Need Electrical Advice 4 New Grow Room

This will be my first post here and my first grow over 400w, third grow overall. First i will list all electric powered devices that will be used in my spankin new 8'x12' grow room, how i will be, or plan to be using them, then i will let you purge upon me all of your wisdom on how to hook it up without burning my house down!



Flower Room

• one 1000w Xtrasun ballast
• Light Rail 3.5 6rpm light mover 6.5' rail
• 6" Vortex exhaust fan
• CAP VSC-DNe Variable Fan Speed Controller
• Ecoplus 185gph pump

PLAN: 1000w hps, in a Hydrofarm Radiant 6in AC reflector, being moved across a 6'x8' growing area. Exhaust fan mounted near window box, pulling air through 6 Inch Carbonaire filter; crude example...FILTER>DUCT>REFLECTOR>DUCT>FAN>out thru window box. Fan speed controlled by CAP VSC-DNe Variable Fan Speed Controller. 185gph pump mixes nutes.



Veg Room

• Ecoplus 264gph pump
• Hydrofarm 4 lamp 6500K 2' T5
• Hydrofarm 6 Lamp 6500K 4' T5
• Ecoplus 185gph pump

PLAN: 30 site homemade cloner uses the 264gph pump & 2' lamp. Moms and vegging plants use the 4' lamp and pump to mix nutes.

With my 1st & 2nd grows; single round t8 for seedlings, 400w hps for flowering & veg. Well, i've got my growing basics down, so now i've decided to step it up a bit and spend some money.

MY PROBLEM: The grow room is a retreat/office space connected to my master bedroom. This is inside a Clayton home and i doubt the current wiring is up to the task of this setup. I have done minor electrical work before, but i have never setup a grow room like this. SO HOW WOULD YOU DO IT?

I hope i have been descriptive enough without making your head hurt...cause mine sure does.

just googled clayton homes to find it is a modular home so wiring should be up to code.i assume you have 20 amp breakers.1st step is to map out your house to find what outlets are controlled by what breaker.check the entire house. hopefully,you will have a breaker that controls part of the room & little to nothing else.figure the draw of each device & see if you can power everything from outlets in or near the room without going over 17 amps per breaker. if not,you may need a new line run from the breaker box to the grow room.the light will draw almost 10 amps.the T5s will draw under 3 amps,&the fans & pumps will draw less than an amp each.
how hard would it be to get a wire from grow to breaker box? and how much electrical experience do you have? can you add a breaker?

You should be fine. I live in a Clayton Home and I grow in the closet of the master bedroom.

BTW -dont see a osculating fan in the mix,you really should use one for veg. I didnt for my last crop & had major problems keeping the budsites up when they started bulking up.

I agree with Mad Cow but here's what I would do... switch your 1000 watt ballast to 120V if not already and plug it into the wall, it should not trip the breaker, even with other stuff like your pump and your soon to come oscillating fan ( I reccomend ) shouldn't trip it. You'll be fine, your not running enough juice to fuck anything up k, just watch and remember where you plug shit in and if it trips the breaker change it around until it works. This is all I ever do for a veg room or small setup and I've never had a problem. I had to run a seperate 40 amp line coming from a new 240v breaker box for my flowering room but in my veg room I run 1000 watt HID with pump, 2 inline fans, oscillating fan, space heater and electric blanket by using 2 different circuits within the same room. A circuit is what comes from each breaker box installed in your panel. Often rooms/areas of the house have 2 circuits going in one room, if not just use a thick extension cord from a different circuit. GL MAN

mrmadcow said:

BTW -dont see a osculating fan in the mix,you really should use one for veg. I didnt for my last crop & had major problems keeping the budsites up when they started bulking up.

Click to expand...

Right on Mr. Mad, i did forget to add the fans; two 18" oscilating wall mounts in the flower room, and two 12" desk fans in the veg room.
Following your instructions, i have located the 20amp breaker for my room. The problem is that it powers all outlets and light sockets for the grow area, my bedroom, closet AND master bath! That circuit already powers a computer, small tv, clock radio and all the wife's beautifying/torture looking devices.

I think i'd like to run the hps and light mover on one circuit, the Vortex, t5's, and pumps on another. I'm going to move our pc to another room/circuit, and run the oscilating fans off the existing circuit.

Plan of action: Install two 20amp breakers and run the wires through the crawl space.

Now as for my experience, i can install the breakers, hook up the outlets and run the wire, but i don't know how to pick the type of wire i need to use.

I don't have to pay for my electricity and it is on the buildings over all meter so bonus bonus!
But it is an old building and I have few circuits. I added an independent 15 A bx line straight to box but I know it is not enough!
The formula I was told to figure out amps is Watts /devided by Volts (120~240) = Amps.
For instance I have 6 times 26 watt 5600K cfl's running at 1.3 amps.
But when I put all into play veg and flower cabs I am at 16.768 A
I need to figure out what to switch onto the rooms circuit..
(I might be babbling I just blazed hehe)

Jay Dubs said:

.... The problem is that it powers all outlets and light sockets for the grow area, my bedroom, closet AND master bath! That circuit already powers a computer, small tv, clock radio and all the wife's beautifying/torture looking devices.
I think i'd like to run the hps and light mover on one circuit, the Vortex, t5's, and pumps on another. I'm going to move our pc to another room/circuit, and run the oscilating fans off the existing circuit.
Plan of action: Install two 20amp breakers and run the wires through the crawl space.

Click to expand...

if you are going to install 2 20 amps circuits,you will have more than enough power for future expansion.
careful of the wife's WMD, most hairdryers will draw 12+amps all by themself.
as for wire, you would need 12/2 Romex & run a seperate piece for each circuit.In the US,it is color coded so you are looking for the stuff w/ a yellow jacket & the more you buy,the cheaper so it may be cheaper to buy a 250 foot roll than 2 75 foot rolls.you also might want to remove a breaker to match up as they make a few different styles.

mrmadcow said:

if you are going to install 2 20 amps circuits,you will have more than enough power for future expansion.
careful of the wife's WMD, most hairdryers will draw 12+amps all by themself.
as for wire, you would need 12/2 Romex & run a seperate piece for each circuit.In the US,it is color coded so you are looking for the stuff w/ a yellow jacket & the more you buy,the cheaper so it may be cheaper to buy a 250 foot roll than 2 75 foot rolls.you also might want to remove a breaker to match up as they make a few different styles.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the help Mr. Madcow. Now i won't be having nightmares that my dope is on fire, well at least not till it's ready.
Thanks to uncle sam's generous annual donation, my dream garden is now about finished. Once complete, i will be germing BCBD's version of God Bud, aka GBxHash Plant.
So my next post will chronicle my garden setup followed by a weekly grow journal.

Thanks again for all the advice!
PEACE

I live in a town house 2 br up and a bath up and the rest down. there is a 15amp that runs the left side of apt up and down and 20amp the same for the right side.thats it for the whole house (excluding the 2 30amp for the water heater/ w/d dishwasher refer, and all the kitchen stuff) pardon my ignoance are the called breakers or fuses? anyway
one bedroom is my grow room. and of course its the left side 15amp.

I have 2 600w hps on light mover for my flower room. flood and drain tables so all the pumps andall types of fans.oscilatting,ventilation, air cooled hoods. my veg is a 4'x4' tent with a 400w mh. cloning chamber runs on 4 T5's.

Obviously the 15amp cant handle so I have been running extension cordsfrom other BR..its ugly and low and behold isnt working anymore. something happened and the extension cord coming from my bedroom with the 20amp breaker had a bit of a meltdown, the strange thing is, now my bathroom lights and fan dont work and they ran off the 15 amp breaker. but the outlet in the bath still works so at least i can have a lamp for light in my bathroom. so I am at a crossroads. This place is pretty old and built cheaply so I am assuming the cheapest minimal wiring is used throught the building. so what can i do. i cant just add a larger breaker using existing wiring right, I am thinking not. its not like there is a extra space in the breaker box to add another switch. so How can I get the power i need to run my room without burning the place down.
the one good thing is the slumlord never comes around to fix anything...she neve comes at all, I know I am not getting my security deposit back so drilling some holes throw floors and walls is of no concern. I just dont want to burn the place down.

I cant run a generator..thats not viable.

Can i add like a 50amp breaker and run my own wiring to my grow room. How do I go about doing that without getting an electrician involved.

please throw some ideas my way...thx

they make a double breaker like this that gives you 2 separate circuits but fit in 1 slot in your box.
bring a breaker w/ you to your hardware store as the make a few different styles.
use 1 side for the existing circiut and run some 12/2 romex to your room to put on the other side.

I guess I should have stated ,y own post....but I appreciate it none the less Mr.Madcow...assuming you were indeed talking to me.....thanks a ton, that sounds lik it will be a pretty easy fix.

Buy a book on it and learn to DIY
there is no other option on this unless you know someone who can do it

You could always take the 30 amps from your hot water heater, and get a on demand propane hot water heater for about 200 bucks. Or take your electric range 220v and get a little portable gas camp stove. If the breaker box can only handle 50 amps, there's a good chance that the wiring supplying the house is only rated for 50 amps. another option if can get some help, convert your 15 amp or your 20 amp to 220, once it is in the room break it back down to 110. This is not recommended but does work if done competently and would only be safe if your service entrance can support the load.

what are you smoking budley ? if you dont know anything.its better not to say anything...bad electrical advice is the worst u could give...stick with madcows advice get a single pole twin breaker 15/20 or 20/20....start making room in your panel run the new ckt to desired location....12/2 romex will do one 20amp ckt for just a couple bucks more u can get the 12/3 romex and pull two dedicated ckts.....its always better to have more than not enough....good luck if u need any more help post...even tho its a old thread i try to help....lol....

How many 20 amp break would I need based on these equipments:

Flower room: 5, 1000 watts HSP lights, 2 16" osicillating fan, 1 15k BTU wall mount AC, 2 inline fan, 2 water pumps

Veg room: 2 12" oscilatting fans, 2 1000 Watts MH lights, 1 T5 lights (for clones, and moms), 1 900BTU wall mount AC, 1 8" inline fan.

How is it I never seem to understand how to calculate power needed for a grow is beyond me. Any suggestions and comments is much much appreciated.