Building a 4k watt flower - Questions for the pros...

[sneaky_g]

I'm in the process of spending a few grand to build me a 4000 watt flower room.. Just spent 420 bucks at Homedepot for a new panel , and i got an electrician to install a new 100 amp panel that can run up to 5500 watts for 350 bucks.

He will be putting 5 outlets in the grow room for me, but I'm wondering if i should have him throw some 220 outlets in their... How much electricity do you really save ? And is it more dangerous to run 220 than 110.. I am not an electrician by any stretch, I just want to be able to communicate exactly what I want to him in lamen terms..

Also.. will a 9000 BTU portable cut it for 4k watt if i run 2 6" 500 CFM can fans, and my room is generally sealed.. drywall + insulation?

What if i supplemented with an additional Window AC unit ... maybe a 6000 BTU unit??

Also .. how much will heat be an issue if i hang 4 ballasts in my flower room.. ?


Any advice, or tips greatly appreciated.. Thanks.

The last question I have is regarding the ratio of intake to exhaust.. should I be folllowing a general rule of thumb as to avoid making my AC over work? I have controllers for both fans so i can change things fairly easy

 

[Tyga]

I'm in the process of spending a few grand to build me a 4000 watt flower room.. Just spent 420 bucks at Homedepot for a new panel , and i got an electrician to install a new 100 amp panel that can run up to 5500 watts for 350 bucks.

He will be putting 5 outlets in the grow room for me, but I'm wondering if i should have him throw some 220 outlets in their... How much electricity do you really save ? And is it more dangerous to run 220 than 110.. I am not an electrician by any stretch, I just want to be able to communicate exactly what I want to him in lamen terms..

Also.. will a 9000 BTU portable cut it for 4k watt if i run 2 6" 500 CFM can fans, and my room is generally sealed.. drywall + insulation?

What if i supplemented with an additional Window AC unit ... maybe a 6000 BTU unit??

Also .. how much will heat be an issue if i hang 4 ballasts in my flower room.. ?


Any advice, or tips greatly appreciated.. Thanks.

The last question I have is regarding the ratio of intake to exhaust.. should I be folllowing a general rule of thumb as to avoid making my AC over work? I have controllers for both fans so i can change things fairly easy

Yes I would have him install a 240V receptacle in the room, You will still be pulling the same amount of electricity using 240V don't be mistaken it is just pulling less amps. When running 240V you are just pretty much allowing to have more lighting on the circuit without tripping the breaker. You won't save money because you are getting charged for the wattage you are using not the amperage.
I guess it can also be "Safer" to use 240V because you will be putting less stress on the circuit.
1000W on a 120V circuit- 8.3A Give or take...
1000W on a 240V circuit- 4.16A give or take also...

So you can see that if you had a 30Amp 240V circuit you could use twice as much lighting as you could on a 30Amp 120V circuit. I hear you also get more life out of your equipment using 240V.
As far as the A/C's go there is a sticky thread on there with a formula that involves some pretty simple math to figure out what kind of A/C you would need for the room.
Check out Dxsoundco.com for some lighting controllers... they are pretty much plug and play and I know lot's of people will say build your own and whatnot but from the sounds of it your not too familiar i the electrical field... no offense!

 

[Guest2012z]

220v is safer then 110v and 4 lights in a 10' x 12' room = 106F! you will need cooling; i vented the heat to a carbon filer with a vortec fan pulling the heat down into my furnace vents. in addition i had a 4" vortec blowing into another room high up, this was on a verticle grow. you can cool tube the room and exhaust the heat to the furnace vents also. cool tubes can stand upright too.

 

[Guest2012z]

by using 220v on a independant line from dryer/stove oven to timer light board you are 100% safe. pulling that power on 110v household can cause a overload in your walls and a fire as most houses use 6 guage in the walls and then you may have breaker problems. dryer can have a 40 amp breaker and no problems.

 

[sneaky_g]

So if I had a 30 amp 240v circuit.. Whats a safe amount of amperage to run for that size circuit?

 

[Yes4Prop215]

4000kw / 220v you are only running 20 amps...that is safe some people push 6kw off their 30amp dryer.

i have the exact same room as you..4kw in a 12x12. definately run all your lights off a 220v seperate outlet, i used my 30amp dryer and got a timer box called "power thief" that allows you to still run your dryer when lights are off...

then use the 120v outlets ( i have four 15amp 120v outlets in the room as well) for the AC, pumps, fans, etc.....the AC will have its own dedicated 15amp..

for 4kw you are gonna want a 12-15k btu portable.....less if window. im currently running intake exhaust and my temps like to creep up to 80 on hot days, so i definately want to rework things, seal the room up, run a window AC, and air cool the lights by pulling air from the lung room and shooting it outside to the attic...no air cooling from inside the room like if you were running i/e...

 

[budleydoright]

I run 4k for flower in an 8 x 11 x 8. I run open hood and sealed. My 18.5kbtu window AC is barely able to keep up now that it's getting warm.

I find it more effecient to seal the whole room, ad co2 and control the environment in the room with no concern for the weather outside. Portable AC will never work in a sealed room so if you want to move towards a sealed envioronment, I would avoid them.

With no aircooling on my hoods I have neutral pressure in the room, it stays perfect pretty much all the time. Much easier than my last kit.

Do yourself a favor and go to your local hardware store and buy a book on household wiring. You can get a good understanding of this in an hour. It is important to have an understanding of power when your using large amounts that are being switched. There are many points of failure that can be vitually eliminated with a basic understanding of electrical wiring.

 

[sneaky_g]

So you are saying I could run 4 1k watt ballasts off a single 220v outlet? I'm not planning on using any pumps or doing a res. I live in california so it gets hot, i'm gonna buy a 10k BTU window Unit and seal the entire room. Than I'm going to use a portable 9000 BTU to draw some intake from the already cool central AC (in the house living area) to give the 10k window unit a break.. does that sound like it could work?


Both AC's the 2 exhaust fans, various fans will all run on the 110 outlets..

So if i'm understanding this right i can run 4 1k Ballasts on the dedicated 220.. I'm also going to be running my 12/12 from 10pm at night to 10 am, I will board up the window and caulk the shit out of my window unit so i have no light leak


My can fans will exhaust to the attic through a closet in the room..

 

[Yes4Prop215]

no not a single 220v outlet some are only 15amps...it has to be a 30amp 220v dryer outlet, 10-30r receptable

that connects to your timer box, which then has your 220v 6-15receptable for your ballasts to plug into..this is the box i used from dxsoundco, allows you to steal power from your dryer outlet, and yet still use the dryer if you live there. its under 150 bucks and works better than the shitty hydrofarm timerbox that was 300+ and doesnt have seperate 10-30r...so you gotta yank the timer box out when you do laundry..

you can a/c your hoods and still have negative pressure, pull air form outside and shoot it back outside again, the ducting manifold never leaks air inside the room...

 

[sneaky_g]

Thank you so much for your input.. The electrician decided the new 100 amp panel would not suffic, so we are throwing a 200 amp instead with 2/0 wire .. He is going to give me 4 circuits at 110 for each 1k ballast..

Instead of using 2 ac units, i'm going to instead buy a portable 16k BTU unit which will run from the 220 30 amp ..

Will the intake from the 16k BTU portable be enough considering i have 2 500 CFM 6" can fans sucking exhaust into my attic?.. I'm planning on running 1 exhaust fan per 2 1k's they will be on controllers so i can adjust .. I'm fairly sure once you get past 12k BTU most portables run 220 .. any suggestions on a quality one for around 500 bucks ?

 

[Tyga]

Prop gave you some great advice... When pulling anything over 1K in my opinion it should be on 240V and some sort of lighting controller. Even if they are on 4 separate circuits...
To bad you ignored all his advice.... clearly this is your electricians FIRST grow room... because I wouldn't imagine any person who has any knowledge in electricity and grow rooms would suggest you to run 110 on 4 separate circuits... As for the A/C pull out your calculator and get started! None of us knows your situation better than you do....https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=95259

 

[stagehand099]

You better listen to YesProp and Tyga. 200 amps is waaay overkill for your room size. Portable A/C units are total bullshit trash...very inefficient and leak smell.

You need 20-25K BTU's of cooling, running on a 240v circuit. A window unit or a minisplit.

You need a 30 amp, 240v lighting controller breaking out to 4, 240v 6-15R receptacles, for lighting.

You need 2 15-20 amp 120v circuits, for pumps, fans, timers etc..

That is what you need and that will cost waaay less than what you say you're getting and will work better. Do you even know the price difference between 8 or 10 gauge wire and 2/0 wire? Listen and learn before you break out that wallet......

stagehand

 

[Ichabod Crane]

I have a portable ac and it does leak smell when running. It is 14k and does not cool my room which has 4.2kw of lights. I also have to run a 8 inch fan 15 minutes every hour to help keep the room cool. Also the portable ac has it's own 15 amp circuit and it has tripped the breaker once in the last 2 month's. Best of luck.

 

[badmf]

stagehand is correct, lighting timer is best. cap makes a good setup. I use mlc 8a
you will need some 120 but2- 20 would do it for periherals. ac isn't an issue with good insulation on hoods and great exhaust fans, cool intake air.

 

[Yes4Prop215]

anybody know of a window AC unit that runs enough to cool 4kw and not trip a 15amp 120v circuit? i got a spare 120v and really do not want to have an additional 240v installed..

 

[TribalSeeds]

Hey man, you want all your lights on the 240 30 amp circuit triggered to your timer plugged into the same 110V outlet your light exhaust fan is on. You want those lights off if your fan trips!
Your electrician doesnt know anything about a grow room.
Get a mini split
You will need a dehumidifier. Recalculate your AC needs with a dehumidifier included
Dont exhaust your AC cooled room! Only exhaust the lights, unless you are doing bare bulb.

 

[sneaky_g]

Updates ..

Updates ..

I got my AC installed.. was a pain in the ass because the window was a retro fitted horizontal.. its an 18500 BTU GE with a built in de humidifier.. and takes 220 power outlet. Highest EER rating of all the models at home depot. 10.7 EER. Cost me 525 after tax.




Bought a mount for 45 bucks because the unit ways over a 100 lbs.

 

[sneaky_g]

I painted the other side of the 3/4 inch playwood white to mask the effect of an op going on. Planning on putting a screen over the white backdrop to minimize suspicion. Its facing the direct sunlight, but i plan on running my flower cycle at night..


2 out of 4 hoods hung.



and a bomb to kill anything before i get started

 

[Mister_D]

Off to a good start, but you might want to remove that picture of you .

 

[sneaky_g]

today i'm driving to a whole sale supplier to purchase some 59 cent / foot linoleum.. The existing bedroom i'm utilizing has old wood floors with many cracks where bugs , ect could come through. I plan on wrapping the floor + closet with linoleum , and the rubber base so i can easily hot mop with bleach and hot water when I feel its neccesary..