GROW-ROOM Electrical Help Please

[coreganic]

Hi, my name is Chris. I am a new grower in the Bay Area.

My grow-room is an outdoor shed fully converted with two different grow tents inside.

My op will need a minimum of 30 separate AMPS, however I am going to attempt to play it safe and install a 50+ breaker/wiring.

So if anyone can help me decipher this age-old Fuse Box, and point me in the right direction, as far as what type of circuit breaker I need, and maybe even what type of fuse box I have.

pics are attached. thanks for any of your time.

 

[coreganic]

edit: if pics dont show, just right click and select "open image in new tab"

 

[moses wellfleet]

Dusting it off would be a good start!

Each tent will have it's own 50A breaker?

 

[coreganic]

Dusting it off would be a good start!

Each tent will have it's own 50A breaker?

No.

I am only running 40A total in my entire grow-room. So I am looking to install just a 50A breaker, depending on the type of breaker I need to get.

and yes dusting it off will most definitely be step number 1.

thank you for the reply.

 

[GratefulOne]

Sounds like you are trying to install a subpanel. If you want 40 usable amps you need a 50 A subpanel. The feed may need to be larger depending on distance and voltage lose. You will also need to size the wire and know how to do the grounding for a subpanel. There are several parts to getting it done correctly. With electricity if you don't know how get some on site help.

 

[coreganic]

Sounds like you are trying to install a subpanel. If you want 40 usable amps you need a 50 A subpanel. The feed may need to be larger depending on distance and voltage lose. You will also need to size the wire and know how to do the grounding for a subpanel. There are several parts to getting it done correctly. With electricity if you don't know how get some on site help.

SO what you're saying is that I cannot just install a 40A circuit breaker into my pre-existing panel and just wire it out to my grow room, which will be about 20ft. from the panel..?

 

[nukklehead]

SO what you're saying is that I cannot just install a 40A circuit breaker into my pre-existing panel and just wire it out to my grow room, which will be about 20ft. from the panel..?

You can.. ( but doubtfull due to logistics)how many circuits are you going to have? How many amps are these circuits going to draw?
Will need a lot more info ( circuits, draw, ballasts, fans) to be able
to answer entirely.

Most likely as above you will probably want to install that 40 or 50 amp breaker in your box ( if it is not overloaded) and run the appropriate size wire (#8 or #10 --im no sparky.. cant remember) to a
subpanel and then run your individual circuits from the sub panel using 15 amp breakers and #14 wire or 20 amp breakers and #12 wire to your outlets. Cant draw more then 80% of load of circuit.
i.e 15 amps dont draw more then 10.. 20 amps.. dont draw more then 15 to be on the safe side. Will need to know your total amperage of circuits and equipment it will be run on. I know you said you needed 30 amps but to how many circuits (equipment)> Theoretically you can run a
30 amp line from your box to a single outlet but will you be able to hook everything up to a
a single outlet?..Probably safely not..

Think of it as a manifold. Big wire and electricity in --small wires out to the outlets.

Please dont hook up a bunch of 14 gauge or 12 gauge wires to
a 40 amp breaker in your present box.. fire hazard..

Sounds like you need to run a sub panel.. There will be smarter
people that will chime in here to fix what I have said..

 

[rives]

What a mess. Hopefully that crap in non-conductive.

I can't tell from the pictures, but the breakers look like they are similar to Square D.

Do you want 120v only, or 120/240? As Grateful was alluding to above, there is what is known as the 80% rule - for continuous loads, defined as anything over 3 hours, you are only allowed to use 80% of the breaker rating. So, for a 40a continuous load, you would need to supply 50 amps. Unless you are planning on feeding a light controller or something similar, the easiest way to get the power into the grow room and provide adequate protection would be to feed a sub-panel. That way each individual circuit can be protected at the correct level and still have enough power for everything that you want to connect.

 

[GratefulOne]

SO what you're saying is that I cannot just install a 40A circuit breaker into my pre-existing panel and just wire it out to my grow room, which will be about 20ft. from the panel..?

No you can't in a practical way. It is cheaper and safer to install a subpanel.

 

[coreganic]

Thank everyone for their responses.

I now understand I will need to install a 50 amp breaker, run that cable to a sub-panel, then run each 120v off of a separate breaker.

and yes rest assured that mess will be cleaned up, just moved in haha.

 

[J-zee]

Shopping list:
2 pole 50 amp breaker , a square d "homeline" work fine part # hom250
Min #8 (50 amp rated wire) go with "s/o" cord, its an tuff ass extension cord basically
X amount up above wire , keep it under 100 ft )
Sub panel
Indoor rated , ip to 100 amp rated ) even the we feed it 50, surface mounted, six or eight circuits will be fine.
Part # hom612l100s. Square d
U will need 2 - romex connectors for 1" to hold on to wire at panel a and panel b (called a 2 screw romex connectors)
Ul need 6-10 one inch one hole emt straps to route ur wire
Ul need a" intermatic ""gm40w" timer
Ul need x amount of "4sq deep boxes wit 1/2&3/4 knock outs.
Ul need the "rs" or raised steel cover for the 20 amp 250 volt receptacle thatur ballast will most likely have
Grab 6 -1/2"& 3/4" rmex connectors
Buy an extension cord in 10 gauge to run from timer to steel box's where ur Chinese eye 20 amp 250 volt receptacle are
( so it goes 2 pole 50 amp breaker in panel a , with a 1" romex connector holding wire to panel, take ur 8 gage 4 conductor "s.o" cord n hook white to the bars with all white wires, green wire to other bar with other green wires, black goes to one side of ur 2 pole 50 amp breaker at panel a
Run wire to other panel while using straps n screws to run it nice
Ise ir second one inch romex connector to hold wire to panel b
Take white white ton long strip with all the holes, take green and go to other bar the looks like the one the white wire went (one is ground bus other is neutral bus)
***** some panels do not come with neutral bus kit. It will say on box if sold seperate a 6-12 one will work. Ie square d part #pk9gta will be just fine
Now the red and black go to the lugs at the top of the panel and black one in one lug red in the other, or vise versa , ac voltage u cant get mixed up on a single phase two forty systems
Now one red side of bus every other peg is red phase at 120 volt , same with black, snap that 2 pole 20 amp breaker (part # hom220) to run ur timer in and it touches both 120 volt legs to send 240 to the timer to the recpticles
Sum part # u can google
Hubbell rr205w. (Ballast receptacle for 20 amp 25o volt
Bridgeport 663dc is ur romex connectors ur need a few sizes ib
Midwest tp414. Is ur box ur gona mount ur recpts
Hom612l100s. Sub panel from square d
Or
Hom816L100s same but lil bigger n 2 more circuits avail
Square d pk9gta. Ur ground bus
Hom220 (240 v 20 amp brkr for timer
Hom120. Basic 110 vot breaksr for fan n such

***
#8 is 50 amp
#10 is 30
#-2 is 20 amp
Turn power off first and dont die



Its late n im ripped, hope that makes sense