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how many amps can my house handle?

dragunn

Member
i have an older house with a 100 amp breaker box.my neighbor has 200amp box on a newer house.could my house handle two,200amp breaker boxes?or is there a limit to the size of my houses main service wire.how much power can i use?
 
It all depends on what you have coming into your house. Most residentials only go up to 200 amp box some a 300. Two 200's....you would have to have an electricial see your service wire that the power company put up to your meter and he would have to upgrade the line from the meter to the box but....it is do-able.
 
Y

yamaha_1fan

no matter what, you are going to need a licensed electrician here. You wont be able to upgrade the panel by yourself. Then if you need to upgrade the service, that is probably going to require the power company.

yes, you are limited by what the wire size is coming into the house. No real world experience but if its an older house, I would assume the feed is 100 amps. They didnt have microwaves, big screens, computers, Xboxes, 40-50 years ago so 100 amps was probably more than enough

Now if you install TWO 200 amp panels for growing, you have got some big ass balls. Maybe you dont know how much power that is but you could run a 50-60KW grow leaving the extra wattage for accessories
 

I N Hail

Growing Grower AKA Wasted Rock Ranger
Veteran
Yes what Yamaha said
BUt ill add if you was to put just one 200amp in, this DOES NOT mean the wiring in your house/MH can pull 200amp, (on a single line) this just means total usage of the home cannot exceed 200amp.
If you change tto a 200amp ,you need to run a new proper awg wire to a sub-panel(i.e. distro box) to run a grow.
HIT-homedepot site to see some pic's of some boxes


I N Hail
 

Bozo

Active member
It depends on the size cable that feeds your service .99% of the time you will need a complete service change ,meaning the whole thing has to be changed cables and all .You will need to pay an electrictian to upgrade your service and when he finishes running new cables out to the street he will have to call the electric company to come out and do the final hook up.
Hope that helps you .

Now on a darker note Im sure the number they claimed in MJ inc were inflated about all the house fires in Ca. but I am ammazed how many people wanna do 6-10 k grows and dont know the first thing about electricity.There too scared to call an electrician but they will sleep in a house that they jerry rigged 6 K into a bed room !Electrical safety is part of security if you have a house fire the fire dept is coming in yer house weather you want them too or not they do not needa warrant.If the fire was cause buy a grow there gonna be pissed you dragged them outa the station and I assure you they are gonna let there police friends know about your garden and I dont care what stae you live in yer in trouble

Only electrical advice I have for anyone is call an electrician and anyone telling people how to jerry rig up yer house isnt yer friend .Do yerself a favor do it right
 
If you are here asking that question, 100 Amps will probably be plenty. If you insist on going balls out, you could get your main panel upgraded to 200 Amps. If you don't already know what you're doing, a 400 Amp grow is over your head. As Yamaha said, that is a MASSIVE fuckin' grow. I say start small, and grow with your level of knowledge and experience. A 100 Amp main panel will still allow you to grow a lot of pot. :2cents:
 

dragunn

Member
i figured i could up-grade to a 200 amp box with an electrican.but how do 70 light grow ops do it?seems like there wiring coundnt even handle the load.
 

I N Hail

Growing Grower AKA Wasted Rock Ranger
Veteran
i figured i could up-grade to a 200 amp box with an electrican.but how do 70 light grow ops do it?seems like there wiring coundnt even the load.

That 200amp is split up in the BOX to feed like 30,40,60, amp's down dif. line's
with the right guage wire,,,,First you need to know how many AMP's you need
(light fans ect,,,) then add 20% to see what you need,



I N Hail

P.S. The pros with 70 light's HIRE AN ELECTRITION



.
 

headiez247

shut the fuck up Donny
Veteran
Most people doing 70 lights are stealing electricity, period.

two 200's lol. Someone needs to do some electrical reading. hes prob planning on doing like 3k

That 200amp is split up in the BOX to feed like 30,40,60, amp's down dif. line's
with the right guage wire,,,,First you need to know how many AMP's you need
(light fans ect,,,) then add 20% to see what you need,



I N Hail

P.S. The pros with 70 light's HIRE AN ELECTRITION



.
 

I N Hail

Growing Grower AKA Wasted Rock Ranger
Veteran
Yeh headie
I wasn't even gonna respond to TWO 200's in an older house,,,,,LMAO







...
 

dragunn

Member
even with a 200 amp box i could only pull 24,000 watt at one time(yea only).im thinking 70 lights are going to need 40,000 watts at the minimum.could the wiring from the power pole to a newer house handle two 200 amp boxes?
 
Y

yamaha_1fan

this is heading towards "100x70" land....


24,000 Watts from a 200 amp panel?

^^^^ Theres your sign.......


FIY, NOBODY in there right mind, would run that type of lighting on 120. Do the math at 240. Thats 48,000 watts.

SECOND. FLIP FLOP. Even if you dont use an actual flip flop, you run alternating rooms. I say you could run 30-50K in lights if you wanted to max out the 200 amps depending on Veg, accessories, A/C etc.

if you need these little tidbits pointed out, I do not think you are ready.
 

dragunn

Member
i got 1,200 watts per 10 amps x 20 = 24,000 (a 200 amp box).right now im using 3,600 watts(on a 100 amp box).plan on increasing that slowly to 6,500 max.going to see how my house handles each 600 watt additional load.last month my power bill was over 900.00.power aint cheap where i live.now switching to sog to save on veg time and money ,hopefully.

i guess a diesel generater is the way to go,if you want to go big.might even be cheaper.i read some where that you use 75 gallons of fuel for 1 pound of processed pot.
 
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