Help 100amp service will this be safe

Kdoggy

Well-Known Member
Man i would not put a sub panel in my grow room. Sketchy AF
Lol just some soon to be rusty connections causing heat locations what could possible go wrong im sure the fire department wont give the insurance company a quick get outa paying free card.
Why not run 4 , 20 amp gfi runs from a sub beside the main panel out of a humid environment? If its because it costs money you deff need to rethink your get rich quick plan do it right the first time and sleep soundly.
 

JSB99

Well-Known Member
Oh boy, I hate to be the party pooper but this is definitely not up to code. You have exposed wire which should be in conduit. If you're feeding the 100 amp subpanel with the same 12 gauge wire that's a problem too. A 12 gauge wire is only rated up to 25 amps in 75 degrees or warmer and as low as 20 amps at 60 degrees. If you want to run an 80 amp subpanel I would recommend a 4 gauge wire at the minimum. Also since none of this wire is behind the wall the receptacles should also be in a junction box and the wire running to the junction box for the receptacles should also be in conduit. A box like this...


You don't have to use steel conduit. You can use PVC conduit which is what I would recommend since it's easier to cut, lighter, and cheaper. I would love to see the inside of the subpanel and the main panel. Also if any other people with electrical experience want to chime in feel free!
Yep, I just installed a 50a circuit for an RV outlet, and I used the required 6awg cable. The RV splits the 240v into 2x120v. Undersized wire can cause fires.

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Sebassst

Active Member
Please keep in mind that u are only supposed to run an 80% continuous load on a circuit....that 20% is for surge and a safety margin.
That being said I run a 100 amp sub panel in my grow that also feeds 3 bedrooms in my house.
On that sub I am running 12 600w gavita LED at 240volts, quest pint pint dehu at 240 volts(fucker was 2300 bucks but I needed to spare the amperage over a 120), a 2 12000 btu air conditioners at 120 volts, 7000 btu a/c at 120, and 8 300 watt t5 fluorescents running at 240 volts. I also run a bunch of fans and pumps etc.
So I think u will be ok but u need to run everything at 240 volts. Of course anything else in your house that's electric could be an issue. I converted my stove, water heater from electric to gas and put in a wood stove so I didnt have to run the furnace.
Awsome so it will work I was scared because I just started building my room and if I had to upgrade my service I would have to take everything Down so you are say a sub panel will be safe my house has this 100 amp breaker box my whole house is being powered by it I think so if I Add that sub panel will it be over the recommended amperage the box can handle
 

Sebassst

Active Member
Please keep in mind that u are only supposed to run an 80% continuous load on a circuit....that 20% is for surge and a safety margin.
That being said I run a 100 amp sub panel in my grow that also feeds 3 bedrooms in my house.
On that sub I am running 12 600w gavita LED at 240volts, quest pint pint dehu at 240 volts(fucker was 2300 bucks but I needed to spare the amperage over a 120), a 2 12000 btu air conditioners at 120 volts, 7000 btu a/c at 120, and 8 300 watt t5 fluorescents running at 240 volts. I also run a bunch of fans and pumps etc.
So I think u will be ok but u need to run everything at 240 volts. Of course anything else in your house that's electric could be an issue. I converted my stove, water heater from electric to gas and put in a wood stove so I didnt have to run the furnace.
Yeah so that’s what I don’t no what percent my circuit is at but my electrician said he can do it safely if I’m using leds
 

Sebassst

Active Member
Lol just some soon to be rusty connections causing heat locations what could possible go wrong im sure the fire department wont give the insurance company a quick get outa paying free card.
Why not run 4 , 20 amp gfi runs from a sub beside the main panel out of a humid environment? If its because it costs money you deff need to rethink your get rich quick plan do it right the first time and sleep soundly.
So your saying it is not safe the breaker boxes will be in a dry safe location
 

getogrow

Well-Known Member
So your saying it is not safe the breaker boxes will be in a dry safe location
It is safe. You can put the panel wherever you want. If your grow room is that humid then your gonna want to fix that anyways.
You do not NEED conduit....its not code. Its completely legit the way it is.

Your % is going to be all your watts added together. Everything that can run at the same time is turned on and measured. As long as you are at or under 80 amps total then you are fine. Watts/volts =amps.
 

getogrow

Well-Known Member
I agree and mentioned that to the electrician. He disagreed with me. Here's why. We all buy kilowatts and it doesn't matter if you use their power with 120 or 240 volts pushing it; you just use half the amps with 240. BUT higher voltages are more efficient. Power is sent along main lines at 10 000 volts because it is more efficient. The electrician maintained that two 120 volt feeds into one appliance will save you money on your power bill. Might be small but it was hard to argue with him. I'd have to buy too much new stuff and I grow hydro so I went 120.
I worked with a guy who decided this to be true....its not. This guy wired his whole house in 10 wire to everything. Thats pretty dumb if you ask me. Running 2x 120 volts feeds is the same as running a bigger wire.....either will save money. I mean the house has less resistence then normal homes but he aint saving any money. After 10 years he might be able to say hes saved 4 bucks but thats it.
 

getogrow

Well-Known Member
Ok so each gavita leds are 645 whatts at 240 will use 2.67 amps I’m doing 10 the 6 veg lights are 315 whatts use 1.42 amps each Ac 1520 whatts uses 11.8 amps and dehumidifier at 240 will take 3.4 whatts and the filters use 2.1 amps I’m using 3 I’m prickly gonna do 240v if possible to use less amps
That comes out to just over 50 amps. That leaves you with plenty of room but dont forget to add up all your home stuff too....
 

JSB99

Well-Known Member
I worked with a guy who decided this to be true....its not. This guy wired his whole house in 10 wire to everything. Thats pretty dumb if you ask me. Running 2x 120 volts feeds is the same as running a bigger wire.....either will save money. I mean the house has less resistence then normal homes but he aint saving any money. After 10 years he might be able to say hes saved 4 bucks but thats it.
He wired his entire house with 10awg??? Holy shit, the wire must have been worth as much as the house LOL!
 

getogrow

Well-Known Member
He wired his entire house with 10awg??? Holy shit, the wire must have been worth as much as the house LOL!
Well he worked at the local electrician booth , so im guessing he got it cheaper then home depot but the guys that did the finish were SHITTY. This guy went way overkill on a lot of things in that house. I just wonder how he ran his plumbing to "make the bill cheaper" :confused: :bigjoint:
 

Renfro

Well-Known Member
He wired his entire house with 10awg???
Can't have been much fun having to land all that #10 on the receptacles. lol Talk about a waste of money.
I just wonder how he ran his plumbing to "make the bill cheaper" :confused: :bigjoint:
lol, probably used a PEX manifold setup with individual feeds for every tap. Wouldn't save money really but man that's a really premium setup. Maybe on demand tankless water heater/s. That might save money depending on usage patterns. I always thought it was so wasteful to keep water hot 24/7. I put a Bosch on demand tankless in the house I owned back in Missouri. It was tits, their larger model that could handle two taps at once. That thing made all the hot water I wanted so long as I had cold water and natural gas. It was slick, didn't even need an electrical feed. It used the flow of the water to run a little dynamo that made the power it required to light the burners and run. The only downside to it was that you could only pull water from two taps before it couldn't keep up, and it did take about 30 seconds of running the water to get hot water. In a home with lots of family members you would definitely want multiple units.
 

Sebassst

Active Member
It is safe. You can put the panel wherever you want. If your grow room is that humid then your gonna want to fix that anyways.
You do not NEED conduit....its not code. Its completely legit the way it is.

Your % is going to be all your watts added together. Everything that can run at the same time is turned on and measured. As long as you are at or under 80 amps total then you are fine. Watts/volts =amps.
Alr cool so it should be safe and it’s code so it not illegal or nothing this is a care giver grow
 

getogrow

Well-Known Member
Alr cool so it should be safe and it’s code so it not illegal or nothing this is a care giver grow
After looking at the RIGHT picture again, it seems i was wrong depending on location of the panel. If that is in a living space then it should be piped in. Code says it should be piped in but its safe if you ask me.
Originally i thought that panel was in the basement.
 

getogrow

Well-Known Member
Dont forget to add in all the amps from your home stuff, stove , water heater , dryer and everything else too.
 

Sebassst

Active Member
After looking at the RIGHT picture again, it seems i was wrong depending on location of the panel. If that is in a living space then it should be piped in. Code says it should be piped in but its safe if you ask me.
Originally i thought that panel was in the basement.
My panel is in the basement
 
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