Electrical Advice Help Please

[miser66]

I'm moving into a 3 bedroom house that I will be doing a grow in. It will be just me living there I have attached a picture of the main panel for the house. It is old and small rated for 100amps it says on the door. You can see theres a couple 40 amp switches, a couple 30 amp switches then the rest are 15s and 20s. I confess I know basically nothing about this topic. I'm trying to get my head wrapped around it but it is'nt easy, I've only done smaller scale stuff. I'm planning to have 3600W Flower and 1200W veg + fans and everything, + I live there with my TV, computer etc. Basically I want to know what needs to be done to properly equip the room/house. Do I need a whole new panel, do I need to make adjustments to this. Please any help advice is greatly appreciated. Also I plan on using 600s that are wired for 120v.

 

[t.o.med]

easiest solution would be to get a panel that plugs into your dryer plug and run your lights, fans etc on that. check out cap or try nowirenuts.ca if you want a custom high end panel built to your specific needs.

 

[Widowmaker]

Some homes have a large amperage outlet for the stove that can be used also. You could turn off each breaker one at a time, test your outlets with a light or something and make a drawing or schedule of which outlets are on which breakers. Keep in mind that things like 1000 watt lamps use more that a 1000W. Look on the ballast or the devices label to find amps needed. To convert watts to Amps. divide watts by volts to get Amps. 1112 watts / 120 volts equals 9.27 Amps. Add up your loads (lights fans, air conditioners) and spread them around to keep your breakers from popping. Best not to put 15 Amps on a 15 Amp breaker since your running them for long periods add 20% to your loads for safety. You will be giving the electrical system a real work out so keep an eye on things for a few days, touch the breakers, cords and extension cords to see if they are getting hot. Heat is bad for wires, they can melt, touch together and hopefully pop the circuit break, sometimes no and then you can have a fire. The first thing to do is make sure all your breakers move , turn them off and back on to test as they can freeze up from none movement and not pop when too much juice is pulled. Hope this helps.
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[Lost]

Some homes have a large amperage outlet for the stove that can be used also. You could turn off each breaker one at a time, test your outlets with a light or something and make a drawing or schedule of which outlets are on which breakers. Keep in mind that things like 1000 watt lamps use more that a 1000W. Look on the ballast or the devices label to find amps needed. To convert watts to Amps. divide watts by volts to get Amps. 1112 watts / 120 volts equals 9.27 Amps. Add up your loads (lights fans, air conditioners) and spread them around to keep your breakers from popping. Best not to put 15 Amps on a 15 Amp breaker since your running them for long periods add 20% to your loads for safety. You will be giving the electrical system a real work out so keep an eye on things for a few days, touch the breakers, cords and extension cords to see if they are getting hot. Heat is bad for wires, they can melt, touch together and hopefully pop the circuit break, sometimes no and then you can have a fire. The first thing to do is make sure all your breakers move , turn them off and back on to test as they can freeze up from none movement and not pop when too much juice is pulled. Hope this helps.
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If is is running off of a dryer or a stove outlet, remember it will be 220 volts not 120 so the amps would half (5-5.5 a 1k). The only way to run it is 220 because of the lighter amp load on that old bucket. Best thing to do would be have an electricial come out and replace it with 200 amp panel, lol :)

 

[t.o.med]

if he runs everything off the stove or dryer or straight from the panel at 220 at most hes at 30 amps. i dont think he needs to upgrade his panel. ive run 17 1000w at 220 on a 100 amp panel still lived there and never blew any breakers.

 

[convex]

Your looking to add 5000 or more watts - the panel pictured is full.

That looks like a pony panel and not the main load center.
Is there another larger panel?

If this is indeed your house's main distribution center an upgrade to a larger capacity load center would be required to safely add additional circuits

You can safely run 1800 watts per 110V 15amp circuit and 2400 per 20 amp @ 110v.

Cheers

 

[miser66]

Thanks for all the help its greatly appreciated from what I've seen that is the only panel it says MAIN on it you can see. A few questions I have....sorry for sounding stupid.

How do I add a panel to run off the dryer or stove outlet? What does that entail?

If I had lights that are 120v what do I have to do to run them on 220v?

Thanks for all the great info

 

[t.o.med]

heres some pics of some different commercailly available units ranging from 30 amps to 50 amps you can either wire these to a dryer or stove plug or right to the breaker.

 

[Widowmaker]

If your lighting can be run 220 volts its the best way to go for many reasons besides the fact that most big Amp outlets in your house are normally 220V. Some ballast have a 120/220 switch. To use a 220V outlet for 120V it needs to be a 4 wire outlet. 2 Hots, a neutral and a ground. Make a drawing of the outlet and buy something like t.o.Med has posted.

Calculating System Load:
If an electrical load is normally operated for three hours or more it is termed by the National Electical Code (NEC) as “continuous” (Article 100, definitions). The wiring and the over current protection (circuit breaker) must be sized at 125% of the load (NEC 210.19). If the load is normally operated for less than three hours, the wiring may be sized at 100% of the load.

Farmers maybe rebels and not care about NEC Code, but if the house burns down and they ever get past the fact that you are growing they may look at how it was done.

Its awesome that everyone pitches in down on the Farm!!
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[convex]

Thanks for all the help its greatly appreciated from what I've seen that is the only panel it says MAIN on it you can see.

The circuits marked main in your pic are only 40A - highly unlikely teh house is on such an obscure sized service. I still suspect there is another primary panel.

Locate your meter (I assume outside) and see where the service enters the house, this should give you an idea as to where the primary panel may be hidden.

If I had lights that are 120v what do I have to do to run them on 220v?

For most lamps you must open the ballast and move the wire tap from 110/120 to the 220/240 feed.

Cheers

 

[zipflip]

Some homes have a large amperage outlet for the stove that can be used also. You could turn off each breaker one at a time, test your outlets with a light or something and make a drawing or schedule of which outlets are on which breakers. Keep in mind that things like 1000 watt lamps use more that a 1000W. Look on the ballast or the devices label to find amps needed. To convert watts to Amps. divide watts by volts to get Amps. 1112 watts / 120 volts equals 9.27 Amps. Add up your loads (lights fans, air conditioners) and spread them around to keep your breakers from popping. Best not to put 15 Amps on a 15 Amp breaker since your running them for long periods add 20% to your loads for safety. You will be giving the electrical system a real work out so keep an eye on things for a few days, touch the breakers, cords and extension cords to see if they are getting hot. Heat is bad for wires, they can melt, touch together and hopefully pop the circuit break, sometimes no and then you can have a fire. The first thing to do is make sure all your breakers move , turn them off and back on to test as they can freeze up from none movement and not pop when too much juice is pulled. Hope this helps.
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would you still be able to run the dryer or stove, whichever the 30 amp breaker is intended for, while still runin ya grow equip on the same line with this box add on? without poppin the breaker that is?

i have a 30 amp seperate for dryer and dryer says in the lil sticker , its 25amps 60hz which i would assume is gonna only leave about 5 amps of sonsumption from equipment while running the dryer befor eit pops, no?
i lack electrical knowledge so excuse my ignorance lol

 

[Widowmaker]

Sorry not at the same time. Unplug dryer plug in lights yes. Unplug lights, plug in dryer do laundry.

In So Cal we have Gas and most homes have stove and dryer outlets that are not used because Gas is cheaper to run. If you can wait 12 hours to do your laundry and cooking your in business.
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