First Time Poster Looking for a electrician for help with Load center Diagram!!!

greengiraffe206 · Nov 26, 2011

Hey everyone I have a situation i need help with. I am living in an old house that I assume has old wiring that i really dont feel comfortable hooking up to for my lights and stuff up to, so heres the situation, I have been looking into building a load center for my 3 600w hps's and an assortment of fans, pumps, etc. , I plan on hooking it all up to run off of 240. I made a diagram of what i knew or have found can be done but there are a few incomplete parts that im not 100% on and need some advise. So if there are any electricians or someone with excellent knowledge on this matter i would appreciate you taking a look and helping me connect the dots so to speak. thanks :weed:

Billdo024 · Nov 26, 2011

Well whats your question? You have a diagram that looks complete, that looks like it would serve your needs. do you understand what it is showing you?

greengiraffe206 · Nov 26, 2011

I guess my question is If the main like coming in is 240 i plan on hooking into my dryer vent, can i hook up the 8 120 plugs to that without frying things

unohu69 · Nov 26, 2011

Yes, your only going to use one hot feed from the 240. hence 120v to the outlets.

greengiraffe206 · Nov 27, 2011

Ok i think i get it instead of runnine two 120 lines off the breaker you run 1. Also i was wondering what is the best type of relay & timer i should use has anyone had good sucess with a certain brand and or model?

mrmadcow · Nov 27, 2011

what size breakers are you working with & what sizw wire are you planning to run?

greengiraffe206 · Nov 28, 2011

i cant go out and look now because its dark but tommorow ill go out and take pics of the main panel but bearing in mind i dont have that info at this current sec i was thinking of going with a 70 to 100 amp main breaker load center and was going to go with two 15 amp breakers and 1 possibly 2 20 amp breakers. I want to be able to run 3 600w hps for flowering along with all my fans, pumps, t5's all off this one panel do you think it could be done?

mrmadcow · Nov 28, 2011

70 amps for what you need is overkill.you can easily run 2 600 watt lights off a 15 amp breaker or 3 on a 20 amp breaker. the breaker box you want will be something like this;
http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1v/R-100184775/h_d2/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053
from the sound of what you are doing, you could skip the box altogether and run 2 20 amp breakers to power everything but that would leave little room for future expansion if you plan to ever go larger.

greengiraffe206 · Nov 28, 2011

Ok so ive been looking on homedepots web site and am having troubles figuring out which breakers to exactly use. I did however come across this load center and breaker combo, what do you think will this work? http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1v/R-100557051/h_d2/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053

greengiraffe · Nov 28, 2011

OK so i went out and took a look at my main load center and took some pics. The main breaker on the panel is 200 amps and all the other breakers are and assortment from 40, 30, but the majority are 20A breakers. There is also one 15A that is unmarked on the panel im not sure what its for but its there. Now a question this raises to me is where can i hook into the panel i didnt take any pics of it with the service door off so it might be hard to awnser that question i guess. I would really like to know what you guys think.

LT1RX7 Drifter · Nov 28, 2011

do you plan on having this inspected, if not you can pigtail your largest breaker in your old panel box to feed the load center, 70 amp is more then you needs, i would up your 120v outlet to 20 amp, your feeder cable has to be of the same gauge, remember you cant run the dryer at the same time as the grow room if you use its breaker for the feeder if the load is more then 70% you'll be tripping breakers

Kdn · Nov 28, 2011

Electric heating?, hell just loose one of the baseboards, and use it to power your grow room

The lights will keep it plenty warm after all.

greengiraffe206 · Nov 28, 2011

Yeah its electrical heating and thats a really good idea to use the heater power considering I dont use them at all. OK so with this new suggestion i know that the heaters are all on 20A breakers so hypothetically if this was a option i chose to use how would i make it all work off of one 20A breaker or is that where the pig tail comes in?

greengiraffe206 · Nov 29, 2011

so just had an interesting turn of events my 1000w bulb just exploded in my flowering room for some reason the only thing that i can think of is the surge on start up popped the bulb but now i have glass melted into my carpet it burned threw the tarp i had covering the floor

oh well all the more reason i need to get my lighting situation solved but this event has casused me to put more thought into soft start up any ideas guys ??

mrmadcow · Nov 29, 2011

that breakerbox http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1v/R-100557051/h_d2/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053 is a bit overkill but for the price I would consider it.
I would not try to "pigtail" to an existing breaker as it violates code & is unneeded. pick a heater you don't use & remove the breaker. get 1 the same style & rated for the same load as the wire you plan to run to the subpanel & just leave the heater wires capped & sitting in the panel(a label won't hurt)
again to keep it cheap & simple, does 1 of the heaters live in the grow or close by? you could use the existing wire & breaker & put a subpanel where the heater is or extend the wires to the grow but then you would be limited to 20 amps of 220. plenty for your current needs.

greengiraffe · Nov 30, 2011

ok so that will be what i try so im goning to take a picture of the heater in the grow room ill try to take out the wires as best as possible, and take a few pics for you if you dont mind checking them out and letting me know if this is a feasible option.

mrmadcow · Nov 30, 2011

the outer jacket of the wire should be labeled what size it is in gauge so it will say something like 10/3 or12/2 romex. that will be important & hard to tell from a photo.

greengiraffe · Dec 1, 2011

Hey madcow i really appreciate all the help i have another question though i was going threw some stuff today and found a single 220 plug with grey 3 wire romex coming out the back of it if this is the same type of wiring that my heater is running off of can i just go buy a 5-6ft piece or romex and wire that plug so my load center plugs into that ill post some pics or the wires on the heater and the plug in question

watchhowIdoit · Dec 1, 2011

a 20 amp circuit will be pretty much maxed out, if not on the verge of overload, running 3-600 watt lights. It needs to be at least 25 amps.....

greengiraffe206 · Dec 1, 2011

well ok then let me throw this one at you what if i unplugged the breaker attached to that heater and replaced it with a 30A that would work as long as i dont exceed the maximum main breaker right?

First Time Poster Looking for a electrician for help with Load center Diagram!!!

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