Is your power load SAFE?

[dirtyolsouth]

THIS IS A DUPE OF A POST I MADE IN THE INDOOR GROWING SECTION... I THOUGHT IT WOULD BE USEFUL IN THE SETUP AND DESIGN THREAD TOO...

Hi,

After posting some info for fellow forum users on power usage and safety I thought it would be useful to post a thread so that people can figure out know how many contraptions that they can plug into a given circuit before they get into the danger zone with overloading circuits and creating fire hazards...

Do you know what size breaker you are using to power up your garden? If not, you need to go look in your electrical breaker box to determine which circuit the setup is on and the corresponding breaker's amperage rating. If you're lucky, someone has labelled the breakers for you and will probably be labelled as "Bedroom Plugs" etc. Average bedroom circuits are often on 15 or 20 amp breakers. The size of breaker is dependent on the size of the electrical wiring:

a 15 amp breaker, uses 14 gauge wire or larger.
a 20 amp breaker, uses 12 gauge wire or larger.
a 30 amp breaker, uses 10 gauge wire or larger.

A 15 amp circuit can *safely* (and effortlessly!) carry a total of 1440 watts, which is 80% of the 1800 watts found by multiplying the volts times amps: 15 x 120 = 1800 total available watts and then multiplying that by .8 to arrive at an 80% safe wattage draw of 1440 watts.

A 20 amp circuit can be loaded 1920 watts. (120 x 20 x .8 = 1920 watts)

A 30 amp circuit can be safely loaded 2880 watts. (120 x 30 x .8 = 2880 watts.)

Keep your circuit loads under control. If you tax the circuit and wiring with too much load you'll have breakers blowing at the very least and the situation could result in a fatal fire. If you're lucky enough to survive that you'll be around to see your fire insurance denied because the fire originated in an illegal grow room now filled with melted extension cords, adaptors, timers and lights and some very crispy weed...

Be SAFE!

 

[phatpharmer]

Thanks for the info, I think I'm all right I run my set up on 2 15 amp breakers, I haven't had a problem yet (knock on wood) but I'll use this formula to make sure! thanks again for the info!

phatpharmer

 

[dirtyolsouth]

It sounds pretty solid Phat... glad to hear it!

Rock ON!:headbang2:

 

[HippyInEngland]

This was very interesting to consume, thanks for posting it DOS

déjà vu?

eace:

 

[greenfriend]

OR get an electrician to install a dedicated subpanel, install all the circuits you want and you'll never need to worry about overloading measly 15 amps plugs. people, houses are not built with mj growing in mind...

 

[greenfriend]

If you're lucky, someone has labelled the breakers for you and will probably be labelled as "Bedroom Plugs" etc. Average bedroom circuits are often on 15 or 20 amp breakers. The size of breaker is dependent on the size of the electrical wiring:

Well, if you havent found a better place than your bedroom to grow in, you probably shouldnt be attempting to have a grow that requires significant electricity.

 

[dirtyolsouth]

Well, if you havent found a better place than your bedroom to grow in, you probably shouldnt be attempting to have a grow that requires significant electricity.

Hi Greenpal...

Well, there wouldn't be hardly any growers left I'm sure... Fewer green friends and that's not good... You do what you gotta do... I just wanted to put the info out there so people can start thinking about what's going on with their power draw. I'm in a 2 x 4 x 8 closet pushing 1900w all tallied up but I did upgrade the wiring to my spare bedroom and put a 30a breaker on the circuit and it purrs like a kitten... 21k+ lumens/sq ft and 74º... my closet bud factory!

Peace!

 

[greenfriend]

ya i know that most ppl dont have options, and i did two grows in an apt bedroom - it was a PITA. once i threw a 1000W in there, it was just too much with everything going at once. bedrooms are perfectly fine growing assuming you can make the necessary changes to the electrical setup. and if theres any question whether "your power load is safe" you should be opening Yellowpages to 'electrician'

im no stranger to modifying electrical setups (my dedicated subpanel has a higher amp rating than the main on most single family homes). and while this info may help people not overload circuits, what about when you've tallied up your watts and your setup exceeds the capabilities of the electrical system, cant just leave out parts of your setup just to decrease your amp draw...

 

[dirtyolsouth]

Corruption!

Hi Greenfriend,

yeah we've ALL been there. Your subpanel sounds like the deal. I used to do larger grows with partners and that's exactly what we had to do to upgrade to 1K's or more...

Rentals are much more a challenge for people to grow in as they can't drop in subpanels, etc. and mod the structure very much as needed. It's a wonder there aren't more fires and safety problems with all the overloaded grow rooms out there... Hopefully if people notice they are getting past the acceptable load that they can run some things off of another circuit but that usually involves extension cords and too many people skimp on wire gauge and get cheap extension cords and that's much worse as far as safety goes.


Happy Growing!

 

[monkeybusiness]

Just want to make sure everyone understands that a sub panel is not necessarily a fix in all cases. The first thing to do is find out what the utility's feed is. In an super old house you may only have a 30 amp service into the house. Drop in as many 100 amp sub panels as you want but you are still working with only a 30 amp service/feed. Obviously you can get the utility company to upgrade you, but it costs.
All new modern homes have plenty of amps but my old house has a 50 amp feed for the entire compound coming in on 6 gauge wire. Yikes!
Just because we put in subpanels and lots of new circuit breakers doesn't mean we won't still overload the main feed.
Not trying to cause waves, just looking to help all grow as safely as possible..

 

[dirtyolsouth]

Hi,

That's really some great info to add...

Thanks!

 

[greenfriend]

Just want to make sure everyone understands that a sub panel is not necessarily a fix in all cases. The first thing to do is find out what the utility's feed is. In an super old house you may only have a 30 amp service into the house. Drop in as many 100 amp sub panels as you want but you are still working with only a 30 amp service/feed. Obviously you can get the utility company to upgrade you, but it costs.
All new modern homes have plenty of amps but my old house has a 50 amp feed for the entire compound coming in on 6 gauge wire. Yikes!
Just because we put in subpanels and lots of new circuit breakers doesn't mean we won't still overload the main feed.
Not trying to cause waves, just looking to help all grow as safely as possible..

thanks for clarifying. the minimum main on houses round here are about 120amps , i guess i just take it for granted. I recently acquired an old house with 1950's electrical (didnt even have 3 prong grounded plugs), but it did have a 120 amp main, so along with fixing the rest of the house, I had the electrician install a 100 amp sub in the garage, with plenty of 120V and 240V circuits. With all that power i could probly fill the entire house with solid canopy of plants and not tax the breakers.

they'll charge you a few grand to redo everything but its well worth it

 

[Growdude]

I rent so this is what I did to get another crkt into the bedroom.

On the opposite wall of the bedroom is the kitchen and in the corner was a unused outlet so I just ran a heavy cord thru the wall and plugged my cord in there.

Not ideal but I built the cord myself from 12 gauge wire with industrial cord ends.

 

[crizzo357]

thanks for the info Dirty!