Experienced Electrician! Here to Answer Any and All Growroom Electrical Questions

420pharms

420pharms

Member
im sure its been coverd some were but maybe we could use a wire safe thread 80% deration for cont. use and all the other min. ohms law and things too i would really like to see much more on safety and basics. some of the stuff i have seen and read that people are doing with power concerns me.
 
Roland

Roland

Active Member
420pharms said:
im sure its been coverd some were but maybe we could use a wire safe thread 80% deration for cont. use and all the other min. ohms law and things too i would really like to see much more on safety and basics. some of the stuff i have seen and read that people are doing with power concerns me.
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Good idea .. follow the code ! .. it's there for safety

Electricity .. can and does kill people .. even 110 Volts ... especially when mixed with water !
 

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diablo69

Member
I think there is a little confusion on both ends. There is a throw switch with a 30 amp fuse in the box. The other guy connected a regular receptacle to that circuit and ran it outside. I have disconnected his cable with receptacle, and plan to run my own cable to the terminals in there and run it to the other room the use a power bar to facilitate my fans, pumps, and ballast. Are you saying that I need a male #10 esso cable with male end and what is that used for?
Ben
 
Roland

Roland

Active Member
diablo69 said:
I think there is a little confusion on both ends. There is a throw switch with a 30 amp fuse in the box. The other guy connected a regular receptacle to that circuit and ran it outside. I have disconnected his cable with receptacle, and plan to run my own cable to the terminals in there and run it to the other room the use a power bar to facilitate my fans, pumps, and ballast. Are you saying that I need a male #10 esso cable with male end and what is that used for?
Ben
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I said .. "if it has a 30 amp receptacle" esso cord is nice because it's made to be stepped on .. and is protected from water, oil etc. ... depends how you are gonna feed your power center .. the 30 amp disconnect is ok if you plan to hard wire your power center .... u need # 10 wire to supply 30 amps of power

disconnect should be within 50 ft and within sight of equipment
 
wyteboi

wyteboi

Well-Known Member
diablo69 said:
It has a 60 amp service and the panel is to power the furnace ignitor. It has a 30 amp fuse inside. The other guy had a receptacle on it and ran it outside for x mas lights I assume. I wanted to remove his receptacle and run my own cable to the room I'll be using (20ft away) then just use a really good power bar and run 3 air pumps and 3 fans and of course the 1000W ballast. I was going to make a board of my own with a quality timer (metal box) and a sub panel with 2 15 amp breakers. One for the fans etc. and the other for the ballast but, I can make it neat and tidy with the way I was talking about. Last two grows were just extension cords and I didn't like that idea as the plastic time melted it'self to the cheap power bar.
Thanks for your help.

Ben
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I am assuming that the wire feeding the furnace box is 12 or 14 gauge ?
my guess is the 30 amp fuse was an accident , i believe that should be a 15 or 20 amp fuse.
Also is the wire going to your "furnace panel" knob and tube?
I would run a new 12 gauge wire to the main panel and u can run all your stuff off that but if you want a "sub panel" with 2 15 amp breakers then you will need to fun a new 10 gauge wire from your main panel.

those old 60 amp fuse boxes are hard to deal with and that old knob an tube can be dangerous somtimes.
 
Roland

Roland

Active Member
wyteboi said:
I am assuming that the wire feeding the furnace box is 12 or 14 gauge ?
my guess is the 30 amp fuse was an accident , i believe that should be a 15 or 20 amp fuse.
Also is the wire going to your "furnace panel" knob and tube?
I would run a new 12 gauge wire to the main panel and u can run all your stuff off that but if you want a "sub panel" with 2 15 amp breakers then you will need to fun a new 10 gauge wire from your main panel.

those old 60 amp fuse boxes are hard to deal with and that old knob an tube can be dangerous somtimes.
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good point .. if u don't have new #6 wire to disconnect .. and if it's knob and tube .... disregard my comment above please ...

if it's old fuse box .. I would definitely upgrade .... I don't touch knob and tube .. except to demo out .. wyteboi is absolutely correct ...old and Brittle ... insulation falls off when u touch it sometimes ..

shhheeeeeshhh .. hard to advise unless u see the whole problem .....
 
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diablo69

Member
It's older wire but not knob and tube. Probably 12 ga from what I remember. I'm not there right now. No room for another circuit. They already put a sub in for the dryer and stove. Only option is to run from that furnace shut off as far as I can see. Sorry I haven't sent the photos yet. I'll try to get them to you later in the day.
Ben
 
wyteboi

wyteboi

Well-Known Member
diablo69 said:
It's older wire but not knob and tube. Probably 12 ga from what I remember. I'm not there right now. No room for another circuit. They already put a sub in for the dryer and stove. Only option is to run from that furnace shut off as far as I can see. Sorry I haven't sent the photos yet. I'll try to get them to you later in the day.
Ben
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IF that wire is dedicated (has its own fuse) then you will be able to use that for at least the 1000 , and a couple small fans. (my guess is its only 14 wire so you will only have about 11 amps to play with and that 1000 is about 8.5 amps by itself.)
Also i am guessing your furnace is tied in with other outlets in the home , so u would have to test first before "setting up" :bigjoint:

when u get the money u have to upgrade that service! Everyone Needs at least 100amp breaker box! with the dryer and stove on at the same time u are almost maxing it out already!
 
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diablo69

Member
I know, if it were my house it would have been replaced long ago but it isn't and I'm not putting out the money for a house that I rent. We're looking for our own place in the country with a nice shop and no neighbours to bug if you know what I mean.
Thanks again
 
curioushiker

curioushiker

Active Member
Roland said:
sounds like it should be fine .... to be sure .... look at labels on all devices and find watts add them up and divide by 110 .. that will give you amps

watts / voltage = amps
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Roland, just to be safe I added another 20 amp breaker and Two GFI combination switches for the pumps.
Just wanted to be on the safe side. It was easy to do since the siding aint up yet.
Oh yeah, this reminds me. I came up about 30' short of 12/2 Romex. I have a 250' roll of direct burial 12/2 romex. Would it be safe to use about 30' in my insulated walls. I have been told that it could possibly heat up. Any thoughts on this?
Thanks.
 
Roland

Roland

Active Member
curioushiker said:
Roland, just to be safe I added another 20 amp breaker and Two GFI combination switches for the pumps.
Just wanted to be on the safe side. It was easy to do since the siding aint up yet.
Oh yeah, this reminds me. I came up about 30' short of 12/2 Romex. I have a 250' roll of direct burial 12/2 romex. Would it be safe to use about 30' in my insulated walls. I have been told that it could possibly heat up. Any thoughts on this?
Thanks.
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I don't think there is any restriction on using direct burial romex in the walls .. in fact ..I used it once in an attic .. it's just hard as heck to get it to lay flat and it's REALLY hard to strip ... personally .. I'd save the direct burial stuff and get a fifty ft roll of regular Romex to finish out inside .. that's just me though ... I know the price of copper is "thru the roof " now .. I haven't bought wire for a long time ..

ok .. I just checked the code book .. all it says is .. "underground direct burial cable shall be protected till the point of entrance. " ... [into the building ](paraphrased ).. so once it is in the building .. it's ok

in other words .. it's ok to use in the walls
 
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diablo69

Member
Hi, I think you're sending me this info by mistake. I was asking with regard to adding circuit from a furnace shut off, not a tanning room or whatever it was.
Thanks, I appreciate your sharing of knowledge and hope that I can reciprocate some day.
 
johndoecangrow

johndoecangrow

Active Member
have you heard that you can use a MH bulb in a HPS ballast just not the other way around. I thought you couldn't switch them at all but maybe I'm wrong
THANXS
 
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travish413

Well-Known Member
johndoecangrow said:
have you heard that you can use a MH bulb in a HPS ballast just not the other way around. I thought you couldn't switch them at all but maybe I'm wrong
THANXS
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Yes, I am pretty sure you can do this but havent tried it myself. Have heard that the bulbs wont last near as long though. And yeah just a mh in a hps ballast not the other way around. Would be best to just invest in a conversion bulb.
 
wyteboi

wyteboi

Well-Known Member
johndoecangrow said:
have you heard that you can use a MH bulb in a HPS ballast just not the other way around. I thought you couldn't switch them at all but maybe I'm wrong
THANXS
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hmmm?? where did my post go ?

anyways i have had a 400 MH running in a 400HPS ballast for over a year. it was the bulb that came with it so i did not pay no attention till one day i seen the tiny sticker on the ballast that said HPS 400 watt. so i put a hps 400 bulb in there and it fired right up! i have not tried to put a hps in a mh ballast though...... i also used to run 400hps bulbs in 150 hps ballast and it worked too. i would not recommend any of this shit , i am just giving my experiences :eyesmoke:
 
BigBudBalls

BigBudBalls

Well-Known Member
the main diff between a mh and hps ballast s the hps ballast has the igniter. the switchable (non digtals) basically just bypass the igniter.

wyteboi, does the light come instantly or does it 'warm up'?
 
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