moving to a new place, planning to scale up

[weed whacker]

i'm moving in with a long time (5 or 6 years) friend who lives an hour away from everyone else we know, and plan to use my room almost entirely for grow. now i know the rule is tell nobody, but he doesnt know anyone, is only an occasional toker / drinker, and overall security should not be any worse for his knowledge.

the bedroom is approx 110" x 110". it has one window to the outside, a sliding doors closet, and attached bathroom. my plan is to leave the blinds of the window down, and stick plywood behind that (stealthily of course), OR lightproof a window A/C and use it to cool the room down (would make things REALLY easy, and this is a hot area so running the a/c march-->sept would not be a prob at all).

here's a vague floor plan



everything is not to scale, but the bed is supposed to represent a full-size mattress (54x75 inches) very approximately. i'm basing all this off rough measurements and a walkthrough video he sent me where i can see that size mattress in there. he lives an hour away and hasnt sent me pics yet.

the red line represents where i would divide the room using panda film. i would zipper door the panda divider to allow access but keep things light and vapor tight.

here's some questions:

i know the measurements are not exact, but am i right for thinking i could put two or three 600W lights in that area, over a 3x6 or 4x8 table (depending on how space is exactly)?

would i be better off trying to vent 1200-1800w of heat there, or go the easy route and mount a window A/C and use CO2? if i go CO2, is there a way i could rig up some rudimentary setup to set an alarm just in case somehow the CO2 leaks out, i'm imagining a CO2 supplemented room leaking into your sleeping place would not be healthy

right now i've got some experience with ebb and flow (using rockwool), soil, dwc (hydroton buckets), and my current grow is handwatered coco. i liked ebb and flow when i did it on a small scale, and if i replicated the SOG stoney419 was running i could (hopefully)dial in to be pulling 3lbs like he did in this space. i'm fine with cloning and have my 20 site diy aero cloner dialed in, so i could definitely scale that up to accomodate a larger SoG. is there any reason i would be better served using handwatered/drip irrigated coco pots? i'm defaulting to ebb and flow with hydroton pots just for the fact that it seems to be well documented and efficient.

if i'm pulling 10-15amps from my lights (this is correct for 1200-1800w, right?) should a normal household circuit be able to handle that? i'm not sure how the wiring in this place is, its a newly built house if that helps.

i'll probably think of more questions, but thats it for now.

thanks in advance. peace

 

[phattybudz]

I know a guy who fried his shit using three 600's on the same circuit (120V.) Make sure they're all 240V! I would go with 3 over the 4x8. I've tried hydro and I'm doing hand watered coco right now too, I would set up 2 ebb n flow tables in a 4x8 probably... can't go wrong.

I have my windows boarded but if I could run an A/C without suspicion I would totally do it the girls will love it.

Good luck!

 

[riverrat]

Good luck with your long time friend, My long time friend of 5 or 6 years, who I allowed to move in with me up and ran off with about 12 oz of goods and $1000.00 in cash while I was out of town. I had to shut down and move. No more roomates for me.

RR

 

[riverrat]

if i'm pulling 10-15amps from my lights (this is correct for 1200-1800w, right?) should a normal household circuit be able to handle that? i'm not sure how the wiring in this place is, its a newly built house if that helps.

15 amp circuits are common in houses, 3 600 watt lights on a 120V feed would be pulling 15 amps. You don't want to go over 80% of the rated breaker so 3 600's would not work on a 15 amp circuit, 12 amps max. However, if you have size 12AWG wires, as indicated by the table below, you could safely put in a 20 amp breaker and run 3 600's on it. But that's all that could be on that circuit.

RR



Normal House Wiring Gauge
Consult your building inspector
because your location
will have a specific building code!
Circuit
Maximum
Amperage Minimum COPPER
wire gage
15A 14AWG
20A 12AWG
30A 10AWG
45A 8AWG
60A 6AWG
80A 4AWG
100A 2AWG
If you are running more than 100A
you probably will run Aluminum and
need a different table.

Do not use copper ratings
for aluminum!

 

[weed whacker]

so if i cut the breaker, pop the wall plate off, those are the wires in question? or do i need to look somewhere else?

 

[weed whacker]

and regarding the friend, he's got an assload of money so him running off with my shit would probably not be worth the trouble, his big reason for renting me the space is he wants to learn about all the stuff. it's his place and we'd been talking about the idea for a while. the great thing is its about an hour away from everyone either of us knows, so security should be much easier to maintain. no people, no parties, no noise, and he's already been there 6 months and is on good terms with all his neighbors.

 

[riverrat]

Take the cover off your breaker box, find the breaker for the circuit you want to use and see if you can determine what gauge wire is running to it. It’s usually printed on the wire, if not you can get a wire sizing ruler at a electrical supply place, You might also be able to download something off the web that will allow you to determine you wire gauge size. If your wiring is big enough, you can put in a 20 amp breaker and you’re good to go. If you only have 14AWG wire, then you’re stuck and will to have to run your 3 lights off 2 different circuits.

RR

 

[riverrat]

would i be better off trying to vent 1200-1800w of heat there, or go the easy route and mount a window A/C and use CO2?

Looking at your floor plan again, I'd bet you going to have to put in an AC to keep your temps in check. As for your electrical issues, you want to run 3 600w lights, a least a 10000 BTU AC, Fans, pumps, ect. You’re going to need two or three circuits to run that equipment. My guess is you have one 15 amp circuit in that room. How far is that room from your breaker panel and how feasible is it to run another circuit or two?

RR

 

[weed whacker]

well you may be right about the outlets in the room being a single circuit....what if i were to wire into the circuit for the ceiling lights and just put an outlet up there? i'm guessing the lights might be a different circuit if the wall plugs wont cut it. i'll have him check out the breaker box tonight.

 

[riverrat]

Ask your friend to check if there any empty breaker slots in your box. If so and you can snake a wire from your room there without too much hassle then it would not cost much to add the circuit. But if your breaker box is full of breakers, then you will have to put in a bigger box with more slots (a costly solution). If your lucky the lights are on a different and you can put a outlet up there. If your really lucky you have 14AWG wire or larger then you can put in 20 amp breakers on your circuits and have 32 amps you can safely use. Make sure you add up the amps for everything you want or is on each circuit, don't go above 80% of what the breaker on that circuit is rated for,

RR

 

[riverrat]

The best solution if you have to run another wire is use 6AWG wire and run 240V to a 50 amp subpanel in your room. Then you have the option of running your lights at 240V if you want, it won't save you any money on the power bill, but will allow you to reduce the amps (and therefore wire size) for the same wattage. Or you can add as many 120V circuits as you need.

RR

 

[weed whacker]

alright so i talked to him, the breaker panel is located in the room! he said the lights and plugs are on separate circuits, 15 amps each. would it be safe for me to wire in a plug to one of the light circuits? then i could run half my power off the light circuit and half off the plugs.

 

[riverrat]

alright so i talked to him, the breaker panel is located in the room! he said the lights and plugs are on separate circuits, 15 amps each. would it be safe for me to wire in a plug to one of the light circuits? then i could run half my power off the light circuit and half off the plugs.

You could do that, however if the panel is in the room, and I had extra breaker slots, I would just add a cuicuit or two. It would be just as easy to add a breaker as it would be to rewire a light socket to a plug.

RR

 

[weed whacker]

alright well then i'd have to shut the mains while doing that? its in a condo so idk how easy thats gonna be....

 

[riverrat]

alright well then i'd have to shut the mains while doing that? its in a condo so idk how easy thats gonna be....

You don't have to shut off the mains if you know what you are doing and be careful, but I'd recommend it. There should be two big breakers at the top center of you box, that shuts down the main feed to the box. (These breakers might also be outside by the meter), in any event you should be able to cut the main breakers for your condo without shuting down the whole block.

The breakers just snap in. Take a look at how the breakers are mounted and wired in the box. It's really easy.

RR