New Room Help ( circuit breaker beef-up?)

Hello all, and thanks for taking the time to check out my issues here.

I am moving and going into a new house, I do not know if I will need to beef up my circuit breaker or not. I have little to no electrical engineering experience, but am a quick learner.

In any case I will need my breaker or breakers to account for around 3500 watts, give or take some for the regular shit I need. I know I will need 3000 watts at the very least on one box, or for one room. The other I can run a cord from somewhere else in the house, and will only need to support a T5 panel, which I am thinking will be 350-500 watts max.

I currently use a 600 and had a 8 bulb T5 going 24/7 with no problems, but I tried using a portable ac one time (like 10,000 BTU's) and the lights started flickering and shit, so I got rid of it.

My overall question is.. What do I need to do to a standard homes' circuit breaker box, to allow it to use around 3500 watts. I wouldn't mind going on the high side either, like maybe 4,000 watts? -if i need to use that AC again.

Thanks for your time everyone.

-tgh

Just call an electrician before setting up your gear and tell him you intend on installing a tanning bed, a 220v window unit, and a large treadmill in the room. They will be able to answer all your questions and might even give you a good deal on the labor. Estimates are usually free anyways.

Do not ever just take a breaker out and put a bigger one in, this is how fires start. The wire is rated for a certain number of amps, based on distance. So how far from the breaker box to the room?

If all of your equipment runs on 120v current then you are probably just going to have to add 1 breaker to your panel and have that run into the room and installed on a dual outlet. Tanning bed idea may seem a little weird I would just call an electricain before you install the equipment and tell them you are putting in a saltwater reef tank. Those tanks require pumps, lights, chillers, etc... Tell him you want the system to have it's own 30amp outlet. Shouldn't cost more than $250 MAX. Doing it yourself could lead to problems. Then with that outlet you could power your lights and fans fairly easily. If you have multiple lights then have him put in a 4 outlets box for you. Then run all the other stuff (a/c included) on the outlets that are currently in the room.

Have the room wired for a sauna. They use alot of electricity.

tell that mothr fucker to mind his business and do his job. no its always good to have a cover story all of those are good idea, me i would go with computer and networking say your setting up a home internet business and you want to run the servers and other equipment on 240v for efficiency.

Get some one in there that knows what they are doing. Brakers are rated in amps not watts. Most house have about 15 amps per room. Have them put in a 60 amp 240 plug in the gerage. Say it's for a kiln. You now do pottery. Then you run that to your room and brake it down to 4 15 amp 110 plugs. So with the room outlets and your new ones you can have 75 amps. But would keep it down to 65 or less.

Do not just add in a bigger braker. You wiring won't be rated for it. And the fire might start in the walls and you will never see the damage till it's to late.

If you have empty spaces in your breaker box, you can add new breakers and run the wire to your room yourself. Its not to hard if you can snake the cable.

Thanks guys, good idea on the tanning bed Grobofot -

and thanks for the heads up on the cord usgae Trueno , it looks like a 30 amp cord is between $30 -$40, so not bad.



PhillipChristian -Thanks for the in depth reply** -I do run 120v equipment. I might try to do it on my own because I do not want to spend more than $200 and also do not want people asking questions or talking about it with their buddies or something.

I have another question for your though.. why the four outlet box? Would I be ok using a heavy duty power strip? Also, if I wanted to use another two lights, 6-600's on a 120v - that would be exactly 30 amps right..? - So is it safe to run it at exactly 100% capacity? or is this dangerous ?

PolyArcturus, thanks for the response and I like the server idea, but I do not use 240v, only 120V as far as I know - but admittedly I am not knowledgeable about electronics

Warlock - thanks for the added knowledge dude. I like the idea of having it installed in the garage or something like that, and then running it to where I need it. Could I just use extension cords or would I have to run it all through the wall? Sorry I know this is probably a stupid question but dont understand the 110v and 15amp breakers and whatnot lingo. My equipment runs on 120v I believe. Standard US electronics stuff I think.. also, 70 amps seems like a shit load of electricity. I am really not trying to arouse much suspicion here..

Thanks Scooby - I think I might actually try it myself too but have a lot of reading to do before this all gets started


Do i need to get a permit or inspection for this kind of amp upgrade?

I guess I need to figure out what else I need here.. if I am going to run 3600 watts in lamps.. then my inline fans + booster fans... then my oscillating fans + HO air pumps... im not sure if Im looking at 30 amps any more - but could theoretically just use the outlets that are already there for the fans right?

and again is it dangerous to run a 30 amp box and cord at 100% capacity?

Well after you get the 240 plug installed yes you can run a heavy duty 240 cord to the panel in you room. Then use you new 120 outlets. Yes 70 amps is alot but might be needed. Better to have to much then not enough. As far as not raising suspicion? dude you want 3600 of light. Then your going to need pumps, air, fans, AC, and maybe a dehumidifier. So with that my 70 amp service box is filled and your paying a $700-1100 electric bill. How are you going to hide that?and just so you know. When we talk about 110 or 120w it's the samething so is 220 and 240w.
Happy growing

TheGreenHornet said:

Thanks guys, good idea on the tanning bed Grobofot -

and thanks for the heads up on the cord usgae Trueno , it looks like a 30 amp cord is between $30 -$40, so not bad.



PhillipChristian -Thanks for the in depth reply** -I do run 120v equipment. I might try to do it on my own because I do not want to spend more than $200 and also do not want people asking questions or talking about it with their buddies or something.

I have another question for your though.. why the four outlet box? Would I be ok using a heavy duty power strip? Also, if I wanted to use another two lights, 6-600's on a 120v - that would be exactly 30 amps right..? - So is it safe to run it at exactly 100% capacity? or is this dangerous ?

PolyArcturus, thanks for the response and I like the server idea, but I do not use 240v, only 120V as far as I know - but admittedly I am not knowledgeable about electronics

Warlock - thanks for the added knowledge dude. I like the idea of having it installed in the garage or something like that, and then running it to where I need it. Could I just use extension cords or would I have to run it all through the wall? Sorry I know this is probably a stupid question but dont understand the 110v and 15amp breakers and whatnot lingo. My equipment runs on 120v I believe. Standard US electronics stuff I think.. also, 70 amps seems like a shit load of electricity. I am really not trying to arouse much suspicion here..

Thanks Scooby - I think I might actually try it myself too but have a lot of reading to do before this all gets started


Do i need to get a permit or inspection for this kind of amp upgrade?

I guess I need to figure out what else I need here.. if I am going to run 3600 watts in lamps.. then my inline fans + booster fans... then my oscillating fans + HO air pumps... im not sure if Im looking at 30 amps any more - but could theoretically just use the outlets that are already there for the fans right?

and again is it dangerous to run a 30 amp box and cord at 100% capacity?

Click to expand...

Hey bud, glad to be of help. I said a 4 outlet box because that way you will be able to connect more items directly to the outlet. A lot of the new digital ballasts like to be connected directly to the circuit. I've seen some people have problems when connecting them to power strips. I'm just trying to give you the safest way to do it. Try not to connect ballasts to power strips or extension cords unless they are the only thing connected to it. Since you are running 600w lights though you could get away with 2 lights on one power strip. Just make sure the power strip is rated for 15 amp. Most good power strips will be rated for 15 amp.

A 600w ballasts uses 5.5 amps so 2 of them on 1 power strip equals 11amps which is all you really want to put on that strip. 6 600w ballasts will be 33 amps and far too much for a 30 amp breaker. You only want to put about 75% of the charge the breaker is rated for. Now that you mention that you may want to expand in the future or add 6 lights then I think bringing in a 60 amp subpanel would be you best idea. This will depend a lot on how much available power you have on your breaker panel. If you have an older house with a 100amp fuse box it is going to be hard. If you have a newer electrical installation with a 250 amp service then you should be fine. I would imagine that if you can do it by yourself then it will cost you around $150-$200. You would need to buy a 60 amp 240v breaker for the existing panel. 3 cuts of wire that are the length of distance from your existing panel to the area you are growing; probably 6 gauge wire, and either conduit or pvc to run the wires in. You would need a 60 amp subpanel, 4 20amp breakers for that panel, 12 gauge wire to connect the outlets from the subpanel plus the conduit or pvc, and 4 outlets to connect to the breakers.

Assume the outlet that is there is 15amp. You can plug some smaller thing into that outlet but try and run your lights, inline fans, a/c, dehumidifier, etc... on the new outlets you bring into the room. If you can get pictures of the breaker panel with the cover off and the distance it is from the room you are using then I can give you a much better plan to getting it done.

Hey TGH, I came across this old thread while searching for info on what is needed in terms of laying the electrical foundations for setting up a room. I've never done it before and know jack shit about wiring etc. I was hoping you might be able to tell me how you ended up going about this please?

FYI: I would probably not be running as large an op' as it sounds like you were setting up. Mine would be in the UK, so all 240v and I'd probably be looking at between 4 and 6 LED panels (approx' 200 - 300w each), plus the usual 3 or 4 fans for air-filter and circulation. And probably a couple of fluorescent lamps for propagation too.

Thanks a lot man!

TheGreenHornet said:

Hello all, and thanks for taking the time to check out my issues here.

I am moving and going into a new house, I do not know if I will need to beef up my circuit breaker or not. I have little to no electrical engineering experience, but am a quick learner.

In any case I will need my breaker or breakers to account for around 3500 watts, give or take some for the regular shit I need. I know I will need 3000 watts at the very least on one box, or for one room. The other I can run a cord from somewhere else in the house, and will only need to support a T5 panel, which I am thinking will be 350-500 watts max.

I currently use a 600 and had a 8 bulb T5 going 24/7 with no problems, but I tried using a portable ac one time (like 10,000 BTU's) and the lights started flickering and shit, so I got rid of it.

My overall question is.. What do I need to do to a standard homes' circuit breaker box, to allow it to use around 3500 watts. I wouldn't mind going on the high side either, like maybe 4,000 watts? -if i need to use that AC again.

Thanks for your time everyone.

-tgh

Click to expand...

Warlock1369 said:

Get some one in there that knows what they are doing. Brakers are rated in amps not watts. Most house have about 15 amps per room. Have them put in a 60 amp 240 plug in the gerage. Say it's for a kiln. You now do pottery. Then you run that to your room and brake it down to 4 15 amp 110 plugs. So with the room outlets and your new ones you can have 75 amps. But would keep it down to 65 or less.

Click to expand...

This is just all around horrible advice and horrible math lol. You want the op to have an electrician wire a 60 amp circuit in the garage, so that the op can later re-run it himself and install a sub-panel in his room?

You might be luck and have 20 amps in the room, maybe not. You could probably get by, by having an electrician only run one 240v circuit for a lighting controller. Most likely 30-50 amp.
There are lighting controllers that support 120 or 240 volts for HID lighting with 120 volt outlets for accessories.

Follow light controllers manufacturers recommendation, and just tell the electrician you need a **amp outlet installed, and the NEMA number for the receptacle.

- Jiji