IS there a way to add more amps to your household
- Thread starter Allsop
- Start date
I am looking to add more amps to my house, The electricity keeps shutting off due to overload of the circuits. How can i fix this problem? I cant not loose wattage i am trying to add more a considerable amount.your going to need an electrician to do the work. check this link it will give you an idea of what's involved http://www.thathomesite.com/forums/load/wiring/msg0407141617080.html?13 ... expect to pay a couple thousand depending on what is needed. Call up a few electricians and get some quotes.
You may not need to upgrade your panel, you may in fact need to just add a few circuits which involves adding another breaker, wiring in the circuit (romex, sockets, etc). Your panel may already be a 200, or your circuits that are in place may be of too low a rating (10A, etc) to really run much on.
What's printed on the panel and on the breakers for the grow area, what's your wattage you're trying to pull from each circuit, is that wattage variable over time (ie, do you have two lamps starting on the same circuit, and could you stagger their start times?).
What's printed on the panel and on the breakers for the grow area, what's your wattage you're trying to pull from each circuit, is that wattage variable over time (ie, do you have two lamps starting on the same circuit, and could you stagger their start times?).
solarz
Member
When i had the electricians come out ot drop some circuits...they told me that that couldn't place a subpanel on a "wall" like that. They were talking about havin to place the subpanel outside...and drilling into the house ande shit, which would've cost a ton more money. So, needless to say, i was only able to get 3 x 20amp circuits dropped (giving me 60 amps total for the grow), and i will say it is a P.I.T.A. having only these three circuits. Plus i'm running everything on 120V!
EDIT: i also told them i was running servers and that why i needed the sub panel, b/c of upgrades and shit, and wanting to still be able to power everything up, and that's when they went into the whole subpanel being against code spill.
solarz
EDIT: i also told them i was running servers and that why i needed the sub panel, b/c of upgrades and shit, and wanting to still be able to power everything up, and that's when they went into the whole subpanel being against code spill.
solarz
Cannalicious
Member
Ok, this is what I did:
$350 total price. I took the 240V drier circuit and used it for this master relay center. That was $150 at the grow store. $100 was spent on other equipment at home depot to run the cord to the breaker box, all nicely done by one of my patients who happens to be an electrician. I paid him $100 for the install.
The box is on a timer (not shown) which turns on up to four 1000W lights (I have 3) with only 30 amps.
There was a relay box for 8 lights for $250 but my room isn't that big.
We were going to take out two 120V circuits and switch it to a 240 but were lucky enough to have one that we could use. I don't know what that would add to the price of the project.
Hope this helps...
$350 total price. I took the 240V drier circuit and used it for this master relay center. That was $150 at the grow store. $100 was spent on other equipment at home depot to run the cord to the breaker box, all nicely done by one of my patients who happens to be an electrician. I paid him $100 for the install.
The box is on a timer (not shown) which turns on up to four 1000W lights (I have 3) with only 30 amps.
There was a relay box for 8 lights for $250 but my room isn't that big.
We were going to take out two 120V circuits and switch it to a 240 but were lucky enough to have one that we could use. I don't know what that would add to the price of the project.
Hope this helps...
Last edited:
Cannalicious
Member
One more thing...I was using 120V for my ballasts until I did this project and I went to the grow store to get some plugs, and they just switched them out for me; says they do it all the time. Otherwise they are about $10.
Solarz, why didn't you just switch the ballasts to 220v. And run a 4 light lighting relay?
Best way to get more useable power out your house is to go 220v on your lighting & AC. This will double the power to use. Once you have that covered, I use a flip and run 2 rooms. I'm about to run 16 hoods and a 2hp chillking with about 40 amps. I will soon post up exactly what I'm doing. I'm sure some of you are scratchin your heads but when you see my setup you'll get it...
Best way to get more useable power out your house is to go 220v on your lighting & AC. This will double the power to use. Once you have that covered, I use a flip and run 2 rooms. I'm about to run 16 hoods and a 2hp chillking with about 40 amps. I will soon post up exactly what I'm doing. I'm sure some of you are scratchin your heads but when you see my setup you'll get it...
solarz
Member
At the time, i already had all the equipment...and i didn't have the money to get different shit. But i have contemplated using 1 of the 120 circuits and changing it to 220 to run the lights on, and then using one of those "2-in-1" circuit breakers to keep the 3 120v circuits as well.
My only issue is that (A) i don't fuck with electricity...lol and (B) i wasn't sure if the wire they used to run the 120 would be adequate for 220v (see A...lol).
My next option is to grab a few of those circuit boosters that give you about 10 more usable amps on a circuit, hence taking my 20 amps to 30 amps each.
solarz
pushlimits
Member
An Electrician, in the united States charges on average 70$ an hour with a 4 hour minimum, The way we estimate a job is by "Device". So say it will take this many hours to connect this many things. At my company we also charge +15% of all the material used to complete the job.
Allsop, the question you stated leaves alot of awnsers to chance. There can be a million and one things that will your circut breaker trip, most of which can be fixed by yourself. This gets rid of the need to hire an electrician that can compromise security (unless I came then of coures my lips are sealed) To pull a suspicious permit (unless the total is less then 500$) and spend lots and lots of money.
If you are a hobby grower, have less then two lights per room, are not drawing tons of KVA to your house then forget hiring people. Replace breakers, Increase wire gauge ECT. you can do alone. BUT if you are a commercial grower, Toohighmf has great advice- 220 less amps ECT. is a good road.
If you have a spicific question feel free to P.M. later Buddy
Allsop, the question you stated leaves alot of awnsers to chance. There can be a million and one things that will your circut breaker trip, most of which can be fixed by yourself. This gets rid of the need to hire an electrician that can compromise security (unless I came then of coures my lips are sealed) To pull a suspicious permit (unless the total is less then 500$) and spend lots and lots of money.
If you are a hobby grower, have less then two lights per room, are not drawing tons of KVA to your house then forget hiring people. Replace breakers, Increase wire gauge ECT. you can do alone. BUT if you are a commercial grower, Toohighmf has great advice- 220 less amps ECT. is a good road.
If you have a spicific question feel free to P.M. later Buddy
This is the best post in this thread so far. Along with a list of what the poster is attempting to run and in what configuration. IE, 120volt, or 240volt ballasts. What wattage, etc. Switching to 240 volt ballasts does not double the useable amperage, it simply splits the load across the two legs. An example would be a 120 volt 1000 watt ballast pulls roughly 9.9 amps. The same ballast configured in a 240 volt application will draw roughly 4.95 amps per leg, totalling 9.9 amps. The main reason for running a ballast in the 240volt manner is to reduce the wire size needed for the current draw, which reduces the cost for the wire needed for the runs.
Push limits. great reply. your definitely a journeyman. I do a lot of my own wiring, but wanted to run an additional 100amp sub from the existing 100. A friend is telling me I would have to change out the whole service to a 200A panel,and probably disconnect service, and get permits. I cant just shut down power, pop a 200 amp breaker in the main and add another sub?? what about wiring a 200 amp breaker in the 1st sub?
That's the same analogy as simply doubling any breaker in your panel. That will create an overload situation and a fire hazard. The supply to your panel from your utility is based on the size of the panel it feeds. If your service is underground, its extremely expensive to do a service upgrade. If its overhead its not to bad. 3k is what we get locally for an externally mounted service. That includes a 100' run to the transformer.
