Blown Fuse

What do you all do who have like a grow room or whatever with a LOT of shit so your fuses don't blow in the fuse box. I know i can use a different plug but the room upstairs i have my starter tent in is on the same "line" the tent in my basement is on. When my portable AC unit kicks on upstairs and my heater for the tent downstairs kicks on my fuse blows every time. I only have so many plugs available.

Get rid of the heater. You’re maxing out your wattage. You’re putting yourself at risk of something bad happening.

you need to map out your house. Go to the breaker box and turn all off. Turn on one and see what plugs are active. Turn it off and turn on a different breaker and see what is active. Learn how many watts you can put on each breaker. You’re probably working with 15 or 20 amp.

You're gonna have to find a different circuit to put something on. Add up the Amperage of all your high-power devices that might run at the same time (AC, heater, lights, etc) and try not to run any circuit at more than 80% of the breaker Amps rating (like if it's a 15 Amp circuit, try to only run 12 Amps with of equipment).

You can always use an extension cord from a different circuit in the basement, provided the cord is rated for the Amperage that's connected to it.

I'd agree with above, now that it's warming up outside (assuming you're in the northern hemisphere) you might not need the heater. What are you using it for anyway?

If it’s accessible I’d install a 20amp breaker for the basement grow.

Fallguy111 said:

If it’s accessible I’d install a 20amp breaker for the basement grow.

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But is the wiring 12g or 14g? 12g=20a breaker and 14g=15a breaker.

No electrical cords running through your house. That’s like fire/electrical safety 101.

don’t go changing breakers out without understanding how it affects everything else. Too large of breaker on a circuit can cause a fire. Lots of 420 friendly electricians. If the breaker box is in the basement already it’ll be cheap to professionally wire it.

pahpah-cee said:

No electrical cords running through your house. That’s like fire/electrical safety 101.

don’t go changing breakers out without understanding how it affects everything else. Too large of breaker on a circuit can cause a fire. Lots of 420 friendly electricians. If the breaker box is in the basement already it’ll be cheap to professionally wire it.

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To add to this, don't change out breakers at all if you don't know what you're doing. Hire a professional. It's not hard, but neither is fucking it up and burning your house down.

have you tried not using heater and use hid or cmh lights in winter if you need extra heat and put exhaust fan on low?

raggyb said:

have you tried not using heater and use hid or cmh lights in winter if you need extra heat and put exhaust fan on low?

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i want it all, i want it all, and i want it now. No but seriously i bought it all so I can use it. This is in the basement and the breaker box i just had to install a new one a few years ago because i got a hot tub and needed to upgrade it i think to 100 amp?? i know nothing about what i am talking about so... from my understanding I could call an electrician to come and probably wire a whole new circuit right to the breaker box specifically for the basement grow.... and that's what i'll do.

The breaker box is literally 2 feet from the tent.... so that should make it easy.

Orin190 said:

i want it all, i want it all, and i want it now. No but seriously i bought it all so I can use it. This is in the basement and the breaker box i just had to install a new one a few years ago because i got a hot tub and needed to upgrade it i think to 100 amp?? i know nothing about what i am talking about so... from my understanding I could call an electrician to come and probably wire a whole new circuit right to the breaker box specifically for the basement grow.... and that's what i'll do.

The breaker box is literally 2 feet from the tent.... so that should make it easy.

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My guess would be 200 amps. Hot tubs draw a bit of current. If you have a space open and a load calculation is good then yea, easy install for the sparky.

specgrade said:

But is the wiring 12g or 14g? 12g=20a breaker and 14g=15a breaker.

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Yup an that 12g is a bitch to work with.

Orin190 said:

i want it all, i want it all, and i want it now. No but seriously i bought it all so I can use it. This is in the basement and the breaker box i just had to install a new one a few years ago because i got a hot tub and needed to upgrade it i think to 100 amp?? i know nothing about what i am talking about so... from my understanding I could call an electrician to come and probably wire a whole new circuit right to the breaker box specifically for the basement grow.... and that's what i'll do.

The breaker box is literally 2 feet from the tent.... so that should make it easy.

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here I thought your basement was cold because you were a poboy but you have a hot tub so why is your basement so cold you need an electric space heater for your plants maybe it's not a space heater but it doesn't make sense to me why you heat your basement with electric or even why you need extra heat in your grow room or is it your basement that needs it?

raggyb said:

here I thought your basement was cold because you were a poboy but you have a hot tub so why is your basement so cold you need an electric space heater for your plants maybe it's not a space heater but it doesn't make sense to me why you heat your basement with electric or even why you need extra heat in your grow room or is it your basement that needs it?

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my basement stays 60 degrees year round. i use a hlg blackbird (led light) so i don't need to put it over 50-60% power and produces little heat. The heater helps keep the temps around 75 vs 68. Kinda like the hot tub warms me up after i hit the diving board for the inground pool.........

specgrade said:

My guess would be 200 amps. Hot tubs draw a bit of current. If you have a space open and a load calculation is good then yea, easy install for the sparky.

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i think you're right i was remembering 200amps and i thought that sounded ridiculously high. I would like to run a circuit i can plug everything into and not worry about it blowing. idk how this all works but ill call an electrician tomorrow. maybe the can run a "Special" circuit for me (a new one) and i can just use that for the tent. probably involves special wiring to the outlet and a special outlet for more power idk.

Retired electrician here. If you’re in the Midwest dm me.