Yeah I paid a guy I work with to do 8 lights on 2 sets of 4/and 4 but after watching and helping him add outlets I figured I could do it myself..and as.for buying a house that's what an Inspector is for..if something isn't to code it gets fixed.. But you'll always find something not to code..you couldn't believe what I found moving in my house lol
How to have grow rooms wired to handle more electricity
- Thread starter AZgreenthumb
- Start date
GrowUrOwnDank
Well-Known Member
It's even easier to plug a 1500 watt space heater into your ungrounded wall outlet and turn it on. An aquaintence did just that in her home where she has older wiring. It burnt up the entire circuit. It's all good tho. She was having a construction friend replace the old outlets when needed and asked me for my advice and I told her to get a licensed electrician in there to fix that stuff and get it modernized. Well guess what. It didn't cause a fire and now SHE HAS TO GET A REAL ELECTRICIAN IN THERE. It's all good. Some peeps just have to fry some shit before they get it. Thankfully it wasn't any worse. Best of luck.
14/2 has a ground lol
bravedave
Well-Known Member
Nobody insinuated that it was physically difficult to wire up an oulet. (Look up "straw man" argument) The guy came in here giving electrical advice complete with pictures that simply showed he should not be. The unstablized and exposed wiring was only the first clue. Actually, I take that back, the first clue was when he said "my room has two plugs in it". In any case, the hanging wire will probably come in handy when he is standing on that footstool changing a filter and he slips snd needs something to grab onto or ultimately when he blows a circuit he can hang his trouble light from it. Doh!
bravedave
Well-Known Member
Put down the shovel bro. Yes, you can get 14/2 with a ground if you choose but it having a ground is not indicated by the 14/2. Most speaker wire is 14/2. But yeah, it is good you are grounded.
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WeedFreak78
Well-Known Member
Better never buy a house that's more than 50 yrs old or in a part of the country with lax building codes. You need to remember code is just a safe way of uniformly doing things, it doesn't mean it's the ONLY safe way of doing the work. I'm convinced it's jut a way to sap money from people having to buy permits. It was going to cost me over $200 in PERMITS just to have a breaker box swapped out to a newer style that i can get breakers for, no additions, no new wiring, remove one box, put a newer version in it's place. The materials are going to cost less than the permits..Yeah I'm going to pull permits for that..pffft!
GrowUrOwnDank
Well-Known Member
I totally disagree. Code is to try and help protect peeps from doing stupid amateur crap and killing themselves and their fam.
Yeah yeah. Yall just keep adding breakers Til the box is full and stringing 14 gauge wire. I don't have to live with ya. Best of luck with that.
GrowUrOwnDank
Well-Known Member
Only if it's hooked up to something. But, yeah it's good if yours is. I was under the impression yours wasn't. Really old houses didn't have a ground. They didn't even have receptacles with the third prong. They don't make those receptacles anymore so you have to label the cover "NO GROUND" and use three prong receptacles. I still think your taxing that 14/2 and 15 amp with too high of wattage. I would not use 14 gauge wire for anything other than a simple light for a room and maybe a receptacle for a TV or lamp or other low watt device. Even a modern kitchen and bathroom should be on a twenty amp circle and further made safe with GFCI.
AZgreenthumb
Well-Known Member
Allow me to clarify on my original post I realized that I actually use a extension cord to plug my second 1000w into a seprate plug in so no I'm not running 2000w on a 15 amp circuit still need to get better power for my room though so these Breakers will stop tripping thanks for the advice evreybody!
GrowUrOwnDank
Well-Known Member
I would use a heavy duty 12 gauge extension cord too LOL! I got one myself off ebay for maybe $16 shipped. And my set up only pulls 500 watts tops. I always over do shit. I mean.....
BuzzD2Kill
Well-Known Member
Im glad theres codes, job security!! That 200 for a permit pays to make sure its done right. Worth the money for sure, double your power!!!!! If we dont pay it forward, it wont come back around. Instead we complain about paying to much in turn our own wages drop.
12/2 means 2 insulated conductors with an uninsulated ground all wire is sold this way
bravedave
Well-Known Member
Not true. You certainly can purchase ungrounded 12/2 and it is also evident in the label of the wire you describe...it will say 12/2 'W/Ground"
Edit: I should add that I have spool of it in my garage, that I utilized for landscape lighting.
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GrowUrOwnDank
Well-Known Member
I always just think of the 2 as 120 and the 3 as 240. Lots of inaccurate stuff here. I wouldn't even bother with 14 gauge or 15 amp on this kind of project.
bravedave
Well-Known Member
Ahhh. I see your QUOTE is not terminated. So we are in agreement. Just saying 12/2, is not enough. Clarity is even better than agreement. You see bro some here would take your comment, run down to HD and ask for 12/2 and when the clerk countered with "Romex then?" and their eyes would glaze over or they'd happen on spool of ungrounded 12/2 landscape wire and grab it based on being told that 12/2 is always this...
I agree, it was poorly stated, it's easy to forget that folks will sometimes just run out and think there electricians because they read something on a forum. I think both of our bottom lines are that if you aren't licensed or insured for doing the work, then don't risk destroying your home to save one plants profit, that's bad business. Much better to let someone else's insurance handle that.
Peace
TheHermit
Well-Known Member
I can see the merit of leaving the wire outside of the walls though. I did suggest for him to staple it to the ceiling. With it set up the way it is now, it would be very easy for him to tear down his grow room completely if need be. As long as he exercises common sense while in his growroom and respects the fact that there is an exposed wire, he should be fine. I do agree he should upgrade from the 14/2, but I bet a lot of growers are probably growing on 14/2 and not even realizing it. I just fail to see how a line direct from the breaker is dangerous. 1000w on 15 amps is perfectly safe. If someone doesn't have the knowledge or comfort level to do it themselves, then by all means they should hire an electrician.Nobody insinuated that it was physically difficult to wire up an oulet. (Look up "straw man" argument) The guy came in here giving electrical advice complete with pictures that simply showed he should not be. The unstablized and exposed wiring was only the first clue. Actually, I take that back, the first clue was when he said "my room has two plugs in it". In any case, the hanging wire will probably come in handy when he is standing on that footstool changing a filter and he slips snd needs something to grab onto or ultimately when he blows a circuit he can hang his trouble light from it. Doh!
bravedave
Well-Known Member
Really not trying to be a contrarian but a couple things...no, there is very little merit in leaving an exposed wire except maybe temporarily...thats what outlets and/or extension cords are for. Sure, rip out the grow room, the outlets still being there is probably not a problem. And speaking of straw, I don't think anyone said a new direct line and breaker installed is dangerous...only that it could be made to be. That said, your last sentence holds some wisdom.
JSB99
Well-Known Member
I converted my garage into a home theater a few years ago and ran 4 breakers for it. I also wired my shop with 2 120v breakers and a 240v breaker. I learned how to do this correctly and to code by using the proper resources and calculations for which sized breakers I should be using. I will also be running 240v breaker and a dedicated 120v to the room where I'll be setting up my new grow. I'll be mounting my gang boxes and outlets in the ceiling via the attic instead of fishing romex through the walls. This, to me, is a better alternative.
This is fairly easy to do but it's also a very easy to get yourself killed if you don't know exactly what you are doing. Also, from what I understand, if you have a fire and your insurance company finds out your wiring wasn't done by a licensed electrician, your insurance may be denied. I'm not totally sure about this but that's what I hear.
These are the things I learned while working on my electrical stuff...
Don't get your electrical advice from a marijuana forum, go to an electricians forum.
Do not smoke and play with electricity (duh)
Before you do ANY work, turn off your main breaker and make absolutely sure it is off. A simple, but effective method is walking through your house and making sure nothing has power
Learn how to do EVERYTHING according to code and then bribe an electrician to inspect, make corrections, and sign off on your work with a little trade after you're done
Figure out the draw per circuit and mount the proper amperage breaker. Don't just put a huge breaker in your panel and run a whole bunch of power hungry equipment off it
Modern homes are using AFCI breakers for the bedrooms. If swapping out an AFCI breaker, swap with a higher amperage AFCI breaker, not a standard breaker. Don't take shortcuts.
A 240v breaker is nothing but a double 120v that takes up two spaces in your breaker box. It's not complex.
Don't have exposed romex running down your walls. Run your wires through your walls. Learn how to cut your drywall, fish wires through, mount gang boxes, and patch drywall.
If your running wires through electrical pvc outside, make sure you run TNNT and check the max amount of wires you can run through the pvc diameter pipes you'll be using
240v equipment uses the same amount of electricity as 120v but at half the amperage
Finally, if you don't understand how electricity works or you are least bit nervous about what you are doing, DON'T! You need to know what you're doing or there's a very good chance you will kill yourself or burn down your house and kill others. You need to have the confidence that you understand exactly how things work with electricity.
Hey people, be safe. It's so easy to kill yourself doing this kind of stuff.
This is fairly easy to do but it's also a very easy to get yourself killed if you don't know exactly what you are doing. Also, from what I understand, if you have a fire and your insurance company finds out your wiring wasn't done by a licensed electrician, your insurance may be denied. I'm not totally sure about this but that's what I hear.
These are the things I learned while working on my electrical stuff...
Don't get your electrical advice from a marijuana forum, go to an electricians forum.
Do not smoke and play with electricity (duh)
Before you do ANY work, turn off your main breaker and make absolutely sure it is off. A simple, but effective method is walking through your house and making sure nothing has power
Learn how to do EVERYTHING according to code and then bribe an electrician to inspect, make corrections, and sign off on your work with a little trade after you're done
Figure out the draw per circuit and mount the proper amperage breaker. Don't just put a huge breaker in your panel and run a whole bunch of power hungry equipment off it
Modern homes are using AFCI breakers for the bedrooms. If swapping out an AFCI breaker, swap with a higher amperage AFCI breaker, not a standard breaker. Don't take shortcuts.
A 240v breaker is nothing but a double 120v that takes up two spaces in your breaker box. It's not complex.
Don't have exposed romex running down your walls. Run your wires through your walls. Learn how to cut your drywall, fish wires through, mount gang boxes, and patch drywall.
If your running wires through electrical pvc outside, make sure you run TNNT and check the max amount of wires you can run through the pvc diameter pipes you'll be using
240v equipment uses the same amount of electricity as 120v but at half the amperage
Finally, if you don't understand how electricity works or you are least bit nervous about what you are doing, DON'T! You need to know what you're doing or there's a very good chance you will kill yourself or burn down your house and kill others. You need to have the confidence that you understand exactly how things work with electricity.
Hey people, be safe. It's so easy to kill yourself doing this kind of stuff.