Fuse box vs. breaker box?

[Xephier]

The apartment that I live in is old as shit and has an oldschool fuse box with the vintage glass fuses. My question is how do they handle high voltage use(such as a 1000w light)? Are they better for such things or far worse? I mean I know it's worse if I blow a fuse because I can't just turn it back on like with a breaker box but I mean how likely would the fuse blow with 1000w on it?

 

[ttystikk]

The apartment that I live in is old as shit and has an oldschool fuse box with the vintage glass fuses. My question is how do they handle high voltage use(such as a 1000w light)? Are they better for such things or far worse? I mean I know it's worse if I blow a fuse because I can't just turn it back on like with a breaker box but I mean how likely would the fuse blow with 1000w on it?

Electrical equipment ages with time and use. NOTHING with fuses in the circuit for home use was intended for high wattage/amperage use- and it's old, brittle and loose from repeated heat cycling.

Ask yourself how much is avoiding a fire that burns the whole place down worth to you?

At the very least, find low amp lighting sources- something more efficient than the HPS bulb you're thinking of.

Last tidbit of food for thought; if you burn the apartment building down and the authorities figure out you were running a grow op, you could find yourself charged with attempted murder/negligent homicide. It's already happened.

 

[Xephier]

Electrical equipment ages with time and use. NOTHING with fuses in the circuit for home use was intended for high wattage/amperage use- and it's old, brittle and loose from repeated heat cycling.

Ask yourself how much is avoiding a fire that burns the whole place down worth to you?

At the very least, find low amp lighting sources- something more efficient than the HPS bulb you're thinking of.

Last tidbit of food for thought; if you burn the apartment building down and the authorities figure out you were running a grow op, you could find yourself charged with attempted murder/negligent homicide. It's already happened.

Already got an HPS 600w, I also just bought a 144X3w LED(280 actual watt) and getting a 100ish watt fan today. Perhaps I should try to run the HPS off the living room plug(run extension cord).

So ya, with that said about 600ish watts would be coming off each of 2 fuses(living room + bedroom).

 

[ttystikk]

Already got an HPS 600w, I also just bought a 144X3w LED(280 actual watt) and getting a 100ish watt fan today. Perhaps I should try to run the HPS off the living room plug(run extension cord).

So ya, with that said about 600ish watts would be coming off each of 2 fuses(living room + bedroom).

I'm not sure where you are, but getting an electrician to look over your circuitry with the aim of giving it a clean bill of health is cheap insurance.

My home was built in the post fusebox era- yet my electrician still found lots of safety issues.

Electricity is like driving a car; we do it so much that we often forget the potential for destruction... until an 'accident' happens. I don't want to sound like a downer, I'm just suggesting that you exercise caution and check things out. Then you can be SURE.

 

[GrowUrOwnDank]

OP. Listen to dude. Nothing else really needs to be said. I might be scared to live in a multiple apartment dwelling with that kind of electrical set up. I would not try to grow weed at all under those circumstances.

 

[TubePot]

You might still have some knob and tube wiring so be very careful.

 

[Xephier]

OP. Listen to dude. Nothing else really needs to be said. I might be scared to live in a multiple apartment dwelling with that kind of electrical set up. I would not try to grow weed at all under those circumstances.

No choice at this point, all I can do is try to mitigate it by doing as I said above and splitting the power use over multiple fuses. I didn't spent 1000$ just to give up now.

 

[Thc247]

The apartment that I live in is old as shit and has an oldschool fuse box with the vintage glass fuses. My question is how do they handle high voltage use(such as a 1000w light)? Are they better for such things or far worse? I mean I know it's worse if I blow a fuse because I can't just turn it back on like with a breaker box but I mean how likely would the fuse blow with 1000w on it?

just 1 1000 w light you should be ok on a contactor

 

[Thc247]

your cooker socket or washing machine socket can handle 1000w hps in most and all cases most convectional heaters these days are2000 + watts but check the amps on your ballast

 

[Thc247]

standard procedure normally would be an electrician to come in and rewire your grow room seperate to the rest of the property of its own breaker how many amps does your ballast draw

 

[Xephier]

standard procedure normally would be an electrician to come in and rewire your grow room seperate to the rest of the property of its own breaker how many amps does your ballast draw

600w, it's a 600w HPS and a LED that draws 280w as well as a centrifugal fan which draws about 115 or so watts. Also the few other electronics in my room, computer and tv, comp is maybe 850, tv maybe 400. As I said though I'd run an extension cord for the 600w to the living room that way there'd only be about 600w on each fuse.

Wait... that can't be right.... just did the math on that and my damn computer + tv take up way more than both my lights... I think I may be mistaken about how much the comp takes, I think it's an 850w PS but I could be mistaken, maybe closer to a 750w, but still.. As for the tv. I looked it up on google, someone said a 55" LED tv takes around 400

 

[HydroRed]

Most HPS 1kW run about 9.8A and just a touch more on start-up. Your 600W is likely 6 or so amps. Your 100W fan is likely around the 1A mark and your led light is likely to draw approx 1-1/2-2A. You should also express extra caution on what all is on each individual circuit and decide from there where your lightest circuit load is and go from there if you feel you absolutely need to grow with such wiring. Also, keep in mind the safety of others that could fall victim to your necessity to grow. Good luck.

 

[Thc247]

600w, it's a 600w HPS and a LED that draws 280w as well as a centrifugal fan which draws about 115 or so watts. Also the few other electronics in my room, computer and tv, comp is maybe 850, tv maybe 400. As I said though I'd run an extension cord for the 600w to the living room that way there'd only be about 600w on each fuse.

Wait... that can't be right.... just did the math on that and my damn computer + tv take up way more than both my lights... I think I may be mistaken about how much the comp takes, I think it's an 850w PS but I could be mistaken, maybe closer to a 750w, but still.. As for the tv. I looked it up on google, someone said a 55" LED tv takes around 400

your tv if big plasma / flat screen will use more than one 600 w light your ok mate u got nothing to worry about i dont think even old setups will accomadate one 600 watt light how many amps does your 600 w ballast draw 2 - 2.5 amp

 

[Thc247]

just use one socket for the light and another socket for fans etc and make sure u have contactor on the hps

 

[Thc247]

a centrifugal fan which draws about 115 or so watts.

thats an awful lot of watts for a centrifugal fan mate i got sum powerfull fan and its around 50-60

 

[Xephier]

just use one socket for the light and another socket for fans etc and make sure u have contactor on the hps

Contactor?

I don't have a clue how many amps the 600w is but the guy above you said it is likely "6 or so"

Does a 750w PS actually take a consistent 750w? If not then what is the average watts that it uses?

 

[HydroRed]

It would be approx 6 A on the 750W PS. All requiring higher amperage ratings. You should consider the gauge of the wire and that it may not be sufficient for todays electronics power consumption and draw. As old as the wire is, it may get hotter quicker than the new fuse used to protect is. Who's to say there isn't a 20A fuse on wire rated at a lesser amperage. Also, just a heads up with extension cords: the longer they are, the less efficient they become causing higher amp draw to make the cords hot/melt.

 

[Xephier]

causing higher amp draw to make the cords hot/melt.

Never heard of that, I've seen bit factory machines hooked to extension cords.

 

[BarnBuster]

 

[Thc247]

Contactor?

I don't have a clue how many amps the 600w is but the guy above you said it is likely "6 or so"

Does a 750w PS actually take a consistent 750w? If not then what is the average watts that it uses?

ima check now on one of my ballasts and if u dont know what a contactor is please dont plug nothing in any where