Half the power in apartment not working. Do I need to close down shop?

Just got a call from a friend whose apartment I grow in. They lost electricity in half the apartment. Fridge, garbage disposal, several lights and outlets not working.

They said they looked online and that usually this means one of the wires coming from the transformer went bad and needs to be replaced. Need to call electric company, or I guess maybe a private electrician to diagnose.

They're telling me if the electric company comes in they will go into every room to make sure the electricity is working. It's an apartment building.

Anyone have an idea what the issue could be? If the power company comes out will they come in to check all the rooms? Do I need to shut down the garden?

Are there any other apartments in the building that lost power as well? If so they'll probably fix it, if it's the transformer. If it's only you then they may come in. If there's more apartments that lost power, I'd just stay quiet and wait for it to be fixed.

I'm not sure if other apartments are affected. They said the neighbors are not home yet.

It's real bad timing too, my friends are leaving for vacation tomorrow and gonna be gone for a week. I won't be there till Monday and then it's gonna be just me to have to deal with all this. If it's not back on by then I'm gonna have to either call an electrician or the power company. I'm just glad that the grow room still has power atm.

Called the electric company. They are sending someone down tonight to see if it's a problem on their end or ours. If it's on our end then I gotta pack everything up and be out of there by tuesday. Sucks cause I have no where to stash my plants till this gets handled. Plan of action is to cut what I can and rent a uhaul van for the rest, and hook up a scrubber to the cigarette lighter, and keep fingers crossed. Hopefully it only takes a day or so to get fixed. Risky game this one is.

Sucks. Hope it goes well for you.

Not to state the obvious but did u go to check the breaker its possible theres another pannel in the basement... but why would u call.... i hope it was a small grow. .. im the master of overnight teardowns but in ur case id say fuck a fridge fuck a garbage disposal fuk some lights... the timers pumps lights acs etc etc work get it done and then fix shit..

If it's on your end.

This happened to me once in an old farmhouse with an ugly electrical box. Water was coming in the mast head and there was lots of corrosion in the box. At the main I found I had 120v on one side, but only 90v or so on the other.

I turned the main breaker back and forth about 10 times and that cleared things up long enough for me to finish the crop and ultimately exit the property (it was a slumlord rental).

What does your gut instincts tell you ???? its only going to be a day personally being its a apartment it should not be to huge of a grow ??? take it all down. Better safe then sorry plants will survive half a day with out power rent a truck or what ever take it down scrub down the place and buy some beer kick back and wait

Leccy gone in half of the apartment ? Can't you run a 2.5 m2 extention cable from one of the sockets that works ?

indalo said:

Leccy gone in half of the apartment ? Can't you run a 2.5 m2 extention cable from one of the sockets that works ?

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Nah his power works in the grow portion of the apartment, he's just worried they're gonna come in. This would sketch me out man, depending on the state probably plan on cleaning house.. Any updates?

yup.. either find someone who knows a lot of about electrical. . wait until they say its not on the power companies end.. and if its not.. pack it up at night.. bring it back in the next night.. pack it up. 3-4 in the AM. have the dude over early morning to fix.. have that shit back in by the next morning.

might be the main line / breaker for the apt needs to be replaced. idk why they would need to go in the apt at all, especially all the rooms even the ones that have working electricity.

i would find an electrician that is cool and will work for herb to see if its in the building or not Before calling the electric company. or just be supper paranoid enlist a few bodys and breakdown into a uhaul fast lol

Be very careful. My friend on IC got busted when the oil guy came to fill the tank and smelled a skunk in the house.

When you start breaking the laws of how not get busted or caught ,,, that is when your fucked is it worth it ??? clean the dam room up and have some piece of mind rather that gut feeling,,,,, will they come and check the room , Bottom line .
Its a perfect time for a un expected land lord visit apartment check going in with electricians in each room if i owned the place its what i would do ,, with out any formal written letter .... cause there is a serious issue .. on the property giving land lord permission to search each n every room ...
If you owned the apartment building you probably would do the same ,,, so don't say other wise ....

50 / 50 chance you packed everything up for nothing or you packed up everything and they did go into your room

Years ago i got a letter that fire inspection was going to take place they would be at my house during this time .. although i had hidden room i was not going to take a chance i did same dame thing rented a enclosed moving bin put it all inside and guess what took 10 hrs to do it cleaning etc only to have fire chief not even check compete house more or less came up stairs bull shitted for 10 mins pressed 1 fire alarm and mentioned we should have a few fire drill a year have a muster point etc
But you know what i had piece of mind knowing no matter what my ass was covered
And whats to say that he doesn't boot you out and call the cops if they did find your grow he could very well possibly say cause the excess power draw coming from your grow room caused the issue in the first place .
You just never know ,,, One thing growing it at your apartment but at a friends apartment ???? again if i was your friend i would be saying get this shit out of here till the issue is resolved PERIOD...
Cause its my fucking name on the lease

Better safe than sorry..never mind the chance of sharing a cell with someone who thinks you are PURDY..

You did check the panel box right?

Just go check for tripped breakers. They will be in the middle of the on off position. Turn them off first then back on. If one of you phases did go out some how that is the power company's problem and they only need to access the main panel.

Being as half the apt still has power, it is probably a tripped breaker.

The power company will check the legs at the outside meter if applicable. If a fault is found they'll fix it normally at no cost depending on the circumstances.

If it's in the main panel it's on you (or well in this instance the apartment owner/management company.



When a leg goes out it can cause the power to be very odd. For instance, in my scenario where I had corrosion on a leg (or failing main breaker)... I would have partial power, but not in the sense that some outlets worked and some didn't, but more in the sense that the TV had power and would power on, but would not display a picture (blue screen). Or the clock on the stove was powered, and the electric burners worked, but the oven wouldn't work.

All sorts of weird stuff like that.


I of course thought it was something on their end so I called the power company. They weren't aware of any issues in the area and asked if I wanted to schedule an appt for someone to come out. I declined until I further investigated it, but within an hour I had a bucket truck pulling in my driveway despite declining the appt.

The employee checked outside and said everything was OK - it was on our end. He wanted to come in, and I quickly had to make up an excuse stating that it was a split house and I didn't have access to that half of the basement. (basement had two staircases). He chuckled (as if he knew what I was up to) and sold me a few things to try when I "gained access" to the main box. Super nice dude, but I wouldn't take my chances. The world is filled with squares who believe in the "law" regardless.

FlowerFarmer said:

The power company will check the legs at the outside meter if applicable. If a fault is found they'll fix it normally at no cost depending on the circumstances.

If it's in the main panel it's on you (or well in this instance the apartment owner/management company.



When a leg goes out it can cause the power to be very odd. For instance, in my scenario where I had corrosion on a leg (or failing main breaker)... I would have partial power, but not in the sense that some outlets worked and some didn't, but more in the sense that the TV had power and would power on, but would not display a picture (blue screen). Or the clock on the stove was powered, and the electric burners worked, but the oven wouldn't work.

All sorts of weird stuff like that.


I of course thought it was something on their end so I called the power company. They weren't aware of any issues in the area and asked if I wanted to schedule an appt for someone to come out. I declined until I further investigated it, but within an hour I had a bucket truck pulling in my driveway despite declining the appt.

The employee checked outside and said everything was OK - it was on our end. He wanted to come in, and I quickly had to make up an excuse stating that it was a split house and I didn't have access to that half of the basement. (basement had two staircases). He chuckled (as if he knew what I was up to) and sold me a few things to try when I "gained access" to the main box. Super nice dude, but I wouldn't take my chances. The world is filled with squares who believe in the "law" regardless.

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yup same thing sorta happened with me although grow room lights were fine rest of house lights are dimming then light right up i went to panel even changed out the older 2 main big fuses there was also some corrosion on the plate being not great with electrica had a buddy who was a electrician come over he looked and said only one side of pole is actually working so its working overtime he cleaned up the breaker plates as best he could and it worked fine ever since
but he did say its time for a new panel soon

Its not as simple as what many of yas are saying. For one its not my place so I cant just say fuck the appliances and use what outlets are working. The people that live here want and need an apartment that is functional. My grow comes second to that.

Also its a major fire risk. The tenants spoke to a friends husband who is a master electrician who said a fire can easily start if one of the wires went. It can start arcing and sparking. He also said that if its not an issue on their end then the main breaker needs to be accessed which requires the landlord, and once repairs are done they absolutely must come in and check every single outlet. Its a matter of safety and is a definite.

The power co already came and initially said its a problem on their end, did repairs, and there is still no power, so either the problem damaged somethin in the building, or vice versa. Bottom line is they have to come in.

Theres no way around having to break it down which Im in the process of doing right now.

Also this is not going to be a one day thing. It likely is going to be several days. Tomorrow I call the landlord who will likely come over to see whats up. Then he calls and makes an appointment with the electric company or his electrician, which could end up being days later. Then theres the repairs which I can only hope will be quick. So my girls can very possibly be in complete darkness for several days which Im praying does not happen.

I only have till friday to get this resolved then I have to go back for work, and the plants will either have to be killed or I will have to transport them somewhere, likely across state lines which is dangerous in itself.

All the while Im dealing with this my friends the tenants went out of the country on vacation lol. Dont think they realize how serious this could end up for them. Shit Im not on the lease if anything goes down I can just disappear with nothing more than a lost crop. Those fuckers will have a warrant for arrest for operating a drug factory. Think their priorities are a little out of wack, they were more concerned with losing the money for their plane tickets. Wtf? Lol so Im left to handle all this with a landlord I dont even know, with the fate of my garden and their freedom in my hands. Lol this some crazy shit!

Ok rant over. Back to cleanup. I got about 10 hrs before I call the landlord.