Ummm, me. I never said that your growroom will go up in flames because of using an extension cord. I simply said that they aren't safe to use for permanent or extended use with heavy loads. Just because you've not experienced a fire by using one doesn't mean that they are completely safe. There are many reasons other than fire that make them unsafe. Not everyone is an electrician or a firefighter so they may not realize that the cord they are using isn't suitable for the load they are pulling or that the cord isn't in good condition. If you choose to use extension cords, great. I just don't want people thinking this is a good option for getting more power to the growroom because it isn't IMO. Safety first!
me only far a fan no light.
and thats hard to do. not really.
i am always thinking safety. and when i talk about running mh bulbs in a hps ballast this is 100% safe too or lower watt bulb in a higher watt ballast.. perfectly safe.. i would not say this if it were not safe..
than your a sloppy electrician, no offense.
than your a sloppy electrician, no offense.
see this? its exactly 14:L x 6"H and cool to the touch.
switches 1400w, 3 ballasts, 3 voltages, 2 cabs, 6 fans, temp overrides, room heat and a/c and many other nifty features. not a cord, powerstrip, or rigged cord end in the mix... every conductor is sized 140% minimum. and its still shitty work.
and whoever said residential structures often have the lights on a different circuit than the outlet in the same room apparently has never wired a house to begin with.... because in my more than 15 years in the trade I have never run a lighting circuit for bedroom lights.... there always fed off of the homerun outlet for the circuit in the room, which is in turn fed from a single arc fault breaker.... and thats code...
dont run HID fixtures off of cords... ever. the reason being that cords are not rated for continuous duty inductive loads, which is exaclty what an HID lamp used for a grow op is! If you have no other option than cords, go CFL, or have an experienced, electrician (not your bro thats working his forst summer with his dad on a jobsite) fabricate a proper temporary cord untill you can get a proper setup.
what i am about to say i have said so many times, im just going to quote myself as im getting tired of repeating myself:
and for prudence sake, that equation ive listed above applies to all parts of an electrical circuit, from start to finish. all cords, all fixture wires, voltages, ampacities, all cord ends and receptacles, breakers, etc, etc. its universal.
its the blades on the cord end, not the cord itself, vs the receptacle its plugged into.... unless its a NEMA/SPEC grade receptacle its a fire hazard.
and the insulation type of cords varies from manufacturer to manufacturer.
ambeint temps play a major role in insulation rating.
hysteresis gnerated heat on the cord cannot dissapate if the ambient temp is too high...
an ambeint temp can be greatly affected by a strong light source.
just because the air in the room is a certain temp, doesnt mean everything in the room is the same temp as the air.
so the cord gets warm, and the heat cant dissapate because your ambeint temp is high, say 78-82deg f. this is compunded by the intense light from the HID lamp. this light strikes the cord where it is visible and contributes greatly to more heat generation. over time, the insulation becomes brittle, untill one day a short circuit condition occurs after the cord insulation has sufficiently deterioted.
next time your in a big building/ warehouse that has HID lamps in it, look up.... if there cord fed its going to be with either armored cable with thwn-2 wire in it, or its going to be SO or SJ cable, which has a very high resistance to heat....
sorry for poor spelling, ive gotten to the point where i dont care about it
edit for clarity-
about cords and heat-
the danger is actually not from overloading the cord.... though overloading is a major, major concern, an overloaded cord becomes apparent pretty rapidly, you can smell it long befor eyou will see it.
the danger is from something that is close to being overloaded, i.e., maxed out... like running 1full rated ampacity of the cord.
ampacity is determined by the ambeint temps vs the voltage and power requirements of the device.
with a maxed out cord, the danger is from thermal expansion and contraction... the insulation on the cord expands as it heats up, then contracts later on when the lights turn off. its this continula expansion and contraction that degrades the insulation, being compounded by both additional heat and high levels of UV radiation from the HID lamps. UV makes thermoplastic get extremely brittle..... so running an hid lamp off of a cord is really a risky gamble, because its simply a matter if time untill you have a component failure. cords were never intended to run loads like that (an hid lamp)
this is why it takes 5 years of school and over 10,000 hours listed verifiable field exp befor eyou can even call yourself an electrician. theres alot to know.
