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

Start up on 1000W is 15% increase for about 10 mins, as how it was explained to me by a electrician who now runs a grow shop. But amps increase to obv, correct me if I am wrong but i have seen product chart comparison were its 6.9 amps to start and 4.9 amps continuous for 1000HID and 2.9AMP for 600. I could not believe it until my bud used his AMP meter to read. But its simple, use the OHMS law and it works out equally as well. Hope some of this was useful

JLStiffy said:

Start up on 1000W is 15% increase for about 10 mins, as how it was explained to me by a electrician who now runs a grow shop. But amps increase to obv, correct me if I am wrong but i have seen product chart comparison were its 6.9 amps to start and 4.9 amps continuous for 1000HID and 2.9AMP for 600. I could not believe it until my bud used his AMP meter to read. But its simple, use the OHMS law and it works out equally as well. Hope some of this was useful

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How are you getting the amps so low from a 1000 or a 600? That would be running at 220v , correct?


sorry if i missed something , just getting caught up on old threads , its been a while.



soil

wyteboi said:

How are you getting the amps so low from a 1000 or a 600? That would be running at 220v , correct?


sorry if i missed something , just getting caught up on old threads , its been a while.



soil

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Yes, they're calculating running the ballasts off of 208/220/240v, so half of the amps across each ~120v leg.

-spek

Bingo! U still get the electrical bill but running lower amps lets u have some more power to play with.

Figong said:

It'll cost a few.. if the wiring is pre-existing and deemed safe.. it'll be much cheaper than if they have to drill holes and fish walls with brand new wiring. As for what it should cost in a nutshell, your location will ultimately determine that... would be a good idea to get a few estimates and go from there for a ballpark/average.

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Apparently they have to send the electric company out because we only have 200amp service and they need to give us a quote to upgrade to 400amp.

Lucius Vorenus said:

Apparently they have to send the electric company out because we only have 200amp service and they need to give us a quote to upgrade to 400amp.

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FACT!

A lot of the time the lines coming into a residence will not be capable of carrying this much amperage. It is ALWAYS advisable to check with your local utility before considering upgrading your main panel.

Replacing lines from the street is not cheap. You're talking a whole heap of copper depending on the run length. Anything relatively new may carry 400A regardless of what your panel says, but always check.

Lucius, I'd advise asking whoever gives you a quote to inform you of the gauge of copper coming into the building. It wouldn't surprise me if they try to rip you off and say you need a new run.

Find out what you've got incoming, then snap some pics of your panel with the cover off. It is possible that you could get away with a new main breaker only, or a new panel (or even just a bypass).

Don't just buy an 'upgrade'. Dig deeper. You may have enough to work with what you have with some legal and code-worthy workarounds.

We won't know until you can get more info though.

A full panel upgrade with cable from the street can run into the $thousands.

-spek

EDIT: ps. Please don't take the cover off of your electrical panel unless you feel comfortable doing so, have well-insulated shoes on and are confident knowing what not to touch.

Can you even get 400 amp panel for a single residential?

legallyflying said:

Can you even get 400 amp panel for a single residential?

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Very unlikely, unless you're running a car repair shop in your garage with an electrically-powered hoist, and one beautiful 240v air compressor.

Mind you, this could depend on your location

-spek

EDIT: 200A is pretty much the cap on a resi electrical setup here in Canada... this is what I'm normally used to working with in residential setups. 400A is *highly* unusual if it isn't commercial or commercial/residential.

You can get 400 amps in residential neighborhoods around here. But they will want to know what the load is. 400 amps is a BIG service for an average home. I have seen many 5 unit apartment buildings running 400 amp services with 100 amp subs to the units. --for perspective.

Around here the city municipal electric utility will upgrade overhead triplex service drops for no charge when you do a panel upgrade. And I've only seen people charged on underground service upgrades when a bigger conduit was needed for the bigger wire. But I'm sure there are limits to their generosity. --I just haven't encountered it yet.

Most service panels around here are Metered Mains. Meaning the meter socket is integrated into the main panel which acts as the main disconnect too. So almost all main panel upgrades need the utility involved to disconnect/Reconnect. They will disconnect by appointment with no problem. But you need a signed off permit to get them to reconnect the service to a new service panel. So it can be a balancing act to arrange for:

service disconnect,
change out panel,
get electrical inspection by the local "Authority Having Jurisdiction",
get utility to reconnect service...

All before the ice cream in the freezer melts.

A 200 amp panel change around here is $1000-$1200 generally. The permit is just under a hundred bucks.

I have the capability to have 400AMps pull off my transformer, I have my own. So I have 200 going into house and another pulling off to a temporary service pole. Mind you, you cannot have two meters on one pull and both meters receive its own bill. To go a 400amp service you generally need to get a permit I was told for that, but when you live out in the country were electrical is your way of life, no natural gas etc, u get your own transformer that allows for that demand. I know a legal grow show that had a 400amp upgrade and it took some juggling to get it, was not easy... But he paid for his power. Its hard work to pull cables ( I know) but it can be fast and its a day job. Go get your 400amp service if can, looks good for selling property too I know from experience.. Oh. my familys farm has a 400amp service as well. Not to uncommon out in the country.

JLStiffy said:

I have the capability to have 400AMps pull off my transformer, I have my own. So I have 200 going into house and another pulling off to a temporary service pole. Mind you, you cannot have two meters on one pull and both meters receive its own bill. To go a 400amp service you generally need to get a permit I was told for that, but when you live out in the country were electrical is your way of life, no natural gas etc, u get your own transformer that allows for that demand. I know a legal grow show that had a 400amp upgrade and it took some juggling to get it, was not easy... But he paid for his power. Its hard work to pull cables ( I know) but it can be fast and its a day job. Go get your 400amp service if can, looks good for selling property too I know from experience.. Oh. my familys farm has a 400amp service as well. Not to uncommon out in the country.

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It's wonderful to see another fellow Canadian

Note that you're speaking about a farm. Farm properties (whether in CA or US) have much different requirements.

It is particularly difficult to request a 400A service in downtown Toronto (Calgary or Vancouver) or Los Angeles than it is for a 200 acre land out in the boondocks when you've got land to run

I promise that if you ask for a 400A feed in any city in North America for a residential property, it will raise eyebrows unless you've got a very obvious visual item that requires such power sitting in your driveway.

-spek

spek9 said:

FACT!

A lot of the time the lines coming into a residence will not be capable of carrying this much amperage. It is ALWAYS advisable to check with your local utility before considering upgrading your main panel.

Replacing lines from the street is not cheap. You're talking a whole heap of copper depending on the run length. Anything relatively new may carry 400A regardless of what your panel says, but always check.

Lucius, I'd advise asking whoever gives you a quote to inform you of the gauge of copper coming into the building. It wouldn't surprise me if they try to rip you off and say you need a new run.

Find out what you've got incoming, then snap some pics of your panel with the cover off. It is possible that you could get away with a new main breaker only, or a new panel (or even just a bypass).

Don't just buy an 'upgrade'. Dig deeper. You may have enough to work with what you have with some legal and code-worthy workarounds.

We won't know until you can get more info though.

A full panel upgrade with cable from the street can run into the $thousands.

-spek

EDIT: ps. Please don't take the cover off of your electrical panel unless you feel comfortable doing so, have well-insulated shoes on and are confident knowing what not to touch.

Click to expand...

sorry man this is not residential. its a commercial building

You could save my life....I am a "newbie " my ex partner and the construction guys made me put a 22k btu AC in my basement, against my bertter judgment venting not outside, but in the room where I have all the electrical.. ( 15 electronic ballasts and all the plugs ,all screed in to wood" the moment I fired up the AC, as I though the themp in the controll room went to 120fr. The walls are hot to the touch, as I thought would happen. I'm in the process of building a a 1 inch high density styrofoam box for the back of the AC,to connect it to an 8 inch flex insulated ducting with a 8 inch 875CFM blowing the exhaust straight outside.. As I says this is my first time at this. Am I nuts, or might this work? I'm doing this in the am, so a quick answer would save me....

Ok. 8" exhaust...but where is the inlet? Could
Work if your blasting in and out.

Exhausting hot moist air into your electrical room... Some had a big bowl of stupid for breakfast. Hope you get it sorted out!

legallyflying said:

Ok. 8" exhaust...but where is the inlet? Could
Work if your blasting in and out.

Exhausting hot moist air into your electrical room... Some had a big bowl of stupid for breakfast. Hope you get it sorted out!

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Hello and hope you can help. I have an electrician coming round to fit out my cellar (potential grow room) and I want to make sure all my electrics are safe without giving my game away!! I intend to run a 600 hps & possible 400HPS for veg, together with an 8inch exhaust fan and a oscillating fan. What would the above set up be amps/watts wise and what domestic appliances could I say I was using to match the same power output, eg could I tell my electrician that I was putting a washing machine & tumble dryer in the space and that they would use an equivalent amount of power as my intended set up. Cheers in advance.

wellgreen said:

Hello and hope you can help. I have an electrician coming round to fit out my cellar (potential grow room) and I want to make sure all my electrics are safe without giving my game away!! I intend to run a 600 hps & possible 400HPS for veg, together with an 8inch exhaust fan and a oscillating fan. What would the above set up be amps/watts wise and what domestic appliances could I say I was using to match the same power output, eg could I tell my electrician that I was putting a washing machine & tumble dryer in the space and that they would use an equivalent amount of power as my intended set up. Cheers in advance.

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how about you say your gonna turn it into a little work shop for something. no need to explain. tell him you need a few outlets in the room for a refrigerator and freezer. although if you tell him what you need i doubt he would ask.

Watts diveded by volts = amps

So 600+400+ 100= 1100 plus 10% inefficiency = about 1200/120= 10 amps.

Your not going to raise any questions running one or two outlets. You could probably save allot of cash and just run it yourself. Nothing could be easier...provides you don't kill yourself

legallyflying said:

Can you even get 400 amp panel for a single residential?

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normally what they will do is give you a second 200 amp service. but you need to kinda justify it to them. addition to the house; guest house that you are renting out; Jacuzzi; huge saltwater tank; heavy machinery workshop; etc...

if you do a load calculation you can go to your AHJ authority having jurisdiction and file for a permit for a 200 to 400 amp upgrade. Normally what you would need to do is run a parallel set of 200 amp conductors to a new 400 amp meter and put it where your old 200 amp meter. You will also need to set up a temporary meter if you dont want to lose power while the AHJ takes there time to do inspections. If you do get an approval they will probably make you put in disconnects before the main service panel which means now you have to change the wire going to the service panel. Well not change it but make sure that it has its own ground and neutral. In the main control panel you will need to separate all the ground and neutral wires into there own bars. You will need to make sure that these bars are not bonded to each other in the main panel. Normally a 200 amp meter will have a neutral bar already installed, you will have to go buy a ground bar with enough spaces and make sure you tap a screw into the box and make sure its threaded. A nut on the end of a bolt does not pass ground very well unless you scrap the paint off the box and add a star washer, but imo that is not the best practice. Also in new jersey the new thing is to have a 400 amp disco on the supply side before the 400 amp meter panel. A nema 3r 400 amp disco runs up to 1600 for standard paint, and alot more for stainless. If anyone has any questions that are technical I will be glad to help. If you need to justify installing a 400amp service and do not have electric heat you can say you plan on switching to electric heat soon and want to upgrade service beforehand. If they want to know why you would switch to electric heat tell them you are interested in putting up a photovoltaic array on your roof and electric will be made at home. Just my 2 cents or so.

p.s. I have installed 4 400 amp services in new jersey in the last year, and all of them have been for solar projects on residential houses. All these houses have been updated by the utility to 50 kva transformers. Townships dont want to hand out approvals for 400 amp services but it is doable.