives said:

Without knowing more about how your place is wired, how many circuits are coming in, the loads on the circuits, etc, it is pretty hard to help you. I have difficulty believing that your house is loaded so heavily that an additional 34 watts pushes you over the edge, yet you say that you didn't have problems prior to adding that load. 34 watts is tiny, particularly in comparison to an air conditioner.

Does the fan move freely (bearings) and is the power cord undamaged? You might try and find an equivalent size load to unplug as an experiment to see if that stops the tripping. Tripping when the a/c is off is strange unless you have a weak breaker - if the a/c is of any size to speak of, it sounds like that is your biggest load, and with it off you should have plenty of headroom. Is your area known to have power fluctuations?

Click to expand...

thanks chief, i knew it wouldnt be so simple asking for help as like you say, you dont know how anything is wired etc and i dont have enough knowledge on the matter to tell you much more either.

all i can say is that like i said, the only times that the power has tripped has been since ive started leaving that extractor fan on 24/7. prior to me doing grows etc ive had the power trip in the house before when the laptop and tv has been on and ive turned on the electric shower, that has tripped the power, other times have been when ive been using the electric shower and the woman has used the little toaster oven we have, another time that the power trips is if you use the electric shower and havent turned the AC off

(maybe i shouldve mentioned this before about the power cutting with other things, ive also just posted a message on an expat forum asking about wiring around here with these houses and how shoddy it is)

the fan moves freely and the power cord isnt damaged as such, but it has been extended, so possibly where the extension has been added might not be 100% safe?

it could be something like a weak breaker as the parts here are probably pretty shitty and yes, the power does fluctuate, unfortunately get a lot of regular power cuts as well, 3rd worlds problems, bah!

here are some replies i got from other people that know a little about these houses

All that's happening is the breaker switch is doing it's job. When the amperage you are trying to draw is higher than that of the breaker, it trips.

Here are your options:

1) Get the electricity company to put in a higher amperage breaker, it sounds like you have 15amp. Get it upgraded to 30amp. 60amp is the max and the fee for that upgrade is around $500.
2) Anything that cools or heats sucks a lot of power, stop using those items at the same time (your laptop shouldn't be a problem, you might want to get that checked.)
3) If the breaker on the street is 10amp and you don't want to upgrade, put a 10amp breaker in your house, that way at least it will trip inside saving you going out.

Click to expand...

I would agree with two caveats. Don't get a higher apmerage breaker if your wiring can't handle it. Tripping a breaker is generally preferable to a house fire. Also, I have heard that the more times a breaker trips, the more sensitive it becomes, and will start tripping easier over time. You might ask an electrician about that.

Click to expand...

yup drawing to much current for current set up. had a flat like that in India once couldn't put the electric kettle on in the morning to boil when I went for a hot shower. Got a kettle for the gas stove.
10Amp is not enough for a hot shower really you should have a 20amp at least to cope with the surge when you switch it on.

use a (dry) bit of wood or plastic to flip the switch not a damp cloth as I've seen some local bar staff do

Click to expand...

this seems to be like sensible advice, at least i can get the woman onto the electricity company now and start asking some questions now that i think i have the problem a more solved