keep throwing breakers, not certain on the best way to handle it

bdt1981

Well-Known Member
so we got 2 1000 digital and 3 400 digital a 1 hp chiller few 6 in fans few oscillating fans pumps and say 6 t5's. bunch of shit. am using a room for grow and a room has chiller in it with all its shit going to one circut. a cord ran from bathroom to grow and it is noticible i think they are 20 amp fuses.

what would be some ways i can do it i dont know much about eletricity.
 

DeeTee

Well-Known Member
Are you sure it's 20amps? most household is 15 amps. you're running a lot of shit on that one breaker and obviously overloading it. split your equip and run half on one circuit and the other on an other circuit, or get an elctricien to run 2 30 amps cirrcuit to your room.
 

deman81

Member
Are you sure it's 20amps? most household is 15 amps. you're running a lot of shit on that one breaker and obviously overloading it. split your equip and run half on one circuit and the other on an other circuit, or get an elctricien to run 2 30 amps cirrcuit to your room.
Yup...way too much draw on one breaker....good thing its popping or you would burn down your house
 

ASMALLVOICE

Well-Known Member
so we got 2 1000 digital and 3 400 digital a 1 hp chiller few 6 in fans few oscillating fans pumps and say 6 t5's. bunch of shit. am using a room for grow and a room has chiller in it with all its shit going to one circut. a cord ran from bathroom to grow and it is noticible i think they are 20 amp fuses.

what would be some ways i can do it i dont know much about eletricity.

Man, I am surprised it let you power up the first time. You are running on borrowed time M8. You need to get upgraded, or take the 1000w lights out of the line up. Add up the amperage from all your devices then add an additional 25% of the total to that, and that is your minimum circuit ampacity ( breaker size) you should have. You never really want to force a breaker to live at its trip threshold for very long, dangerous ground M8.

Safety First M8

Peace

Asmallvoice
 

ringlead3r

Active Member
easiest way is to put a larger breaker in and its simple if your handy turn ur main off take breaker out and put larger one on. if your runing 14/2 you should take that out and run at least 12/2 to your outlets, however i believe a 30 amp breaker is calling for 10/2. hope you main box is close for you =P make sure you get higher amp outlets and step up the game on that part.

deetee also had an e z way if you can split them up on separate circuits but normally each room is ran on 1 circuit so that would mean you adding a whole breaker and running 12/2 from that breaker to your room
 

superstoner1

Well-Known Member
rough estimate of your amp use is close to 50a. a single household circuit will do a 1000w light with a little room left over but not much.
 

FilthyFletch

Mr I Can Do That For Half
Do not ever listen to this advice lol You do not just toss in a bigger breaker this is the worse advice that can be given as they use certain size breakers for a reason and match the wire guage to the amp draw so popping in a bigger breaker just increases the heat on the line and which in turn invites a fire..never ever just up the breaker size very very bad advice. Your 100 watt lights are gonna need a 15 amp breaker each on 110 power on a 100 amp box. If you have 220 equiptment then 1 20 amp breaker will handle those fine. The chiller will need a breaker thats 15 amps and you can add your fans on that one too. One 20 amp fuse will handle the 3 400 watt lights ok as long as nothing else really is on that breaker. Do not run extension cords from an outlet to the lights though as it will increase the chance of fire and damage to the ballasts..You can use short cords but they must be grounded cords with proper amp or wattage ratings same as timers or they will melt 1000 watt cords get hot.These are things to have handled before even starting the grow part. You can if your an electrician or very familar with new line pulls add new breakers to the breaker box and rull new lines and wire and be fine or pay an electrician to do it. Over loading a breaker, over adding a breaker amp, and etention cords leading cause of grow fires.
 

FilthyFletch

Mr I Can Do That For Half
220 will cut amp draw in half but your equiptment needs to be 220 or switchable between 110 and 220 to work.You d be best to make sure the breaker box is a 200 amp service also if you go that route.
 

MOTD

Member
220 will cut amp draw in half but your equiptment needs to be 220 or switchable between 110 and 220 to work.You d be best to make sure the breaker box is a 200 amp service also if you go that route.

Why would it need to bee a 200A service if your halving amperage?
 

superstoner1

Well-Known Member
he is talking about a 200a main service panel. with what this guy needs it will not fit in a smaller panel and still service the house.
 

MOTD

Member
You would need a lot more info to know that. If he's going the 220 route he is much less likely to need a service upgrade.
 

DeeTee

Well-Known Member
You could go 220 route but then you'd have to split it to 2 seperate 110 breakers, unless you're an expert on elctricity I would leave it to a qualified elctricien to do it for you, not wise to fool with 220VAC my friend.
 

imchucky666

Well-Known Member
so we got 2 1000 digital and 3 400 digital a 1 hp chiller few 6 in fans few oscillating fans pumps and say 6 t5's. bunch of shit. am using a room for grow and a room has chiller in it with all its shit going to one circut. a cord ran from bathroom to grow and it is noticible i think they are 20 amp fuses.

what would be some ways i can do it i dont know much about eletricity.
How many amp is your box?
You may need to have somebody come in, and put a 200A box if you don't already have, and run a dedicated circuit for just your lights, then use the existing one for your fans.
 

hotrodharley

Well-Known Member
What size cable are you using and how long is it? How many extension cords plugged into that one and what size are they? A chain breaks at its weakest link. A shitload of extension cords or undersize cable is impedance deluxe. Feel them and see if they are hot if you can keep the breakers from kicking long enough.

Then use 1 big fan or 2 big ones rather than multiple fans.
 

DeeTee

Well-Known Member
You could also look seriously into 12VDC fans, that would help with less elect use but you're still running a hell of a lot on one circuit.
 

bdt1981

Well-Known Member
not on onc circuit on like 3 or 4. thecord is big i think ill wait til next gro to fuck with it. thanks guys
 
This is my first post, and I am a journeyman electrcian. your 1000w lights will pull about 8.3 amps each. 1000w/120v = 8.33
Breakers are sized to trip at 80% of their rating. So technically a 20 amp breaker should trip at 16 amps, and a 15amp should trip at 12amps.
At 220v your lights should pull around 4.5amps. However it is unlikely you want to switch your feed to 220 as it would change every
plug or light on that circuit to 220v and wreck alot of your shit.

Houses typically have 14guage wire pulled through them, and commercial buildiings 12 gauge. 14 guage is good for 15amps, thus you should not have
any breakers larger than 15amps in your panel. In addition, whoever gave the advice to throw in a bigger breaker was wrong, and the advice
to leave your breaker alone as it is sized to your wire is dead on. Also it is good advice not to run a breaker at its max. Wires can carry
more ampacity than they are rated for, but they are rated as such to stop fires =)

As far as motors are concerned, 1hp = 746watts. so essentially, every hp= 6.22amps at 120v.

Finally, you should definetly consider getting some help from an electrician. The good news is, you should be able to work a trade out
pretty easy, as pretty much every sparky i know, lights up. A shop is going to charge you quite a bit to be honest, but might be your
only bet.

Another route to go would be to call up some local shops, ask them how much to change out an outlet, look for the ones that are cheap
and when the service electrician comes out, leave a little bit of smoke smell around and see if he perks up. If you find one that likes to
smoke (should be like fishing for minnows at the bait store) see if he would do some trading. If you can trade for services, you can
get your dream grow room at a fraction of the cost.

Hope that helps
 

bdt1981

Well-Known Member
House has a 200 amp breaker box. There are no 15 amp breakers the smallest is 20. Is it safe to do 2 1000 on one 20 amp circuit?
 
Top