Electrical Question +REP

Hey everyone,
I had an electrical question about wiring new outlets. I'm trying to set up a room in my garage but my only problem is theres one outlet! And that outlet is used for the washing machine. I will probably only need two to three extra but I need your help to figure out to do this. If you could share you knowledge on how to do this or possibly a link on where I can find out how to do this, I would greatly appreciate it.

im a licensed electrician....... how many lights you plan on running.......straight up.....u need to run a dedicated circuit to be safe

this will require you running a new wire from your garage back to your electrical panel.......buy the appropriate brand of breaker..... my reccomendation would be to run a 12/3 wire preferably bx and run 2 new circuits.....with that kind of juice you could run quite a bit and it will be electrically safe as long as you dont add too many lights....cheers

I only plan on running a 1000w HPS and MAYBE a 400w MH but most likely not. Then I'll have a 170cfm fan exhausting the room and some oscilating fans inside the room. I may have a heater or a homeade air cooler but not sure. I'm trying to stay away from both of those because thats just more on the electrical bill. It would probably help to say that my circuit box or breaker? is on the back of my house. I have no idea why but thats where it is. Thank you guys so far for putting in your input.

well your gonna need one circuit dedicated for ur new hobbie thats for sure......trust me u dont want any fires.....your gonna have to run something new there or isolate an existing circuit that exists near by...... do this by purchasing a pen tester from any hardware store....just a lil pen thingy that beeps when power is present.......turn off ever circuit in your house..... find the plug nearest to ur growin area .....put the pen tester in that plug....... now turn on each circuit one by one until you locate which circuit controls the one you are looking for..............after you have established that.....test every other plug or light to check if there is anything else on that same circuit.......if there is your gonna have to mix ur stuff around so there is nothing else on with your hobby circuit.......thats my advice.....i would still strongly reccomend 2 dedicated circuit for ur setup.... food luck

Can you add up all the amps for use. the sticker on your ballast, maybe fans have theses too?

yes you can but when it comes down to it....u dont wanna have any chance of it happening......at least i wouldnt......you should always try to stay lower than 80% of your circuit breakers capacity.....so if its a 15 amp breaker u would stay under 12 amps.......me personally i would wanna run under 10 amps but thats just me.......hopefully u know someone who can help ya out....and if ya dont hire someone tell them u want 2 circiuts in your garage ran........cuz ur going to be running wink wink power tools

The good news is your washing machine is probably a dedicated 15 amp circuit, so if all your equipment can go on this then you just have to sacrifice laundry lol

back to the good old days of washin it in the tub lol

Haha thanks for your help guys. My brother in-law is an apprentice electritian but I wanted to be able to try and do it myself without him but I may just have to ask him. And I'm going to have to agree with Ralph, its not worth risking. IF there was a fire, me, my wife, and daughter would be dead because theres a water heater/furnace right next to the outlet. Say it didn't blow up, and I was still alive, then I would be in trouble because when the fire department comes and see's a grow room caused it, their going to report it. Anyways, does anyone have a ballpark idea of what this would cost me?

dude this is very easy . its o.k to worry i would if i were unsure. but any how like i said very easy . the breakers in yer box - leave em alone . install 2 or3 20 amp breakers . these things really just plug into the breaker box . wire 12 ga romex its yellow outside , on the inside white and black wires an 1 bare wire . black wires connect to the breakers you installed , white goes to the bar with all the other white wires same goes with the bare wire connect it where all the other bare wires go . on the other end hold plug outlet so your lookin at the front white wire goes to the left black to the right and on one of the corners is a spot for the bare wire . your house may not even have that bare wire only black and white thats normal . and before you work shut the main breaker off so you dont get toasted WITHOUT a dooby. if you need ask any questions .

the costs are very cheap if you do it yourself. recepticle 20amp -$2.50 mounting box $.50 wire 12ga 100ft $35.00 breakers 20amp $5-7.00. and i dont care what any one says if your worried about fire 15amp is bad for anything but simple lighting that means no hid -hps- mh. and i would also do atleast 2 20amp circuts for sure . i just wired my whole house with all 20amp everything including 3 20 ampers for my new grow room.

Awesome. Thanks for your help lemon!

a 1000 w light on a 240 circuit pulls only 4.6 amps. Get a 240 plug splitter box and don't run the dryer when your light are on. Forget re-wiring. Do you rent? Figure out how many amps you are using look at the breaker for that circuit leave your self a 25% buffer and your just fine. Dryer circuit's are usually 30 amps Wattage divided buy voltage = amperage.

I just did the same thing for the first time and it was very simple, took me about 30 minutes to wire 3 20 amp circuits and it was less than $50.

There is an excellent detailed site at http://www.hammerzone.com/archives/elect/panel/breaker/install.htm that gives you step by step instructions.

Thanks for the info guys. I'll have to go check out that site.

milowerx96 said:

a 1000 w light on a 240 circuit pulls only 4.6 amps. Get a 240 plug splitter box and don't run the dryer when your light are on. Forget re-wiring. Do you rent? Figure out how many amps you are using look at the breaker for that circuit leave your self a 25% buffer and your just fine. Dryer circuit's are usually 30 amps Wattage divided buy voltage = amperage.

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He didn't say anything about an electic dryer. Just a washer, which plugs into 110.

Absolutely correct.

True he did not mention a dryer. I was operating on the assumption that his house is like 98% of the rest of the houses out there that have a washer also had a dryer circuit. Forgive me. That being said I have found out that building or purchasing a 30 amp power distribution box with a couple of breakers (depending on how you set up your outlets) to plug into the dryer circuit, works very well. You just roll on in and plug it in and grow. If you have multi-volt lights even better. I like garages with laundry hookups. No wiring and no construction. It's portable and versatile.I find this very important because I like many other growers rent. Landlords don't tend to give good references to people who do unauthorized electrical work and leave evidence of a grow room behind. Stealth is the key to happy landlords, nosey neighbors and general security.

Yeah theres a 240v outlet for a dryer. Sorry I didn't mention that. I'm assuming its 240v. It's the black outlet thats about 2 inches in diameter. Sorry i don't know shit about this kind of stuff. Luckily I have you guys around to learn something new