Half the power in apartment not working. Do I need to close down shop?

[Weird]

I had this happen and it was one of the two power leads that come to the house became loose. This killed power to half my breaker box and all my 220 appliances.

Guy was working a couple feet from my room but on the outside of the house

I never shut down, I design my rooms so I can seal them if the electricity goes out (temp smell containment), they fixed it and I was back up and running after the repair.


`

 

[JointOperation]

Its not as simple as what many of yas are saying. For one its not my place so I cant just say fuck the appliances and use what outlets are working. The people that live here want and need an apartment that is functional. My grow comes second to that.

Also its a major fire risk. The tenants spoke to a friends husband who is a master electrician who said a fire can easily start if one of the wires went. It can start arcing and sparking. He also said that if its not an issue on their end then the main breaker needs to be accessed which requires the landlord, and once repairs are done they absolutely must come in and check every single outlet. Its a matter of safety and is a definite.

The power co already came and initially said its a problem on their end, did repairs, and there is still no power, so either the problem damaged somethin in the building, or vice versa. Bottom line is they have to come in.

Theres no way around having to break it down which Im in the process of doing right now.

Also this is not going to be a one day thing. It likely is going to be several days. Tomorrow I call the landlord who will likely come over to see whats up. Then he calls and makes an appointment with the electric company or his electrician, which could end up being days later. Then theres the repairs which I can only hope will be quick. So my girls can very possibly be in complete darkness for several days which Im praying does not happen.

I only have till friday to get this resolved then I have to go back for work, and the plants will either have to be killed or I will have to transport them somewhere, likely across state lines which is dangerous in itself.

All the while Im dealing with this my friends the tenants went out of the country on vacation lol. Dont think they realize how serious this could end up for them. Shit Im not on the lease if anything goes down I can just disappear with nothing more than a lost crop. Those fuckers will have a warrant for arrest for operating a drug factory. Think their priorities are a little out of wack, they were more concerned with losing the money for their plane tickets. Wtf? Lol so Im left to handle all this with a landlord I dont even know, with the fate of my garden and their freedom in my hands. Lol this some crazy shit!

Ok rant over. Back to cleanup. I got about 10 hrs before I call the landlord.

when its something like this.. they cant take long on it.. the landlord dicks around at all.. don't pay the months rent! period.. and let him know that. lol just be like dude.. would u want to go without power? no? so have it fixed quick . or let me hire someone to fix it now.. and send you the bill.

 

[Snype]

Good luck with everything! Sucks you have to tear down but you know it's the right move. A good friend of mine didn't know how to do electrical and he ended up using a bunch of extension cords. I told him so many times that it was a fire hazard but he wouldn't listen. Long story short, the house caught fire and he got caught with 500 plants.

 

[Scrappy-doo]

Damn 500 plants? I'm nowhere near that but I'm over 100 so yeah I'm not gonna take any chances. All the flowering plants are out. The vegging plants are getting sealed in boxes along with some ona gel and put in the closet with a bunch of stuff piled on top of them and I'm gonna make sure all the windows are open.

I also talked to my friend and from what the technician told her when they did the repair to the outside, it may be as simple as resetting the main breaker, but still I need the landlord to open it up for them, and I'm sure he's gonna want to come in and see what's going on in the apartment, and make sure everything is working. So I just have to finish cleaning up and a little repair to the walls before I call and hopefully get this over with today or tomorrow.

 

[Wendull C.]

Did you go flip every breaker in your box on and off? It could be that simple. I have wired every thing from houses to banks and gas stations.

 

[feeblebunny]

My guess is that there is a main panel or subpanel and that the landlord has access to it and only a breaker needs to be flipped. For future, if you have 220v in the apartment it might be a good idea to run the ballasts at 220v to "balance" the load on each 110v line. Could the breaker have flipped on the landlord accessible panel because you're drawing too much current on one line and if someone uses something that draws a lot of current (vacuum cleaner etc) in the apt the breaker will flip? If that's the case and you keep flipping the breaker the landlord may get suspicious and want to know why the excessive current in that apt.

 

[Scrappy-doo]

No one of the wires to the transformer went and the power company had to come and fix it. But there is still no power so they said 'probably' the main breaker needs to be reset.

I'll try turning off and on the breakers in the apartment. Haven't done that since the repair was done. I would think the technician that came to repair the transformer line would have mentioned it though if thats all that was needed. Worth a shot though.

Edit- nope unfortunately did not work.

 

[Wendull C.]

The power company always leaves the main off after they're done working as a safety precaution. Just go flip the main breaker in the main panel. Not the sub panel inside the apartment.

 

[Scrappy-doo]

Don't have access to the main panel it's behind a locked door. That's the whole reason I had to tear down the garden because the landlord has to be called to open the door and even if the power company tech doesn't have to come in to check all the outlets, he will definitely come in the apartment afterwards to make sure everything works.

 

[Wendull C.]

I got you man. Was a bit confused. Hope it goes well for you. Fire up the crock pot with beef and green chilies. It has worked for me when I know family is coming over. Good luck bro.

 

[Snype]

I got you man. Was a bit confused. Hope it goes well for you. Fire up the crock pot with beef and green chilies. It has worked for me when I know family is coming over. Good luck bro.

Nice one! I usually sit around cooking cloves of Garlic in Olive Oil to hide smell sometimes. Like I'm making a sauce.

 

[JointOperation]

BACON.. hides the smell great.

 

[Limeygreen]

Dried squid or kippers can help do the job, but dried squid will reek up the house quickly and for awhile.

 

[JointOperation]

ya I try to do something I can stand the smell of . bacon.. garlic and onions.. sautéed in a pan. lol.

or candles and air out the house before.. incense ..

burn candles . have filters.. lol. be smart.. don't be dumb.

 

[panick503]

Damn over a hundred plants in an apartment? Good luck with the breakdown scrappy. Sounds like ur on top of it.

 

[Scrappy-doo]

Yup and the landlord came over tonight to see what the problem is. He seemed real concerned about this whole thing so I'm glad I was able to walk him through the apartment and show him what is and isn't working. Electric company is getting called in the morning. Hopefully they can fix it quickly. So far my girls have missed 2 days of light.

I have a question for anyone knowledgeable about electricity. Is it possible that my new lights caused this? Reason I ask is because the night before this all happened I just switched out from my 1K HPS to 3 x 315 watt Phillips cdm lights with the cycloptics hoods and the welthink 120/240 digital ballast. The next day I got the call that the power was out. I wouldn't think this to be the cause especially since the power in the grow room wasn't affected, but it's strange it happened right after switching to these, and I know they operate at different frequency than hps, and also these bulbs are supposed to only be used with a 240 volt outlet. But this company welthink now has this ballast that does both. But welthink I believe is not the best choice for a ballast from what I read the quality is not as good.

So is this at all a possibility, any electrically inclined person able to chime in? Because if this gets fixed tomorrow I only have that evening to set everything back up and then I have to go back home for work and my friends won't be back from vacation till Sunday. I'd hate for the same thing to happen all over again lol.

If this doesn't get fixed tomorrow or Friday morning at the latest, I'm afraid I may have to scrap everything. Unless I can find a spot outside to stash them till next week. Still kinda cold but they could probably make it.

 

[Wendull C.]

No. That was a coincidence and I really don't believe in those.

 

[OldGuyInOregon]

I have a question for anyone knowledgeable about electricity. Is it possible that my new lights caused this? ...

I hope things end up well.

I wondered about the cause of your electrical issue before you asked. If your house is within code, you should not be able to cause a problem for the power company by what you plug into an outlet. On the other hand, their problem can definitely cause you to have a problem. You might want to verify everything that was plugged in still works.

 

[Scrappy-doo]

No. That was a coincidence and I really don't believe in those.

Awesome! Thanks man I'm gonna sleep better tonight knowing that. Grateful to have a knowledgeable community to help out where I fall short.

I hope things end up well.

I wondered about the cause of your electrical issue before you asked. If your house is within code, you should not be able to cause a problem for the power company by what you plug into an outlet. On the other hand, their problem can definitely cause you to have a problem. You might want to verify everything that was plugged in still works.

That's something I hadn't even considered. I'll be sure to mention it to the landlord. Fortunately the only stuff I care about I know is in working order, but damaged appliances could be a headache later on, so it will be better to know before I rebuild everything. Also, after having slaved for 3 days to make this place spotless, I want him to walk through every single room. Tbh I'm gonna be a little pissed if the electrician doesn't walk through too lol. Muthafuckas making me work overtime they damn well better appreciate how much it doesn't look like a pot farm lol.

 

[Weird]

I had the same thing happen

I also have lost power for extended periods of time (5 days) and have had to roll with the punches to get to harvest.

If you can seal the room you can avoid detection by scent you have the security aspect solved.

my gear was wired for 220 and when one of the lines comes in and gets discoed all 220 equipment fails (it uses two legs).

If you still have 110 in part of your apartment, real warm water with some spic and span will decimate smell. I have heard of people putting it in a crock pot for this purpose.

You can empty the fridge and start cleaning the kitchen as if stuff got spoiled as a ruse to make them think the smell is a byproduct of loss electric.

I have some loose sockets for regular bulbs I got form home depot (they are wrapped in plastic) and wired them to extension cord to get light in flower before to keep the light cycle going when I couldn't get the big lights up and running.

If your plants are healthy a few days of low light and low air circulation should not be that severe, not enough that I would pull.

Then again I have moved plants mid flower and set them up else where because I just have a real hard time bringing myself to cull a harvest preemptively

I really like ozone generators for this reason in a pinch like this.