IAm5toned
Well-Known Member
yeah, keeping the closet open like that will keep the RH down for now.
A Bored Electrician to Answer Your Questions
- Thread starter IAm5toned
- Start date
great, no way i can afford that. looks like the house is gona burn...
at those rates i should become a fuckin electrician, i would only have to do one job a week.
IAm5toned
Well-Known Member
lol i wish it paid that good.... unfortunately thats simply not the case.
theres alot of risk for an electrician.
and besides that, i mmyself had to go through 5 years of hell and on the job and 4 years of school just to be able to call myself an electrician.
thats alot of education for a construction job.
and the parts themselves are not cheap.
so its a matter of cost vs. making it worth your while do do the job vs. trying to stay competitive.
it takes roughly 100k a year to field one electrician, a helper, one truck, and supply there typical tools and overhead costs.
its not an industry of high profit margins at all these days.
its ore about just trying to keep food on the table.
sad but true.
in some areas drywallers make more than electricians
theres alot of risk for an electrician.
and besides that, i mmyself had to go through 5 years of hell and on the job and 4 years of school just to be able to call myself an electrician.
thats alot of education for a construction job.
and the parts themselves are not cheap.
so its a matter of cost vs. making it worth your while do do the job vs. trying to stay competitive.
it takes roughly 100k a year to field one electrician, a helper, one truck, and supply there typical tools and overhead costs.
its not an industry of high profit margins at all these days.
its ore about just trying to keep food on the table.
sad but true.
in some areas drywallers make more than electricians
shit didnt know it was that much schooling, i knew it was alot of on the job training but god dam. might as well go for a couple more years and become a doctor or something lol. a friend of ours is a commercial electrician...Redd Electric, dont know if you've heard of them...so im sure he would do it for me for cheaper...maybe, i dont know he's kinda stingy...but my other problem is i cant really allow anyone in the basement for obvious reasons...
could they install a shut off outside without having to come into the house?
IAm5toned
Well-Known Member
its possible that can be done, but more than likely they will want to shut off the main breaker on the panel when they go to install the service disconnect.
I would recommend installing an outdoor 200amp panel with a 100 amp breaker to feed the house panel. not only will this give you the ability to cut off the house panel as required, but codes allow up to six breakers @ the main point of disconnect... this would allow you to run a brand new circuit for your op from the outdoor panel, and make any other future expansion possible. however its a greater cost, as it will probably make some changes in your grounding, but worth it in the long run in my opinion.
thats how I have my setup fed....
now that would be perfect. of course it would cost more...the better the setup the more it costs. im gona go smoke a joint and think about what to do lol.
oh yeah, one more thing. did you say my panel looked unsafe how it is now? cuz if thats true and it is unsafe then i might be able to get my landlord to pay for the upgrade. my dad owns the house and i rent it from him so i shouldnt have a problem getting him to do it if i make it clear that his only son's life is at stake lol.
DoWorkSon
Active Member
I gotta question for ya..kinda hard to explain but ill try my best..I was using the outlet in my livingroom and it blew out..and and every outlet after that including the switches for the porch lite dont work..Now from the porch lite the wiring must continue into my bedroom..and all the outlets and the switch for the light doesnt work..I changed all the outlets including the one that burnt out and the switches for the porch.. and nothin happened..I really dont know shit about electrical..i can give u more details if needed! I know u probably cant help much without lookin at it..but anything would help becuase im lost..i would call someone to fix it but i dont have the money! so any thoughts?
Mont@n@
Well-Known Member
I just decide to feed my sub panel with a 30 amps double pole circuit with 10/3 from my main panel. This sub panel is going to use 11 amps at 220v for my lighting system (2-600w) from this 30amps. Does that means I can use 19 amps at 110v? or 38amp because they going to be used at 110v? Sorry for my question but I read at the diy forums that 30amp at 220v = 60amp at 110v. My sub panel has a quad/tandem breaker with two 25Amp common trip for two 220v outlets and two 15Amp for two 110v receptacles. Here is the sequence 15/25/25/15. I want to use 1500w at 110v for miscellaneous
IAm5toned
Well-Known Member
check the wire @ the outlet that still works... it might be messed up there... or then again that might be a totally different circuit,. its hard to tell from that info youve provided...
IAm5toned
Well-Known Member
you have 5760 watts total, to play with safely, regardless of what voltage.
IAm5toned
Well-Known Member
its the style of panel, its obsolete. see the taps that come off of the main breaker and feed the branch circuit bus? (where the smaller breakers connect to the panel) thats bad juju for a heavy inductive load such as a cpl of hid ballasts... the taps after a period of time that is undetermined, (can happen @ any time.. might be a year, might be an hour, might be a decade, you just cant tell when) can work themselves loose from the breaker lugs. loose wire = fire, and you can imagine the rest.
modern panels have solid metal connection points that are bolted together from the lugs (or main breaker) to the panel busbar... this is for inductive loads, and fault current bracing.
it doesnt sound like a big difference, but it is a major, major difference in safety.... im not going to go into how the wires work themselves loose, its kind of complicated, but in a nutshell summary what happens is that the repeated stops and starts of the operating cycle of the inductive load, combined with the magnetic collapse and inrush that occurs 180 times per second when an induction device is in operation, cause the wire to a) slightly heat up and b) jerk ever so slightly when the light cycle starts. over time this combination of heating and cooling (thermal expansion and contraction) back down (when the light cycle is off) and physical movement (from the inrush that is part of an inductive electrical load) combine in force to cause the connection point to weaken, and hence loosen...... whew.. pause for breath. told you it was complicated!
and thats what makes it a poor design. 60-70 years ago people just didnt have big inductive loads in there houses, and panels like that were deemed sufficient for most residential applications, as at the time most residential power loads were mostly resistive (light bulbs, water heaters, small appliances) but times changed and people use more inductive devices like electronics, large appliances, heatpumps split/unit a/c, etc etc, so power requirements changed and all new panels to be installed shall be listed and constructed in a mechanically sound manner that is rigid and braced for fault current. and the fat lady sings on that subject, lol...
you will need a 100 amp main breaker type (or, if you have a main disconnect installed, you can have a main lug type of panel, if the main service disconnect is less than 50' of travel away. the main lug panel is cheaper than a main breaker, fyi)
might even end up with some extra spaces in the panel too.... like i said, theres multiple options, its just how much do you wanna pay...lol almost like buying a new car
Mont@n@
Well-Known Member
IAm5toned
Well-Known Member
to answer the question, there is no limit to how many 'outlets' you can have on a branch circuit.
but i think what you are asking is how much power can you pull from your 110v circuit (its actually 120v)
you are limited by the amount of wattage the breaker can handle before it will trip...
typical circuit ratings for 120v grow ops-
15 amp breaker = 1440 watts (12 continuous duty amps)
20 amp breaker = 1920 watts (16 continuous duty amps)
30 amp breaker = 2880 watts (24 continuous duty amps)
240v (2 pole breakers) grow ops-
15 amp breaker = 2880 watts (12 continuous duty amps)
20 amp breaker = 3840 watts (16 continuous duty amps)
30 amp breaker = 5760 watts (24 continuous duty amps)
IAm5toned
Well-Known Member
how long is the wire?
thats the only thing that would affect the voltage... if it was longer than 300-350' you might have problems.
you should be good for 3840 watts
brainfreezer187
Active Member
What I am asking here is how many watts a regular light socket can put out without causing a fire hazard or melting. In my grow area, there are no outlets available. There is only one light socket. I am using a socket converter, which screws into said socket, and instead of having a bulb on the end, it is an outlet. That way, I can use the light socket AS an outlet. I am hooking up a t5 that puts out around 400 watts to this outlet. My question is how many watts can this socket put out without being hazardous.
Thank you very much in advance
Thank you very much in advance
IAm5toned
Well-Known Member
in a situation like that, i would be hesitant to use any more than 100 watts on an adapter outlet. there simply not made for larger loads.