Electrical Problems...could anyone help?

Hey Guys!

I'm having a big problem right now. It's 38°c or 100°f outside so we have the Wall Thermopump working and 2 other 12 000BTUs working 24/7 plus my 400w and the fans. So my breaker keeps on tripping.
And I don't think the plants are liking it one bit
Thing is, I know pretty much nothing about electricity, except for calculating resistance and stuff I learned in High School. I'm pretty sure that would mean changing it to a more powerful Circuit Breaker. It's presently a 125AMP panel.
What are the steps I'd need to follow to upgrade it?

Thanks a bunch!

possible to plug the ac unit into a different out let ? the ac unit that large should only have its own outlet, nothing else should be plug in with ,

you may have to get an extension cord from a different room and plug every thing else into it. CAUTION get a high quality cord if you do this, they sell 14 gage cords. make sure it says that 14 on it. or I can guaranteed a fire. only rec this because your small time , if you were big grower I say don't fuck around call the electrican

I actually tried both advices when I noticed the problem, but no matter where I plug the A/C it trips the breaker...

Plugging it in a different outlet will only solve that problem if outlet is on a different breaker than the one that keeps tripping. But not if you're overloading your house's main breaker. Try find which outlets are on what breakers by turning on appliances in all rooms then turn breakers off one by one so you can find which is which. Then plug each 12,000 btu A/c in an outlet that are on separate breakers. Then plug your 400 watt in an outlet without any a/c on same breaker. If you still trip breakers after doing that, you'll need to remove one of your a/c or try 8000 btu in order to run your light, e/o calling an electrician.

Hope this helps. Bump, 40 oz to freedom Sublime.

I did try another outlet on another breaker but when I turned on the A/C it tripped that breaker too.
My last option will be to get a 60" extension cord to plug it at the other side of the apartment hehe

Pretty much what notsoesoteric said, always write down your equipment info as far as amps it uses and figure out the switches for each room being used and how much each switch can handle, if you look at your switch panel and there looks like there are open slots for more breaker switches i suggest having a proffesional add a new switch (20 amps) or 2 switches and run just your a/c for the grow room and fans on it or just the a/c and light and use the existing wall outlets for small fans etc. and your problem should be solved. thats what I had to do too. better safe than sorry when it comes to overloaded switches and risk of fire.

I know quite a lot about electricity (high voltage engineer) so I will do my best to try and help you.

What is the rated power of each of your cooling units?

When exactly does it trip? Is it right after you have plugged your units in, or after some time?
If it trips right away it could be your GFCI/GFI/ALCI, which would mean that you have a short somewhere. If it trips right away, try plugging in your equipment one at a time and see which one causes it.

Plug the AC in first with everything else off. You may have a short like JMD said if it only trips when you plug in AC

Well the outlet I'm using for now is for my room, the bathroom and a small storage room with laundry equipment.
It works fine just as long as I don't open the light in the bathroom or the storage room. If I do the switch trips

SunnyHours said:

Well the outlet I'm using for now is for my room, the bathroom and a small storage room with laundry equipment.
It works fine just as long as I don't open the light in the bathroom or the storage room. If I do the switch trips

Click to expand...

I would strongly advise you to hire an electrician and get him to add an extra group/circuit breaker.
If your wiring is as it should be there is nothing to worry about, but if it isn't and you load it 100% for many hours every day.. you do the math

Be safe!

yea sounds to me like you just run to much on one circuit, listen to JMD, he seem`s to know his electric

Im in a new apartment so I have no problems like that, tho I still run some of my equipment from another room/circuit and I did get a few of them power saving rail`s and some LED/CFL bulb`s for the rest of the house so I atleast safe some where, fridges and washer/dishwasher is all A+

sorry wrong thread

After reading through the posts I would have to agree with the advice about adding another circuit. Overloads are obviously not a good thing for your plants, but more importantly a big risk to your life and property with a fire. Take a loss on your grow if you have too and start a new one during the cooler months or get it fixed right away.

Temp fix, as mentioned above, run high quality extension cords from rooms off the same circuit. Easy to do, flip your breakers one at a time and add the cord to separate circuits.

Good luck brother!

Go to your local hydro store, they should know of a 420 friendly electrician. I'm assuming your flowering at night, cooler temps outside usually. Plus less on in the house. Sounds like your overloaded on your circuits. You'll do fine if they are all up and running constantly, but you'll trip breakers when ac's cycle. They need a lot more amps at startup. So it is the cycling that's killing you. As someone else said LARGE ext. cord. ( smaller the # bigger the capacity) 12ga., 10ga, 8ga. Is short term fix

Alright problem solved!
Thanks guys, I really have no idea why I didn't think of putting my light and fans on the other breaker instead of concentrating all my efforts on the A/C unit which is 10 Amps & 1200w on it's own haha.
It's still unbelievably hot in my room though (28°c/82°f)
Fuckin' humidity is killing me! A fourth A/C for the apartment would be in order LOL (I rarely use the term "LOL" but this is so absurd...)
But the plants are happy!

P.S: Is it possible the cable I have which is pretty bulky be 16 gauge? it says SJIW 16-3 and 11-2 at the end...is it 11ga or 16 ga?
Thanks

SunnyHours said:

Hey Guys!

I'm having a big problem right now. It's 38°c or 100°f outside so we have the Wall Thermopump working and 2 other 12 000BTUs working 24/7 plus my 400w and the fans. So my breaker keeps on tripping.
And I don't think the plants are liking it one bit
Thing is, I know pretty much nothing about electricity, except for calculating resistance and stuff I learned in High School. I'm pretty sure that would mean changing it to a more powerful Circuit Breaker. It's presently a 125AMP panel.
What are the steps I'd need to follow to upgrade it?

Thanks a bunch!

Click to expand...

Just from what you said, I would suggest call an electrician, and have your main box upgraded to at least a 200A box.
Depending on your house and wiring from pole, you might even need new wire run for the added load.

Yeah but it's mainly a temporary problem. It's 100°f (38°c) outside so the A/C's have to run full blast, hence all the tripping that I've had and why it wasn't happening before with the same load

First step, calculate your total needs. Figure out the total max power consumption in amps. Then see what all in the house runs off that single breaker (I take it it's not your mains tripping?) and then calculate how much power you are trying to squeeze off the line including your grow gear.
Then the bad news: If you know little about electricity this ain't DIY mate, not at all. I would suggest you install a separate circuit to run your gear off soon as you know how much you need in amps (3/4 of the rated power is your real MAX you can load on a breaker) and have a new breaker installed. Once that's done you can run the power cords yourself as long as you buy the right grade shielded cable for the distance you are running.
Your breaker-box still have live wires in there even with the breaker down. Looks like if you don't call a sparky in you'll lose out on good herb... Invest the money, it's worth it. I've got 2 25amp breakers for my room (240 volt) wasn't cheap to have put in and explaining it was even harder, but I'm damn happy I did.