electrical question

[Guest]

Hello I am in the process of buying a house and want to have a 2000 watt flowering room, plus 600 watt or 1000 watt for vegging. Most houses ive been though are 100 amp and and a few are 200 amp. I am pretty much useless around electricity but should I have any troubles running a medium size grow like this with 100 amp? Just a stove in the house would be the other thing that really sucks power.(no pool, chest freezers etc.)

 

[Guest]

You should have no trouble whatsoever if the house was wired in the last century lol.For the flowering room,you'll want to run your fixtures at 240V,otherwise you're going to need 2 different circuits.In the veg room you should be cool with one circuit.You are allowed 12A on a 15 amp breaker and 16A on a 20A breaker regardless of the voltage applied(providing the electrician pulled the correct sized wire for the breakers lol).When sizing your loads use the amperage on the nameplate,not the wattage of the fixture.Dont use OHMs law when sizing your circuits.

 

[mushupork5]

666 posts, skeletor. nice.

but yeah, get some 240v lights and you'll need to run a new circuit into the room for the 240v plugs. running the 240v circuit will probably be the most work

 

[Guest]

Also,if you have a dedicated 120V circuit(a circuit straight from the panel to a receptacle with no receptacles in between),its really easy to change to a 240V circuit if need be

 

[Guest]

I already have (2) 1000 watt air cooled hps lights that run on regular 110 volt. I guess I can use a few different circuits by using extension cords in the flower room to other outlets that use another circuit.

 

[imnotcrazy]

Unless he converts the existing circuit in the room to 220V if its been wired in the last 15-20 years all rooms should have a dedicated 20A circuit just change the outlets and breaker and label all neutral wires as a hot leg. If there is a ceiling fan in the room it should be wired seprate I believe and you could steal 120V for fans, pumps, etc if you check that the circuits are indeed seperate, and don't exceed the circuits maximum "constant load" rating. This means if a device is on 3hrs or more each day it is considered constant and full load rating must be used to add to a circuit when figuring max load. But pumps and fans are different so you could steal power from a seperate ceiling fan circuit if available and not overloaded.

 

[Guest]

ok thanks for the replys. I guess I will be fine with 100 amp if thats all the house has. I guess I will wait and see what I find and go from there. Might have 220 or something already hooked uo for a workbench or something. Thanks again.

 

[sogman]

A stove or dryer recepticle is also 220, just in case.
I'm an electrical apprentice right now, mostly wiring disconnects and lights but a 220 volt recepticle is really simple if you have any decent sylvania 125amp box, I got about 20 circuits running in mine. Mostly 2 pole breakers.

 

[sogman]

Skeletor is right though, 80% load on a single 15amp circuit is fine with no chances of electrical arcing, or fires burning inside the wall. A while back somebody wrote a really good guide on fireproofing your electrical.

 

[Guest]

Rob you're really pushing a 20A 12 wire circuit running 2 1K fixtures at 120V,I bet that breaker gets pretty warm.How long has this been going on?It wont last long,it cant you'll start tripping at startup if it is a 20A 12 wire 120V circuit.I wont consider the possibility its a 14 wire 15A circuit lol.

 

[Guest]

Rob?Uh O.

 

[oldnslow]

Respect to the above advice........BUT theres no damm way hes gonna be able to do all that on a 100amp breaker. He already mentioned using a stove to draw power. Are there gonna be lights/tv/toaster/coffeemaker, etc involved??

Even if the grow was the only thing in the house, no way can you do it with 100amps. You dont mention fans, pumps, airpumps, heat or air conditioning, or ventilation.

Even a 200amp box in a normal home would have trouble doing all that unless its scattered around to different breakers. Peace

 

[Guest]

Trouble doing all what??Bro I do a bit more than that off a 100A subpanel,how many amps do you think we're talking about here?He would be able to feed "all that" off a 30A subpanel if his fixtures are wired for 240V.

 

[Guest]

Respect to the above advice........BUT theres no damm way hes gonna be able to do all that on a 100amp breaker. He already mentioned using a stove to draw power. Are there gonna be lights/tv/toaster/coffeemaker, etc involved??

Even if the grow was the only thing in the house, no way can you do it with 100amps. You dont mention fans, pumps, airpumps, heat or air conditioning, or ventilation.

Even a 200amp box in a normal home would have trouble doing all that unless its scattered around to different breakers. Peace

yeah hi, let's all say hello to the guy who has NO idea what he is talking about.^^^^^^^
you're fine w/ the 100a
a 1000w ballast draws a max of 9.5 A if it's hps and 9 A if it's mh.
1 1000w ballast per circuit at 110v buddy.
i have 2 rooms each w/ a 1000w light.
i run my ballast/ wall fan/ exhaust fan together in each room on the same 20A circuit.
then i run my intake fan/ a/c / dehumidifier on another 20A cir.
3 total 20 A circuits for 2000w and other equipment NO problem!
if you have any questions w/ electric, talk to skeletor, imnotcrazy or myself.
only 3 guys i would trust for good info round here!
good luck!!!

 

[Guest]

Damn a double wham slam bam Sam.

 

[Guest]

oldnslow really earned that name today. if he's interested i'll install a 1000A service in his house so he could run a few hair dryers and vacuum cleaners. then MAYBE he'll come close to having enough juice in the house. he could probably run a few 60w a-lamps for lighting in there also! lol

 

[Buzzsmirk!]

oldnslow really earned that name today. if he's interested i'll install a 1000A service in his house so he could run a few hair dryers and vacuum cleaners. then MAYBE he'll come close to having enough juice in the house. he could probably run a few 60w a-lamps for lighting in there also! lol

i don't think 1000amps will be adequate for him!! ROTF LMAO

thanks for the endorsement (NOT)

BUZZ!

 

[Guest]

haha hey guys. I wanna say thanks for the advice. I was only running (1) 1000 watt hps light here and had no problems. I purchased the other 1 a few weeks ago so I am not running all these lights on 1 circuit right now. I was just double checking if I could run (2) 1000 watt hps lights at 1 time and also another 1000 watt metal halide going for Veg which will be running while the other 2 are running at times. Most of the places I am finding are 100 amp and just wanted to double check but it sounds like I could do this. lol No I didnt burn my house down yet. I really think I wouldnt need an A/C because all the houses here come with basement and thats where the grow will be. I was thinking of just venting the lights and room with 2 vortex 750 cfm exhaust fans and that should keep it cool enough. I guess if it can be done and I need to go the 240 route I can but just didnt want to find a place and 100 amp not being big enough.

 

[oldnslow]

Hey rb, Since you mentioned not knowing much about electricity.
Will you know how to rewire the ballasts for 240v?
Will you know how to run a 240 line from the breaker box if needed.
Are you going to want to rewire part of this house if you need to.
Extension cords are dangerous and having a couple cords running from one room to another draws attention.
With two 100w lights in the same room you likely will need some a/c in the hot months at least.
Basements can be damp and a dehumidifier may be needed.
Homes with only 100amp service usually are older and generally use 15amp breakers, so you can safely draw about 12 amps from those lines.
Its not a good idea to max the circuits out all the time, eventually something will overheat.
Always have a smoke detector in each room.
Outlets older than 5yrs should be replaced. Its natural for the screws to loosen up over time, so at the very least you should take the outlets apart and retighten all the wires on the outlets, and clean out any dust or cobwebs from the outlets that a spark might ignite.
Insurance companys will not pay for damage from a fire started in a grow room.

Another possibility for a 240v line that might work for you is to piggyback off the water heater. Most run a 240 volt line. My water heater is only 30 gal but it has 40amps running to it {two 20 amp breakers} I have had a 1000whps, a 400w hps, and the water heater starting up at the same time with no trouble. I'm not sure what a larger water heater {50gal} draws in amps but it cant be much more than my 30 gal, which btw has two heating elements like the larger size.

 

[Guest]

No I couldnt wire a 240 into the basement and also couldnt re-wire the lights to make them 240. I guess I could find some new 240 lights but in the basement I guess I will just hire an electrician and have him throw in a 240 saying I want to throw a work bench, table saws, etc down there. I know these lights can be re-wired to 240 because when I purchased them I had the option of them being 240 or 120. Wish I would of went the 240 route. Is it complicated to change it back the other way. I guess even with that I can always go back to the shop, pay a few bucks and change them to 240. We will definately figure something out before everything is up and running. I will just write back when I know for sure what the house has as I am still looking at several every day and a few open houses on sunday. I always take a peak at the breaker boxes to see what im running with. But who knows maybe the place will be all set for 240 in the basement and then I just have to worry about the lights. Thanks all for the help. Makes sense too to get new outlets and clean out the dust and webs. That would be a stupid way to have a house fire that can be prevented. So all that minor stuff definately would be taken care of. Thanks again! Ill post back when I know what I am working with.