[watts]

Hello everyone,

I'm new here. Perhaps someone could help me. I'm wondering what type of panel this is. I believe it's a 150-200 amp panel. The home was built in the 60's. I would like to run 30 amps on 240 volts to one of the bedrooms. This panel seems to have fuses on the bottom for bedrooms, living room etc. They seem to be 15-30 amps @ 120v. I'm not sure what you call those things at the top though. They say oven, range, A/c, dryer etc. They don't look like normal breakers to me. The room I want to grow in is not near dryer/range etc.

[blazeoneup]

Originally Posted by watts

Hello everyone,

I'm new here. Perhaps someone could help me. I'm wondering what type of panel this is. I believe it's a 150-200 amp panel. The home was built in the 60's. I would like to run 30 amps on 240 volts to one of the bedrooms. This panel seems to have fuses on the bottom for bedrooms, living room etc. They seem to be 15-30 amps @ 120v. I'm not sure what you call those things at the top though. They say oven, range, A/c, dryer etc. They don't look like normal breakers to me. The room I want to grow in is not near dryer/range etc.

That's a fuse box, those things at the top are a type of pull fuse. These are used for the heavy loads in older fuse boxes.

You should be able to look at the fuse panel diagram on the inside cover of the panel door. This should tell you what your main amperage is.

I think you will need to upgrade the old fuse style box to a newer breaker style box If you want to run 30 amps to your bedroom.

It appears that old panel is currently full. You have no free slots to pull 30amps at 240v from.

There is only 2 options in my opinion.

1 upgrade the old fuse box to a modern style breaker box which will have plenty enough slots for the wiring you want to install.

2 you could unhook the dryer or range pull fuse and use it to run a new 30amp 240v line to the bedroom.

This would leave you having no dryer or range service depending on which one you used.

The recommended way to do things would be upgrade the fuse panel to a modern breaker panel. This would provide you all the slots needed to install the new 30 amp 240v service to the room and house all the current service lines.

[Hammerhead]

Agree those are old school. if you ever need to upgrade you have to change out that panel. There is a controller that hooks up to your dryer outlet and your dryer plugs into the controller. When the lights are on the dryer wont work....Its called power thief from dx hydro

[joe fresh]

wow i can tell the house was built in the 60's, lol....along with those older fuse boxes usually those old houses have the old type of wireing(paper insulated types)

so to be safe i would switch out the fuse box for a breaker panel and def use |NEW wiring for the grow op....EDIT: COSTS TPO TRPLACE FUSE BOX WITH BREAKER BOX IS ROUGHLY 600 PLUS ANY WIRING YOU NEED DONE

[Agent-Smith]

Also Agreed. Hammer head had a good idea with the controller that looks like this


They also make a box that will give you 240V by plugging two cords into 2 seperate 120V circuits called the Orion 1 by Titan Controls if you just need something small for a light or two.


Both options MSRP for $299.95

[Hammerhead]

Looks like this 225$ it does not really steal power. It switches from one outlet to another. That name is no a good one.

[blazeoneup]

Originally Posted by watts

Hello everyone,
The room I want to grow in is not near dryer/range etc.

Judging from the posters initial statement I think those type of controllers are not an option for him. His dryer/range plugs are no where near the area he wants to grow.

He has really only the 2 options I posted previously. He either needs to upgrade his service to a newer panel with modern breakers and more available slots. Or he needs to use the dryer/range fuse and run a new line to a new outlet in the room in which he wants to do the growing.

[Hammerhead]

The problem with these controllers is that they have a 30a breaker feeding the Receptacle witch are only rated for 240/ 15a or 120v 15a.. This is a major safety issue in my eyes ... When I got my controller I had to replace allot of the wiring and all of the receptacles to 6-20r. They only used 12g(9.3a) wire I had to replace that to 10g(15a) This is with the 80% continuous running capacity. It will be allot cheaper to run a power cable from the controller to the grow room. Replacing that panel will run in thousands...

[joe fresh]

Originally Posted by Hammerhead

The problem with these controllers is that they have a 30a breaker feeding the Receptacle witch are only rated for 240/ 15a or 120v 15a.. This is a major safety issue in my eyes ... When I got my controller I had to replace allot of the wiring and all of the receptacles to 6-20r. They only used 12g(9.3a) wire I had to replace that to 10g(15a) This is with the 80% continuous running capacity. It will be allot cheaper to run a power cable from the controller to the grow room. Replacing that panel will run in thousands...

your a little off on your AWG=amps


60amp=6ga
40amp=8ga
30amp=10ga
20amp=12ga
15amp=14ga

heres a quick list of the most common wires used in a grow room, and their max rated amps....remember to never load your wires more than 80% of the max rated amps for that wire

[Hammerhead]

No you forgot the 80% capacity. My nubers have already taken that 80% out..

https://www.powerstream.com/Wire_Size.htm