need an electrician for ? on running 240v

sensisensai

sensisensai

Well-Known Member
Alright. Ill try to keep this short and simple. First, I have some knowledge of household electrical but will not be attempting this myself but I'm confident that with the help of a friend I can save myself some money (safely). So here's the deal. The house I am in I am renting so my switch needs to be as temporary as possible while still being convenient.
We have those pesky in wall heaters that consume power non stop. They have they're own dedicated line from the breaker that is 240v as well the laundry room has a 240v dryer plug in it. So I have 2 options the way I see it. I can A) run an extension cord from the dryer outlet to the room and run my 1000w that way but that would require a good 50ft 240v extension cord which is no good in terms of amp drop right? or B) I can disconnect the heaters as they're not used anyway and run a line from the box to the room. This set-up would be more practical as I plant to eventually put a powerboard in there with 4x 600w and c02. Problem is I can't find ANYTHING online for converting a 120v outlet into 240v other than transformers most of which only handle 500w anyway and I don't wanna do that to my ballast. Can someone offer me some guidance? I will post pics if neccesarry
 
sensisensai

sensisensai

Well-Known Member
Here is a pic of the box. The heaters are on the very top fuse on the right colum. It looks like I have quite a few spaces open on the box too.
 
sensisensai

sensisensai

Well-Known Member
I figured this would happen as I wasn't sure how to word it. But basically. I have wall heaters that have their own panel in the breaker ( I don't use them) so I am hoping to disconnect them and run a 240v line from their to the new room. I guess what I'm asking is is it really that simple? Disconnect power, remove heater line, input new line, run to room install 240v plugs at the other end, turn power on and enjoy? And anyone got a good link for guidance?
 
B

Bulldog73

Active Member
Ok, first you don't want to go trying to convert a pair of 120v lines into a 240v line by jumping the hots. It isn't safe and you will get lots of false trips on your breaker. You can buy a generator lead cord and run that from your dryer plug (switch out the breaker at the box with a GFI breaker). It should be a 10 gauge (10/3) wire. You can very easily make your own buy buying the correct plug, surface mount box and 50 ft of 10/3 wire (underground - gray, is more flexible and orange is more rigid depending on how you are going to run it one will be better than the other). Now this is the important port..........

DON'T FUCK UP!!!!! You have 3 connections to make at the plug. You have 3 to make at the recepticle. You have to make sure that you are the same on each end or you are screwed. Triple check it and then check one more time. That's it. Plug your new plug end into the dryer plug, and plug your timer box or whatever you are using into the recepticle and you are ready to go..
 
ElectricPineapple

ElectricPineapple

Well-Known Member
ok, this is what im wanting to do, run a 40 amp breaker in my breaker box, and have 10 gauge wire running from that to my grow room. is this possible? easy? safe? i just want to put in a 40 amp breaker into my box and instead of running it on the internal lines in the house, use an external 10 gauge,just run it to the room.
 
IAm5toned

IAm5toned

Well-Known Member
listen to me-
first of all, that breaker feeding the baseboard heaters is a 240v breaker.. you following me?
shut off the breaker going to the baseboard heaters.
then go to one of them, and see how many wires are in the box feeding the baseboard heater. when i say how many wires i mean how many colors/#of conductors, not how many wires physically in the box.
what you want, but dont need to have, is 4-wire service in the box feeding the baseboard heater. this means you want 4 separate colors, typically Black, Red, White, and Green/Bare uncovered copper.
the next thing you want to be concerned with is wire size. you want the wire in the box feeding the baseboard heater to be #10awg or larger.
if you only have 3-wire service feeding the baseboard heater (black, white, and green/bare) you can still use it, however you can only run 240v devices on it. but since the breaker feeding the baseboards looks to me like a 240v breaker, i think youll find the outlet feeding the heater is in fact already 240v, unless the heater is hardwired to the circuit directly. a clue to what voltage you have also can be found on the nameplate rating on the baseboard heater. if im not mistaken, you might have to take the cover off the base board heater to get to the wires to see how many you have anyways, and when you do, there will be a sticker or label or metal stamp somewhere that will say the voltage, amperage/wattage and frequency (hz). its required by law on all appliances and its there somewhere if you look close enough.
if you have 4-wire service feeding the baseboard heaters, that is ideal because then you could set a small cord fed subpanel off of the baseboard outlet and have dedicated 120v outlets and 240v for lighting.
 
genisis

genisis

Well-Known Member
I did what you are talking about but I used an open space in the box. I ran a 8/3 wire (recommended by timer box manu) from a 40 amp fuse to my timer box (Master lighting controller - MLC - 8DX Duel trigger). This controls 8 lights, but same difference ( just larger wire). The duel trigger allows both grow and flower at the same time. It has 2 - 120 volt triggers that are plugged into timers. It may be dicey finding a 4box with duel controls.
The single trigger 4 outlet runs under $150
Hope this helps
 
sensisensai

sensisensai

Well-Known Member
U all have +rep comin ur way. Thanks guys. Like I said I thought it was as easy as it seemed just had to make sure. It is a 4wire service and the heaters are wired directly to the box. Called in a pro and was quoted 130 dollars to have them do it. Is this a good deal? I'd just as soon pay a pro but I didn't figure itd be that cheap. Then again that could be rediculous idk
 
sensisensai

sensisensai

Well-Known Member
nordowell said:
doesnt sound like your running enough lights to bother with either of those options just use the wall. if you really want to do this easily anyways tho you can buy a 30 amp sun system timer box that has 4 240 volt and 2 120 volt plugs in a box you connect to the dryer plug.

http://www.horticulturesource.com/product_info.php?products_id=1969
Click to expand...
I will be running 4x 600w and c02. I'm popping breakers when the gf blowdries atm and I'm only running 1400w, so it is neccesarry. That link really complicates things now idk what to do. Haha. I'm assuming that once I moved to a more permanent set-up I could remove the male plug and hard wire it to my panel?
 
sensisensai

sensisensai

Well-Known Member
So I took the time to actually LOOK at the panel and realized the 3 wall heaters in the house each have their own switch in the breaker. Which are wire for 240 (4wires). So really couldn't I simply turn off that breaker, remove the heater, and install the proper plugs on the wires the heater was run from? Or am I way off here. It seems logical to me. Everything is there just replace the heater with an outlet and go yeah?
 
sensisensai

sensisensai

Well-Known Member
Ill have to get ya guys with the +rep when I get back to a laptop. I can't seem to find the button for it from my cellphone. :/
 
OregonMeds

OregonMeds

Well-Known Member
sensisensai said:
So I took the time to actually LOOK at the panel and realized the 3 wall heaters in the house each have their own switch in the breaker. Which are wire for 240 (4wires). So really couldn't I simply turn off that breaker, remove the heater, and install the proper plugs on the wires the heater was run from? Or am I way off here. It seems logical to me. Everything is there just replace the heater with an outlet and go yeah?
Click to expand...
Yes that's all you need to do, that and don't kill yourself.

It's very simple.
 
sensisensai

sensisensai

Well-Known Member
Kind of actually. I'm in forest grove but I work part time at omcu in hillsboro. I'm gonna be sealing the room and running c02 with 2x 600w hps and 2x 600w mh. Ill be using an entire bedroom but will likely build a partition wall the room is probably 10x13. Still gotta measure. I pulled up the carpet to fin he cement floor had a drain in it ( why would this be btw? Any ideas) that was covered with a light layer of cement so ill be priming and painting the floor and re-opening the drain. I'm gonna have a 50 gal res with a fill valve that will be fed by a ro filter. I will run 2 sub res's from there. (Both 25 gal) one willbe for veg with the base nutes mixed in and the other flower (obviously) with bade nutes mixed in. Each sub res will have a 25ft hose (the curly ones for ease and storage). With a water wand attatched. The supplements will be amended in the soil depending on strain. This will allow me to have fresh and nuted water at all times and if I have a picky strain it will allow me to take water from the fresh res and dilute a small portion of the nute water for that one strain. The strains I will be for sure running so far are, nl5xbb, white widow, super silver haze, snowdawg, sheba. I'm gonna have 12 total and have many more going but I am selectively evolving them as I go to ultimately end up with 12 strains I know very well. Well see how it goes. The build will be a very slow process that won't start for some time but for now I would like to run my 1000 at 240v just to free up some amps.
 
OregonMeds

OregonMeds

Well-Known Member
I'm an OMCU member, have been since they opened, but I've only gone a couple of times so don't actually know anyone there. And I'm just a few blocks away from them, I should really go more often.

Just picked up a critical mass clone and played a little pool there at the last clone exchange and social a couple weeks ago though. Almost beat the local shark, lost 2-3, can't recall what his name was.

I was really hoping to find some bubba kush, lemon haze and g13 if you have any connections... Those and basically any of the current highest yielding strains for world record trees is what I'm looking for.

I don't know if RO water is even helpful around here, is it? We have great water, air it out a couple days to get any chlorine out and you are good to go, no?

An existing drain in a concrete floor is a huge bonus, I wouldn't ask why man, just enjoy. That will make life really easy no matter what.
 
sensisensai

sensisensai

Well-Known Member
Hahaha no shit?! Was his name robbie? (Younrger guy) or was it larry? (Old man lookin like zztop) if it was robbie, well that's me lol. I'm kinda the pool shark but larry used to own the table so he's pretty good too. U should definetly come by more man. I'm sure we could find u something. Not too many people playing with specifically high yielders in out community though. Were more for medicinal value and many times high yields are just a bonus of the strain and a matter of treating them right. I will put the word out the. Pm me what strains in particular interest u if any as well and ill put those on our list. If I can't find clones u ok with seed? I'm close to positive that between claudias friends and collection as well as mine we could find what u are seeking
 
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