Designing a 15000sqft facility....please help

SnapsProvolone said:
I like this guy. We made his life miserable and he hung with us.
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me too. I repped him and accepted his friend request. Which I NEVER do for new members. It's obvious he knows his stuff.
MisterBlah said:
lol. You didn't make my life miserable. Retarded installers that don't read the directions make my life miserable.
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I rarely had to call in for help....I kinda miss the trade sometimes.

get some sleep man. we'll be here tomorrow :)
 
Ive actually metered out my usage pretty tight. I even have a permanent meter stuck on my 125a subpanel feed for the grow. As an electrician I have meters. Even have a three phase digital meter. I live for tools, dabs and pussy.
 
Don't need to do that. Use a current clamp on the wires out of your panel that go to the lights when they are on, or just count the lights, their wattage, and the ballast wattage. Then do the same with your HVAC equipment when it is running at max capacity, or just grab the numbers off your fans and compressors. Note the voltage it all runs at with your multimeter. Power = Voltage*Current. This will give you an indication of the max % of power that is used to run the cooling system.
 
MisterBlah said:
Don't need to do that. Use a current clamp on the wires out of your panel that go to the lights when they are on, or just count the lights, their wattage, and the ballast wattage. Then do the same with your HVAC equipment when it is running at max capacity, or just grab the numbers off your fans and compressors. Note the voltage it all runs at with your multimeter. Power = Voltage*Current. This will give you an indication of the max % of power that is used to run the cooling system.
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right I understand all that. but the minisplit ramps up and down and sometimes shuts off so that variable would need to be metered to get an accurate measurement.

I mean i'm not gonna sit there for twelve hours counting the minutes and tracking amps and stuff
 
so what do you guys think magnetic or digital ballasts?

500 of em?.... jesus christ....kinda hard to fathom really.

edit: i'm gonna say digital. The electric savings from this alone would pay one trimmers salary.
 
Lumatek no fan model. Low failure rate. That's where I would be.

About 5 years in and the magnetics would become a replacement issue. Lumateks if not overheated seem to last forever. Just avoid the cheap fan model with shitty heatsink. Crappy fan that will die is obviously cheaper than a few extra pounds of aluminum.
 
Honestly, I'd run LEDs. Dropping your electricity costs for lighting by 20-30% is huge. With a setup like this, I would expect about $30,000 per month in electricity just to run the lights. $6000-9000 less pays for your grower, and a trimmer or three. Are they expensive? Well, sure. Are they worth it? Uh, yeah. 12 year lifespans instead of 6-12month lifespans for bulbs and 5 year for ballasts. And considering this is Canada where it is federally legal and, lets be honest, that isn't going to change, paying attention to long term pay offs in terms of electricity savings is an important thing to do.
 
And to add to that, using LEDs basically means you only need 600-800W(depending no who you talk to) where you would otherwise have 1000W. This is primarily because of the spectral efficiency. No wasted light. Now, when running these LEDs, you are now using 20-30% less cooling as well. So, you save on that part of the initial installation and on the reduced electricity costs associated with it.
 
Mister Blah , Has your architect finished , Did you higher a project management company to take bids from all the subcontractors that are actively seeking to bid on your project ,have they set a schedule to keep the project on time, Someone is going to have to keep the schedule and know how to schedule each trade in to perform there work so the project it self does not fall off schedule and cost you lots of money ,I am sure there will be plenty of revisions on the plans concerning each trade ,if your architectural drawing are done have the mechanical drawing been done and also has your communication company submitted there drawings to the electrical contractor., I say this because you said wanted to go hi tech , have you entertained the thought of Geothermal for your HVAC being you are interested in using chillers. since you want to go high tech / Green is the way to go on todays projects in my opinion.
 
MisterBlah said:
And to add to that, using LEDs basically means you only need 600-800W(depending no who you talk to) where you would otherwise have 1000W. This is primarily because of the spectral efficiency. No wasted light. Now, when running these LEDs, you are now using 20-30% less cooling as well. So, you save on that part of the initial installation and on the reduced electricity costs associated with it.
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Surely you jest. Loose a large percentage of production capacity to save a relatively small amount of power cost?
 
jrainman said:
Mister Blah , Has your architect finished , Did you higher a project management company to take bids from all the subcontractors that are actively seeking to bid on your project ,have they set a schedule to keep the project on time, Someone is going to have to keep the schedule and know how to schedule each trade in to perform there work so the project it self does not fall off schedule and cost you lots of money ,I am sure there will be plenty of revisions on the plans concerning each trade ,if your architectural drawing are done have the mechanical drawing been done and also has your communication company submitted there drawings to the electrical contractor., I say this because you said wanted to go hi tech , have you entertained the thought of Geothermal for your HVAC being you are interested in using chillers. since you want to go high tech / Green is the way to go on todays projects in my opinion.
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This isn't my project. I was suggesting water chilled AC to Shawa, the OP. Also, I might recommend a list format for what you wrote. Easier to read. This isn't my first rodeo either. I've been in on the build out of multiple large grows, and am working on a few right now. I know every step of the process. And I'll stick to HVAC, thank you.
 
SnapsProvolone said:
Surely you jest. Loose a large percentage of production capacity to save a relatively small amount of power cost?
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What LEDs have you been running that are making you lose so much production? Surely some total piece of shit ones that didn't have any good engineering or research behind them.
 
MisterBlah said:
What LEDs have you been running that are making you lose so much production? Surely some total piece of shit ones that didn't have any good engineering or research behind them.
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What LED's are you using that give hps comparable results in yield per sq ft vs. time? I know of none.
 
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