New Aparment! New Growroom! Please Advise!!!

[edelephant]

Hey All,

I just moved into this new apartment and have a whole extra room to work with. Attached is the layout of the room with a window in the 10' wall. I am more than aware of the dangers of making an extra room a growroom in an rental apartment but the landlords are my parents and hence wont be dropping in at all, also, there are no other tenants in the building besides my uncle. This is my plan thus far and would appreciate any and all help from the professionals.

For flowering I will be using 2 600 HPS, Carbon Scrubber, plenty of fans, and an A/C to keep temperatures under control. I also plan on having a veg section with 2 400 MH and then a clone section.

The million dollar question, is this too much wattage to be running on a single breaker, and b) should I have a box in a seperate room for my veg and clone area. The latter option is also a possibility as I do have the extra space.

Are there any suggestions to maximize my usage of the space I have for flowering given what I have in mind???

Any and all help would be appreciated.

Oh, and I am keeping this organic with soil and organic nutes!!!

 

[MTF-Sandman]

How many amps is the circuit rated for and what are the specs on the fans? Is the AC a window unit that will be running off the same circuit?

 

[edelephant]

I believe the Amp is rated for 15 Amps. I will have to make sure tomorrow. The fans are standard wall mount fans, 2 of them, as well as one or two other fans on the floor. The A/C might not even be necessary, I have yet to run the room to check avg. temps but it is a window unit.

 

[MTF-Sandman]

You can run the 2 600's off that circuit, but I wouldn't put much else on it. If the AC needs to be on, and is powered from the room (portable or window unit) then it's going to need a seperate circuit to run from. The 400's will need about 8a of space on another circuit though...

If it were doable, I'd run a 30a/240 circuit in there to handle everything...then just a small subpanel to break it down to 120v & 240v outlets....but that's may not be an option for you...or is it?

A far as optimizing your setup, I'd use a 3x6' (along the center of left wall in that pic) to hang the 2 600's over your plants and the 3x6 space on the right side of your pic for the 2 400's. Maybe throw plastic shelving setup on the north wall in that pic to hold all the misc goodies for the room.

 

[Guest]

Add up all of your loads on a 14 wire 15A circuit you're allowed 12A,on a 12 wire 20A you can go 16A and on a 10 wire 30A circuit you can pull 24A regardless of the voltage allpied.

 

[edelephant]

MTF - 2 600s in a 3'X6' space?

Skeletor - I might be able to change the wiring and the circuit, in that case I would try to go with a 30A.

I was planning on using the room for both Veg and flowering and if I rewire the room I will run some 6 mil Poly between the sections to keep the flowering chamber lightproof.

Keep the advise coming!!!

 

[FunkBomb]

Thats a lot of wattage for just that circuit. First off id build a subpanel to carry the heavy load. As for the room id split it down the middle, left side for flowering and the right for veg, since its a little smaller. MTF's idea with the shelving is great to hold all the extra stuff like ferts, etc. I would probably white poly or put up mylar on all the walls to help with reflectivity. good luck


-Funk

 

[420guy]

I definately wouldn't run all that on one circuit...especially in an apartment...if ya can,do what Sandman said and go 240v...stay safe

 

[MTF-Sandman]

MTF - 2 600s in a 3'X6' space?

Yup...that'll leave you about a foot around the 3' sides to access the plants at the back.

Are you planning on keeping a sealed setup with CO2 or trying to vent the heat? If you keep it sealed, a 10kbtu AC should be fine unless you're in an extremely hot and humid area...then a 12k would do the trick.

What's the plan for ventilation and are you supplimenting CO2?

 

[edelephant]

Are you planning on keeping a sealed setup with CO2 or trying to vent the heat? If you keep it sealed, a 10kbtu AC should be fine unless you're in an extremely hot and humid area...then a 12k would do the trick.

What's the plan for ventilation and are you supplimenting CO2?

I was just trying to vent the heat. I dont really have the resource just yet for a sealed CO2 setup. I was just planning on having a bunch of fans and the regular apartment ventilation going, the AC is just a precautionary measure in case the chambers get too hot.

In regards to the electrical setup, is a 120V 30A possible???? I already have the 120V HID, it would make more sense to keep it 120V at least for the time being. How easy would such a setup be (I have previous wiring experience)? and what would legitimate reasons for this upgrade be? (i.e. Music Studio, Server room)

thanks everyone!!!

 

[MTF-Sandman]

Yeah 30a/120v is possible. Your lights will be pulling around 20a (after ballast overhead) and a 30a will usually trip at 24-25a to protect the wire...so if you're not running the AC from that circuit you'll be fine as long as you don't go crazy with fans or pumps.

If you have someone do it, just tell em it's for server racks...should run around $200-$250 most likely. Make sure they put plenty of outlets in if you have the work done.

 

[edelephant]

Yeah 30a/120v is possible. Your lights will be pulling around 20a (after ballast overhead) and a 30a will usually trip at 24-25a to protect the wire...so if you're not running the AC from that circuit you'll be fine as long as you don't go crazy with fans or pumps.

If you have someone do it, just tell em it's for server racks...should run around $200-$250 most likely. Make sure they put plenty of outlets in if you have the work done.

Sandman- What do you think about my ventilation plan??? Should just fans and the regular room ventilation work or should I start thinking about other options?

Thanks for all the help people!!!

 

[edelephant]

The Amp is rated for 20 Amps actually, but I will be upgrading it to 30A.

Anyone else have any other suggestions?

thanks!!!

 

[MTF-Sandman]

You're definitely gonna need to have the AC running in there...otherwise it sounds good.

 

[edelephant]

You're definitely gonna need to have the AC running in there...otherwise it sounds good.

Thats another question I have Sandman, I am trying to conserve as much electricity as possible, would I need the A/C running if I choose to have my flowering chamber in the room pictured and then the veg/clone chamber in a different room???? I doubt I would be able to run 2 600s, 2 400s, the scrubber, the fans, and the 5800 BTU A/C all on the 30A circuit.

I might have to start compensating you for all the help youve given me!!

Cheers!!!

 

[MTF-Sandman]

You'll end up cooling the air somewhere...might as well just do it in the room so that you're not keeping your whole apartment freezing so that the plants won't burn up. The combo of the 5800btu in the room along with the apartments AC should do fine...might not need the AC in the room if you're in a cooler locale. The 30a/240v will allow you to use the AC if it's needed and isn't much more expensive than a 30a/120v.

 

[edelephant]

I had one final question about my new grow. I am looking into getting 2 600w digital ballasts. Are these digital ballasts much more efficient than the regular ballasts and b. is it worth the extra money for the improvement???

Thanks Sandman for all the help, You helped me a lot with my electrical question. To keep you up to date, I had a two seperate circuits run into the room, I have two 30A/10 gauge circuits with only two outlets connected to each circuit. Going to use a GFCI and a alligator to have enough outlets.

I will post some pictures of the preliminary setup later!!!

 

[UmphreyMcgee420]

we've got a simialr setup style going... ive got a 8" vortex and im going to run 1800w flow. room... 3x 600w digital lumateks, and 400w for veg/clone/mothers and 2 shop lights.

 

[edelephant]

I was actually planning on having my Flower be 2 600W HPS and my Veg/Mother 2 400W MH. I think it might be a bit overkill for the vegetative what do you think? My other option would be 2 600W HPS, 1 400W HPS, 1 400W MH (Flower) and 1 400W MH(Veg/Mom). I am in possession already of the 5 lights and need to figure out what the most efficient usage would be. Suggestions?

 

[edelephant]

Any Suggestions?