Avoided a fire, setup changed, need some quick input!!

[Mikron]

Find a more efficient heater...you shouldn't run more than that 85a from the 100a.

 

[RSA]

also, if that is all possible and whatnot, wouldn't they have to install a new outlet as well?

sounds like a job well over $200.

sounds like a better solution would be to find a space heater that can operate under 1000W, but can't. most of the heaters are like 900w on LOW, 1500 on HIGH...and there's no way to make sure they always run on low.

i dont know what the fuck to do, lol

 

[PoopyTeaBags]

in the picture i posted, what would all be involved as far as adding an additional 20a breaker? cost/work wise?

doesnt look like your box can handle another breaker unless you can find the breakers that are half the size... where do the 3 15a wires run too?

 

[TribalSeeds]

You could have as many 20a breakers that will fit on there. Whats important is the load you run.
If you ran your lights off of 220v you could free up some amps since it cuts the draw in half.
Your ac and heaters may require their own 15a 120v.
What type of heaters are those? I use a radiator heater thats about 3.5 amps. Those seemed like the most effecient option.

 

[RSA]

So, after calculating all the amounts, I should be good to go if I can find a space heater that runs around 1000W or less (on a 15a breaker)

OR, have one of the 15a breakers replaced for a 20A breaker (which will probably run $125-150 for a service call from an electrician)

that sound right?

the heater i have, when you turn it on automatically goes on high (1500W) - low is 900W. low is obviously safe to use, but with it having an automatic thermostat to keep temps in a certain range, it switches from high to low - this obviously causes a problem on a 15a breaker.

solution again is either lower wattage space heater for the size room i have (which is impossible to find) or 20A breaker replacement = $150.

 

[TribalSeeds]

that would work, but only if lights were kept on 24/7 and wouldn't guarantee optimal temps...

i think i'm kinda effed...i mean it does work, the stuff turns on and did work for over a year, but i obviously overlooked a major safety issue and don't want to do that.

the sub panel says 100A.

right now, there's the 15 15 15 20 20 - 85A. another 20a would put it at 105A, so correct me if i'm wrong but...that subpanel can't handle another 20a breaker....right?

would it be possible to have a 20a breaker installed, but say turn off one of the 15a breakers? i know that one of the outlets would cease to work if it was turned off, but would that allow things to work or does the 100A limit mean 100A limit regardless if things are on or off?

Maybe just run a radiator heater when the veg light shuts off and you could add a temp controlled fan speed control to jelp leep it all in check

 

[RSA]

doesnt look like your box can handle another breaker unless you can find the breakers that are half the size... where do the 3 15a wires run too?

hmm...not in the #6 slot? could one of the 15A breakers be changed for a 20A? there are 3 walls in my room that have outlets, and that sub panel handles those 3 individual outlets

You could have as many 20a breakers that will fit on there. Whats important is the load you run.
If you ran your lights off of 220v you could free up some amps since it cuts the draw in half.
Your ac and heaters may require their own 15a 120v.
What type of heaters are those? I use a radiator heater thats about 3.5 amps. Those seemed like the most effecient option.

the concern really isn't the ballasts since they have dedicated 20A breakers. the concern is the heater. where did you find this radiator heater that only pulls 3.5 amps? does it have a thermostat and auto temp regulator like most of the digital oscillating ones?

 

[RSA]

here's what i mean. 99.5% of the heaters that I need (that can turn on and off by themselves, regulate and keep temperatures in a certain range - ie when i'm sleeping, at work, at night, etc.) are 1500W on high, 7-900W on low. here's a helpful review on one of them:

"I like it, and it's not blowing my circuit breaker when it's in the HIGH setting, in the room I need it in, so I'm not going to return it.
Others may not be so lucky due to an inexplicable design decision:
I really HATE that when you turn it to LOW setting, you CANNOT USE THE THERMOSTAT!!!
As soon as you select a thermostat "temperature", it automatically switches from LOW to HIGH power, and could then trip a typically overloaded circuit breaker.
If you MUST use the low setting because of your homes wiring, your only choice to keep it from running continuously, is to use the TIMER feature.(minimum 1 hour)

I've had many heaters, and NONE with a thermostat behaves this way in low setting!!
(Including the same brand cheaper LASKO 754200 ceramic heater that I also bought.) Inexplicable.

I've got some areas of the house that I'll blow the circuit breaker if I use the HIGH setting.
- (14AWG wiring, with 15A breakers, and some are pretty heavily loaded already. The kind of "cheap" barely acceptable wiring many new houses have in them.)
I won't buy an electic heater unless it has both a high(1500 watts) and low(usually ~750W, but this one says 900W) setting, plus a thermostat to keep it from running constantly.
If you are buying this heater and MUST use it in the LOW setting in some areas, then you'll want to buy something else."

 

[PoopyTeaBags]

hmm...not in the #6 slot? could one of the 15A breakers be changed for a 20A? there are 3 walls in my room that have outlets, and that sub panel handles those 3 individual outlets



the concern really isn't the ballasts since they have dedicated 20A breakers. the concern is the heater. where did you find this radiator heater that only pulls 3.5 amps? does it have a thermostat and auto temp regulator like most of the digital oscillating ones?

possibly someitmes that slot doesnt allow a breaker to be put in youd have to take off the panel.

 

[TribalSeeds]

http://www.lowes.com/pd_167509-4716...gps-_-gps-_-gps-_-3468001&CAWELAID=1023775205

Low setting is something like 600W. I dont have a link to the manual.
There are 3 settings (Hi,Med,Lo) and a temp dial. Its not labled by degree, but I keep it less than 1/4 turned and it kicks on when the room gets below 65 and keeps it comfortable. It does take a while to warm at the lowest setting though. Sometimes you gotta blow an oscilating fan at these to spread it around the room.
It warms a garage just fine, but I wasnt exhausting it. Kept my bedroom grow toasty while being exhausted though.

I thought it was one of the outlets connected into your house that fried, not the one on the sub panel? If its causing the lights to flicker, but not anything else, its probably sharing a circuit with those lights and maybe more stuff.
Upgrading to 20a may not be enough and I would suggest leaving it on its own circuit if its constantly pulling 1000W. That way you dont have random loads from the house across it too
What does the main panel at your house get? 100A?

 

[nukklehead]

OR, have one of the 15a breakers replaced for a 20A breaker (which will probably run $125-150 for a service call from an electrician)

easy fix you could do yourself.. just research or get a book... bottom line.. dont go over 85 amps in your 100 amp box.... no matter how you do it... looks like youll figure it out and be fine.. cheers

 

[RSA]

well after teaching myself more, you can't just replace a 15a breaker with a 20a, as that simply protects your wiring. you would need to upgrade the wiring in the outlet as well. SO, that would involve adding another 20amp breaker and it's own dedicated outlet, which would probably run $2-300 i'm guessing for an electrician.

that heater you posted is 12 amps. thats the maximum amount you want to run on a 15a breaker, from what i'm reading. 1500w is 12.5 amp, which as everyone says 12A is the 80% maximum load value on a 15a breaker. technically (in the idea of safety) you shouldnt be running 12 amps on a 15a breaker or 14ga wire.

 

[RSA]

well after teaching myself more, you can't just replace a 15a breaker with a 20a, as that simply protects your wiring. you would need to upgrade the wiring in the outlet as well. SO, that would involve adding another 20amp breaker and it's own dedicated outlet, which would probably run $2-300 i'm guessing for an electrician.

that heater you posted is 12 amps. thats the maximum amount you want to run on a 15a breaker, from what i'm reading. 1500w is 12.5 amp, which as everyone says 12A is the 80% maximum load value on a 15a breaker. technically (in the idea of safety) you shouldnt be running 12 amps on a 15a breaker or 14ga wire.

keeping all that in mind, i can't have an electrician go past the sub panel...there's a grow room in the other room. no plants yet, but it would be blatantely obvious so the most i can do are these things:

find a space heater that, even on maximum setting, runs @ 1000w or under.

or

hire electrician, add 20A breaker with own dedicated outlet (if possible) or swap 15a breaker for 20a breaker, have him go into the grow room and upgrade the wiring in the outlet - which obviously isnt possible

it literally is impossible to find a new (digital in best case) space heater that rolls at max 1000w.

 

[nukklehead]

trust me dude.. running wire and replacing breaker is a piece of cake... anything more extent then that if above your comfort level hire a sparky... if you run 12/2 romex and install 20 amp it is a piece of cake. you have a lot more shizzit going on here then that but just saying to all.. runnin approp wire size and installing approp breaker is not hard and isnt that hard/technical. should be a DIY job

 

[RSA]

trust me dude.. running wire and replacing breaker is a piece of cake... anything more extent then that if above your comfort level hire a sparky... if you run 12/2 romex and install 20 amp it is a piece of cake. you have a lot more shizzit going on here then that but just saying to all.. runnin approp wire size and installing approp breaker is not hard and isnt that hard/technical. should be a DIY job

I checked out some DIY videos online, but still, i am not good at that shit by any means and would be super paranoid that i would fuck something up. the breaker replacement seems easy, what would get me is replacing the wiring on it and mounting a new outlet with thicker (12) wiring

 

[BullnAChinaShop]

I have a heater that has a setting for 600 900 and 1500. Ill check the model. Its an oil filled rad.

 

[TribalSeeds]

well after teaching myself more, you can't just replace a 15a breaker with a 20a, as that simply protects your wiring. you would need to upgrade the wiring in the outlet as well. SO, that would involve adding another 20amp breaker and it's own dedicated outlet, which would probably run $2-300 i'm guessing for an electrician.

that heater you posted is 12 amps. thats the maximum amount you want to run on a 15a breaker, from what i'm reading. 1500w is 12.5 amp, which as everyone says 12A is the 80% maximum load value on a 15a breaker. technically (in the idea of safety) you shouldnt be running 12 amps on a 15a breaker or 14ga wire.

I leave it on the low setting. It just takes a bit longer to warm up. I compensate for that by letting the timer flip 15 mins before the lights go out.
Even if it starts at 12.5amps or more on low it wont run constant loads of 12amps on low and should be just fine on standard household wiring.
Its constant load over 80% you should be concerned with, not startup peaks, unless you have other stuff on the circuit.
They sell a lot of these to people who dont take the time to think about their loads and they work just fine. Only thing you gotta worry about is if the thing falls over it wont shut itself off.

 

[TribalSeeds]

I have a heater that has a setting for 600 900 and 1500. Ill check the model. Its an oil filled rad.

Thats what it says in the manual of the one I posted

 

[RSA]

now what defines continuous pull? is there a specific time in which an item has to pull a specific current to be considered constant?

so, for example, one of these space heaters kicks on on high...thats 12.5 amps...over the 80% max load...it'll usually run until it hits the designated temperature (if its a digital one like ive used), then turns off. when it drops below the temp, it turns back on on high. almost all of these digital heaters do this. LASKO, DeLonghi, etc

Those radiator-looking heaters do usually have low settings, as do the digital ones, but problem is they don't usually have digital thermostats that can indicate 'hey, holy fuck its 90 degrees in here time to turn off' - that's the benefit of these digital ones.

 

[TribalSeeds]

Continuos Load - A load where the maximum current is expected to continue for three hours or more. Rating of the branch circuit protection device shall not be less tan 125% of the continuos load.

The rad heaters are nice because its a hot oil that stays nice and warm so it doesnt use as much juice.
Theres no digital readout, but once they are dialed in they work perfectly.
You just need to go by your digital readings on your other devices to know where to turn the dial.