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

handyman23 said:

i've got a question for u m8 Regarding the wattage use of bulbs, i'm gonna use 5x 250W hps lamps. Well the question is, what do you think will be the maximum use of wattage i can use on my growroom without my electrition bill getting too high, and the electro company will be wondering about me growin, like reporting me t2 the cops... any suggestions?

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A high end computer can consume over 200watts just idling... sometimes 1000 or more depending on specs.

A ceramic space heater uses 800-1000watts

So, whatever you are comfortable with.

Thank you for offering your help! I am stuck, stuck , stuck!



Ordered my seeds, picked my room got my lights and ready to set up until I couldn't find outlets!



I think the people before me were doing the same thing and tore everything out. I took pictures of what was left behind but I can't get them on here as they are saved to my pc and not a URL, can you tell me what I need to do to fix it and what to ask for when buying please.



I am not so good at this stuff!



Thx

Thank you for offering your help! I am stuck, stuck , stuck!

Ordered my seeds, picked my room got my lights and ready to set up until I couldn't find outlets!

I think the people before me were doing the same thing and tore everything out. I took pictures of what was left behind I UPLOADED THEM INTO AN ALBUM ON MY PROFILE, can you tell me what I need to do to fix it and what to ask for when buying please.

I am not so good at this stuff!

Thx

Sorry if this comes through twice!

Sweet thread here. I had a few quick questions that I hope you can answer. I'm not sure if I will run into a problem with some items I will have hooked up. If you could give me some ideas as to the safest way to hook all of this up, what power strip or surge protector I should use, etc. I'm not sure if these were the kind of questions you would have expected, but I hope you can help anyway. Thanks +rep for a solution.

(2) S&P 4" intake/exhaust fans
(1) 400w ballast w/ 400w MH/HPS
(4) 4' 54w CFL strip lights (ability to be daisy chained)
(1) 6" - 10" oscillating fan
(2) water pumps
(2) air pumps
(1) small humidifier
(2) dual outlet timers

quick question reguarding my electricity??if i convert my ballasts to 220 will it cut my electric bill ?they arew 1000 wt they run on 9.5 amps on 120 and 4.5 on 220 thanks for the help

actually, you wont save a penny...

you get billed for watts, not amps.
the wattage remains the same regardless of amperage or voltage...

ok so how do you cut your electricity bill down if your running multiple ballasts?

I dont think lowering cost is possible, if so let me know -lol--.......... I have 2x600w HPS, 2x 400w MH, 4x 175 watt MH over a 200 gallon salt water reef tank , plus 10 4 ft. flouros and fans and blowers and of course everything else a NORMAL house hold has. my electric bill is crazy right now.

about the only REALISTIC way of lowering operating costs and getting actual, tangible results that have a significant impact on your electrical bill, is to install solar panels or a wind turbine and sell power back to the utility company when its not being used by the household (like when everyone is at work or school)
its trippy watching the meter run backwards

unfortunately, it will cost alot of money upfront, both to purchase and then install all the required equipment. its definitly a long term investment. and the fact of having somewhere to put big ugly solar panels or a wind turbine is also a p.i.t.a.
but it does work... like i said, your meter will run backwards. and, if you generate alot, you can actually get a check instead of a bill.
but like i said before, it aint cheap... be prepared to shell out a good 5 digits to start.

what is the best way to hire an electrician to set up a growrooms electrical needs with out tipping them off to what I am doing? Do they even care? I want to run 4 1000 watt lights plus all the fans and blowers. so I would need dedicated fuse box? Where to look for one?

someone also told me to buy a horseshoe magnet set and try putting different ones on the electric meter to slow the wheel from spinning so fast anyone ever heard of doing this??

Your better off just paying the power. Everytime I hear of someone being busted its cuz they steal the power or TAMPER with their own box. But it is of course up to you

you would be suprised how many electricians do rooms. I have been a journeyman for like 10 years and have helped with quite a few setups. there are ways to trip meter but usually hydro dont like it and is illegal. best way is to by pass house for bigger setups but very dodgy and a little dangerous.. Best place to get fuse box or panel board just go to electrical wholesaler or home depot

Hello all, have a few noob questions that I'm stumped on. I tried to read the thread to figure out but quickly got lost and waay over my head, so I apologize if this stuff has been asked a thousand times.

My current grow room setup is pulling too much amperage and overloading my circuits. I have two 15 amp circuits to work with, and am trying to power:

3x 400w
2x 1000w
1x 450 CFM fan
1x 7500 BTU AC

plus about 300w worth of other random electronics. It's all running on 120v. I've gathered that the simplest solution may be to switch my 1000w ballasts to 240V (they come with this option), but I have no idea how to do that. Would it require rewiring my household circuits, which presumably are set to 120v? Do I have other options? Like maybe running a twenty foot extension cord from a third outlet?

Sigh, such a bust to finally get my grow room setup complete and THEN figure out I had electrical issues. What can I say, I'm a noob at this. Please help!

to give it to you short and straight-

if your in over your head at this point, i would suggest hiring someone to do it...

another key point to consider here is that changing the voltage that supplies all your equipment will also require you to change all your equipment out from 120v devices to 240v devices. ballasts, fans, a/c, timers.. the whole 9... what you need, is a subpanel....

IAm5toned said:

to give it to you short and straight-

if your in over your head at this point, i would suggest hiring someone to do it...

another key point to consider here is that changing the voltage that supplies all your equipment will also require you to change all your equipment out from 120v devices to 240v devices. ballasts, fans, a/c, timers.. the whole 9... what you need, is a subpanel....

Click to expand...

It's just not an option for me to hire help, I wish it was but it's not. Can I just run an extension cord from a third circuit, or do they not like having a full load run through them?

extension cords like to burn when they have a full load on them.....

IAm5toned said:

extension cords like to burn when they have a full load on them.....

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yea, we don't want that...

In terms of DIY difficulty,. how much work would it be for me to add another 120v circuit myself? And how dangerous?

EDIT, one more question. Would it be safe to run maybe half a load {6 amps or so) through a 13 amp extension cord continuously for 12 hour stretches?

I was wondering if you could tell me if a 15 amp breaker is ok for my cabinet? My cabinet is the only thing on this circuit. I have a heavy duty 100' extension cor running to cabinet from a single outlet right beside my panel. I have a heavy duty power bar on cabinet with the following...

250watt ballast
130cfm squirrel cage exhaust fan
1 * pc fan wired to an adapter
1 * 6" circulation fan
two small air pumps (aquarium size)

great thread you got goin I may have to do a plumbing one lol,+rep.
thanks.....

Hi , my little grow box i am buiulding is ging to have about 10 cfl's but can you get the fixtures to plug into the wall socket? all in one or two plugs