Apartment growing???? How much wattage is acceptable or "obtainable"

Well if the title isn't very clear please excuse me, the bong just did me over.

But basically I'm just trying to find info on apartment growing. Specifically how many watts I could use for the grow. . . I'll be starting with a single 600-1000 hps But eventually would like to run 1800-2000 (3-600's or 2-1000's). . .

Obviously this isn't including fans, pumps, etc. . .

Input?

I grow in a two bedroom appartment with a 1000w and 8" fan........Id only feel safe doing one more 1000w or 3 600w's at the most really.....I think the main thing depends on how nice your aprtments are...Mine are pretty nice and have enough breakers for me to grow and still use the vaccum and micro wave at same time...However ive lived in some older apartments where the power situation wasnt very good and i had problems just powering my normal day to day stuff.....another thing to consider is noise, smell , and maintance.....My roof leaked water twice now and luckly my attic is only accessable from my master bedroom and my grow was in the spare bedroom but ive had them in here atleast 4 times now fixing things all while having a grow going so just keep that in mind ........if ya need any advice on apartment choices locations noise let me know ill be happy to help ya

Sweet. Thanks for the advice ... I may just go with the 3 600's then. save an extra 200w and probably get a little better canopy cover...

you can't move into a 1 room apt, have a 500 dollar per month power bill, and not expect to raise red flags...

typically the power company doesn't care, b/c it's possible your just a graphic designer or gamer running some high end machinery.... but it's happened that the power company alerts the cops, the cops talk to the landlord, and the landlord walks the cops in....

just putting it out there....

Well typically a 600w wouldnt run up more than $50 a month running on 12/12 or so... So $150-200 a month in lights... Thats not too questionable... I'm not much of a gamer and pretty easy with the heat/ac... It is pretty risky, but people keep saying they don't really care what the electric bill is as long as it's being paid. . . .

Not to mention the landlord will be looking for the power drain.., speaking as a former landlord

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Put it this way. A single oil radiator for your bedroom or lounge can easily run upto 3Kw.

You'r electricity bill will not get your caught unless you are stealing the electricity or not paying bills. Even if you have a landlord looking at the meters, it means nothing, he can have all the suspicions in the world, they mean nothing, as there are ten thousand and one different explanations for the usage, all of them totally legal and bonafied.

Much better to spend the time worrying about whether the wiring in the apartment can handle the current.

tip top toker said:

Put it this way. A single oil radiator for your bedroom or lounge can easily run upto 3Kw.

You'r electricity bill will not get your caught unless you are stealing the electricity or not paying bills. Even if you have a landlord looking at the meters, it means nothing, he can have all the suspicions in the world, they mean nothing, as there are ten thousand and one different explanations for the usage, all of them totally legal and bonafied.

Much better to spend the time worrying about whether the wiring in the apartment can handle the current.

Click to expand...

This is mostly what I was looking for ... How much current can the apartment actually handle? I know it'll vary but is there a common set up or something amongst apartment complexes ?

you have to check the breaker box....

if it's a place where you pay a fixed amt for electricity and water, or these are included in the rent, it's probably b/c not much current flows through there.....

rickymac21 said:

Well if the title isn't very clear please excuse me, the bong just did me over.

But basically I'm just trying to find info on apartment growing. Specifically how many watts I could use for the grow. . . I'll be starting with a single 600-1000 hps But eventually would like to run 1800-2000 (3-600's or 2-1000's). . .

Obviously this isn't including fans, pumps, etc. . .

Input?

Click to expand...

theres no way 3 600w lights is going to cost 500 bucks in PG@E and the power company is not going to care about your 3 600w lights.......

redivider said:

you have to check the breaker box....

if it's a place where you pay a fixed amt for electricity and water, or these are included in the rent, it's probably b/c not much current flows through there.....

Click to expand...

My apartment has 4 breakers each breaker has a 15 amp limit.......a good rule of thumb is only to use 80% or the max amp allowed per breaker.....So i put my light on one breaker(9amps) then i put the rest of my fans on another breaker(3amps) total im using 12 amps spread onto to breakers....... this leaves me two other breakers to use for house hold stuff like lights and vaccum and all my kitchen stuff and bathroom fans.....

tip top toker said:

Put it this way. A single oil radiator for your bedroom or lounge can easily run upto 3Kw.

You'r electricity bill will not get your caught unless you are stealing the electricity or not paying bills. Even if you have a landlord looking at the meters, it means nothing, he can have all the suspicions in the world, they mean nothing, as there are ten thousand and one different explanations for the usage, all of them totally legal and bonafied.

Much better to spend the time worrying about whether the wiring in the apartment can handle the current.

Click to expand...

well said REP for you

Typically apartment breakers are 15 amps. Much older places will have 20 amp breakers.
I live in a 100 year old building and the electricity set up is the worst ever!
I have my kitchen, main hall, sons bedroom and master bedroom all on one 20 amp breaker.
Considering the fridge and washing machine draw 11 amps alone I was bummed!
But I am the super here sooo I took my kitchen off that line by bringing in it's own independent 15 amp line and added a second 15 Amp line in my bedroom (where my grow is)
So now my veg cab is safely on the existing electricity (drawing about 5 amps total Cfl's) and my flower box with a 1000W hps and all it's fans and pumps are good to go on it's own 15 amp line.

It is important to know watts when you want to calculate cost.
It's important to know your total amps available to decide what you can pull off.

The amps is usually listed right on the breaker itself.
Also turn off your breaker in question and go in your place to see what is no longer powered and figure out how much all items are using (amperage) and then you will know what you have left to play with.

The formula for figuring out how many amps an appliance or other is using is watts/ volts= amps.
For example a 1000 watt hps will use 1000w/ 120V=8.333 amps.

all great advice, speaking as working as a former electricians assistant, most domestic houses are 110v so 1000w/110v= 9.09amp calculate that at 120% so 10.9A off your 15A fuse. 120% that rating is a good rule of thumb to calculate maximum draw from the light. Then with a say, 110 watt decent 6" fan... thats another 110w/110v*120%= 1.2A

so you can see you can easily run your 1kw light and fans, and enough left for a hydro setup or other fans/dehumidifier

Using the method i was taught when working, you are allowed 1350 watts off each 15A breaker and be perfectly safe... sure you might be able to push it more but i wouldnt recommend risking it

good point about the 110V vs. 120 usually stated but it does have a range..
My electricity is anywhere between 117V and 125V

Good info everyone ... Definitely should help me out... I talked to one of my handy man buddies and he said if needed he could actually add breakers or increase the amperage allowance if I needed... Which would be nice, Obviously something I can't really do in an apartment but maybe a house for rent or when I own my own .

Hey guys, my 2 bed apt has 15 amp breakers..I have a room that is not being used or running anything..I plan to use a 400 watt mh/hps light and a 600 watt mh/hps to equal 1000 watts...could I run that plus a 8" carbon filter fan all in that Sam room or should I plug one light in there and the other light into another room...like the living room that has nothing in there?

Note the equation above. IxE=Watts. A good place to start is to switch each breaker back and forth a few times. Make sure it clicks real nice. Then hook a light up to it so you know which one is which. Don't try switching anything that's already on. I'm a past apartment resident for over half my pathetic life of 61yr. The main thing condo or apartment (living in a chicken coop) to be ever fearful of is the fact that a large percentage of fires are caused by electrical malfunctions. Just knowing where the box is and which one to flip is a beginning. I=amp, E=volt. Try one of those neat electric plans so they know you are going to pay every month. If you want the stinky kind look into storage buildings where they are zoned for such items. I always had problems sleeping.

Thanks bud...i appreciate...i also.was wondering if a 6 in carbon filter fan can draw out the smell for 10 plants??