100amp panel + solar

[TribalSeeds]

Holy shit! We just closed on a short sale that took forever to close. Ive had a couple of people look at it and told me its all good. Today I had a real electrician take a look and he told me I cant upgrade the panel from 100 amps to 200 because the wire is run under ground!
Ive had a couple of people look at it and nobody ever mentioned that to me. What the fuck can I do now?
I need to get at least 2 220v lines into the garage for lights and ac. I had planned to run a veg room too. Fuck me!
I just bought 2 new hoods and ballasts. I was planning on 4x600 at the new place!
Most of the neighbors have added solar panels. I was concerned about solar because I dont know if that gets anyone else envolved in my useage. I dont think that adds extra amperage though.

 

[OldSSSCGuy]

The amps you can pull from solar panels would run pumps and timers, but not much more and stay cost effective.

I run a 2-room setup off one 220v feed. Three 1k lights - one in grow and two in flower - plus vent blowers, etc. Never popped a breaker on our 100 amp service. Stagger the turn on of all devices so they don't all turn on at one time. Also changed from electric laundry dryer to NG and saves mondo amps there too.

 

[TribalSeeds]

I hadnt thought about NG laundry because we just bought electric for the place we were living in before!
I already have 3 refrigerators! 1 is ours, 1 is my cousins and 1 was left in the new house by the previous owners... Its gonna look like a tweaker pad until I get some stuff sold!
I was thinking of running a 40amp 220v to a sub panel. Can I replace the dryer outlet with a 40amp breaker to run to a subpanel instead? I think I have 1 110V circuit out there. Im not sure if its shared with anything else though.
My AC is a 2 ton 20A 220V and the dehuey draws 7.5 amps or something ridiculous like that on 110V

 

[LandscapeEscape]

Check to see if your area has aerial wires for power. Have them run a 100amp aerial to the garage and designate it an in-law apt.

 

[Iron_Lion]

...

 

[TribalSeeds]

The houses on the main street have wires from the poles, but Im at the back of the culdesac street. Its a new addition. The street wasnt there when I grew up just down the road. The closest houses on the street have the same setup as I do, except they have solar.

 

[junior_grower]

man all we deal with is under ground. Look up code you may only need a 20" burial depth. Dig a trench lay cable and your done.

 

[OldSSSCGuy]

Here's the rule with services.

If it runs under ground you pay for it.

If it's aerial the power company pays.

Maybe if you upgrade to can go aerial.

Not in my state Iron Lion. I just went through this with the power company & electricians at 2 places; one residential and one commercial. Power company runs it to the closest pole and then its on my dollar from there. Meant an additional $500-$1000 for me at each location; just to upgrade from 100 to 200 amp service.

I would MUCH rather have my power buried rather than aerial as much as possible. Too many downed power lines during winter & storms for my tastes.

 

[TribalSeeds]

Looks like Ill need to have the power company come out to do shit like that. I didnt think it would get that crazy. Luckily I dont have any grow shit set up yet. Any ideas on how long it takes the power company to come out for stuff like that? 500-1000 isnt the end of the world. Id rather have a clean set up

 

[OldSSSCGuy]

I hadnt thought about NG laundry because we just bought electric for the place we were living in before!
I already have 3 refrigerators! 1 is ours, 1 is my cousins and 1 was left in the new house by the previous owners... Its gonna look like a tweaker pad until I get some stuff sold!
I was thinking of running a 40amp 220v to a sub panel. Can I replace the dryer outlet with a 40amp breaker to run to a subpanel instead? I think I have 1 110V circuit out there. Im not sure if its shared with anything else though.
My AC is a 2 ton 20A 220V and the dehuey draws 7.5 amps or something ridiculous like that on 110V

Can you lay your hands on an amp meter? With everything in the house normally on you can check your amps at the panel and see exactly what you're pulling. I didn't have one so I bought one of those Kill-A-Watt meters and went all around testing each room to get a grand total. Is the dehumidifier part of the heat/AC system or portables? Can you maybe disconnect it and run smaller portable units only where they are needed instead?

How many lights & rooms are you talking about in total?

 

[TribalSeeds]

2 rooms, although I was planning to try a flip flop flower at some point...
The dehuey is not part of the AC. The AC's fan motor needs to be repaired and the company(frostbox) went out of business...
I cant afford a damn thing at the moment tbh
I already have 4x600 that I was using for flower. I didnt have the greatest run, but I have enough sweet smoke to last until next year.
I have 1 18k btu window banger that I really dont want to use and 4x4 and 4x8 tents that I really dont want to have to use for flower.
My brother does electrical work. Ill see if he has an amp meter. He said we should be able to upgrade but he cant do it.

 

[TribalSeeds]

To go up to 200amp service we need to run 3" wire. The house is connected to 2" wire. If we want to upgrade it looks like wee need to dig a trench to the hookup. My problem is we have a really long drive way. If the wire needs to be run to the street Im fucked!
Its possible we might be able to get 125 or 150amp service on the 2" wire or some shit. Im not sure at this point. All Im sure about is that I cant afford the job

 

[rives]

To go up to 200amp service we need to run 3" wire. The house is connected to 2" wire. If we want to upgrade it looks like wee need to dig a trench to the hookup. My problem is we have a really long drive way. If the wire needs to be run to the street Im fucked!
Its possible we might be able to get 125 or 150amp service on the 2" wire or some shit. Im not sure at this point. All Im sure about is that I cant afford the job

I think that you have some terms confused here. You are probably connected with 2" conduit, not wire. You must be talking to the utility about the sizing, and they are wanting bigger conduit to ease the pull. 3/0 or 4/0 copper wire with THHN/THWN insulation are both rated for over 200 amps, and three of them will easily fit into a 2" conduit. Even 4/0 aluminum with THHN/THWN is rated for 205 amps, and will fit. I have frequently pulled (3) 250 MCM wires, rated at 290 amps, into 2" conduit. 250 MCM is the next size up from 4/0.

I believe that for residential use, 2/0 copper or 4/0 aluminum are both acceptable for a 200 amp service, and the 2/0 will obviously fit if the next 4 sizes up will fit.

You might check with an electrical contractor if you have been dealing with the utility.

 

[TribalSeeds]

The utility company came out and inspected what we have and told us we can upgrade.
I then called out a licensed sparky. He said he had to get a map or something from the utility company and something about digging a trench and possibly needing a wire upgrade from what we have.
I think hes supposed to get in touch with the utility company tomorrow to figure it all out, but he was talking about $1500, but it could be more if we had to go all the way to the street!

 

[rives]

Wire has gone through the roof, along with everything else. How long is the run?

 

[TribalSeeds]

You mean prices are through the roof? My bro is an electrician and says he can grab spare shit, though Im not sure he can just take an entire roll of cable...
The driveway to the street would be an easy 100ft run. Im not sure if its a straight conduit run though. The panel is off to the right of the driveway and I have no clue where the hookup would be at the street.
So you dont think theres anyway we would need to replace the conduit to upgrade service? Thinking back what he was saying was we could probably do 125 or 150amp on that wire, but we might need to go to a larger wire for 200a. Perhaps he said guage and not inches.
Whats even more fucked is that they used ceramic to connect to our PVC sewer line. The ceramic is collapsed! To fix it would be a nightmare because of the massive driveway! Theres no evidence theres ever been a snake in there though so it should be ok...

 

[rives]

The joys of home ownership. I just looked at Home Depot - $1344 for 500 feet of 2/0 copper. Not sure that about your brother having access to 300' of "spare shit"!

 

[josh1111]

you can run 8000 watts easily on a 100 amp service with nothing to wory about

 

[TribalSeeds]

The house has AC and a jacuzzi that I guess we could disconnect from the panel and never use... The only other appliances we have are wash/dry and a not so efficient frige. The heater is gas.
I might end up with AC in the grow room during the summer and that would mean a dehuey also. I wanted to run veg and bloom and have room to upgrade.
You gotta be shitting me on that price of cable! I didnt realize I would need 3 seperate cables!
So I guess the extra long run is what might be the problem he sees with the cable thats already there handling the upgrade?

 

[teemu shalanie]

I have 100 amps and run 16 -600 plus ac pumps fans , n the rest of my lil housey
not soo bad as specially if u do flip flop flower rooms?
TS