running elecricity to growroom help,4000k.

[madpenguin]

I'll tell you something I encountered about 2 years ago if it helps you any. Was working for a property owner (still do) and he owns a slew of duplex houses in my city.

Got a service call from him that one of the tenants had a receptacle catch on fire in the first floor back bedroom. Went over, asked him what was up as he was leading me back to the bedroom and he didn't have a very plausible explanation. The room was very sparse, all floor receptacles. He just said a vacuum cleaner did it. Wouldn't hardly look directly at me, hesitated slightly when he answered.... I knew what was up. He bugged out all of his shit the day before. Room smelled heavily of Nag Champa incense.... You could even see crap loads of tape residue on the walls where he had mylar taped up previously. Had I bothered to closely inspect the floor for dirt, I bet there would have been some small leaf particles here and there, or soil even....

He had only lived there for about a month and said he wanted to turn it into a game room, movie/entertainment room.... I forget what he said. But if just a vacuum cleaner did that then he didn't know how he was going to do anything with the room.

Wound up being all knob & tube wiring on one circuit that fed that room. Even had an old school fuse panel in the basement. The circuit in question had a 30A fuse in it. The guy kept blowing 15A fuses with all his equipment so he got the bright idea of putting a 30A fuse in instead. Receptacle caught on fire and fried the K&T wiring.

I made it a point to mention the 30A fuse on 15A rated wire and he just stared at me like a deer in headlights.

I recommended to the property owner to replace the fuse panel with a new main breaker panel and punch in dedicated circuits to the back bedroom. Problem solved. I even got to put the fridge on new romex as well. More money in my pocket and I was covering for the tenant at the same time. I even asked the dude how many circuits he wanted. I automatically made them all 20A. Think I punched in 3 of them. The bottom of the boxes were exposed in the basement along with all the floor joists. Was really easy to do. I kept my mouth shut and made some money and the dude probably set his shit back up the very next day.

Moral of the story.... It's work. Pays my rent and puts food in my fridge. I don't ask questions. I don't snitch to the landlord. I don't inform the police. I think you'll find quite a few electricians with the same frame of mind. I also made it a point not to smile at the guy, or roll my eyes or indicate that I was suspicious. You could tell he was already nervous to begin with....

Anyway. Just make up a story and rehearse it if your that worried about it...

 

[PharmaCan]

Nah... Got a girlfriend. That's worse than being busy at work. I'm fuckin' up my grow because of it too..... Clones dying because of no water, the pump disconnecting from the hose inside the mother res almost killed my mother(ebb&flood). Just generally neglecting the ladies in the attic in favor of the one lady that doesn't know I grow.... Very hard to keep stuff like that secret and still maintain your op. Come harvest time, I think I'll be "out of town for a couple days" just to be able to get the shit done.....

Good luck with that! lol

PC

 

[madpenguin]

Actually, putting the wire into the main panel is one of the most dangerous parts - the wire is stiff and you have to pull a little hard and it's easy for your hands to slip or the wire to go someplace it shouldn't. Be real careful when you do this. Don't just watch the wire going thru the hole. Also watch your hands and the end of the wire.

PC

That is the most dangerous part of installing a branch circuit or feeder for a sub panel. Even if the main breaker is turned off. Those 2 exposed lugs that your incoming service cable attach to (above the main breaker) are still hot regardless of whether the main breaker is on or off. Don't accidentally jumper those 2 with a a piece of wire(or your hands). Don't accidentally touch an exposed bare wire to one of those hot lugs and the frame of the panel (or the neutral buss)....

As soon as I get the first inch or 2 of the wire in the box, I bend it towards me and start fishing the wire thru the panel knockout, continuously bending the wire toward me and having it exit the front of the panel. Keep your eye on those lugs as well as your hands and the cable in your hand.

An arc flash going off in your face is really no fun. It's hot enough to melt steel, so you'll get tiny chunks of molten copper and steel flying everywhere along with a blinding flash. I think I said somewhere in this post to always be aware of whats hot and whats grounded and their relation/proximity to one another. If you understand that, then you'll be ok.

 

[madpenguin]

Sorry, but I'm really bored today. I feel like elaborating on the above.

You can actually put your finger on one of those hot lugs. You will bring your body's voltage potential up to the same voltage as the lug, which is 120v (like a bird on a wire).

BUT, that's only if you are not grounded! If you grab on to the panel frame with your right hand and then touch one of the hot lugs with your left finger, your going to get the shit shocked out of you. Doing that, you've just created a voltage difference and have used yourself as a path to ground.

The same type of thing could happen without you even being aware that your actually grounded. Say you stepped on a roofing nail outside that just happened to be the exact length of the thickness of your shoe sole. The nail head is poking thru the bottom of your shoe but it's at just the right length that you can't feel the tip hitting the bottom of your foot. The nail head is in direct contact with the concrete floor (which is most definitely grounded by the way). Then, you've got your screw driver in hand and your terminating the neutral wire to the neutral buss and the flathead screwdriver slips out of the screw and your hand touches a breaker terminal screw that's hot.

Interesting, no? Your going to get the shit shocked out of you. If you are unfortunate enough to have that nail in your left shoe and your left hand touches something hot, then you could easily stop your heart because the current travels right over/thru your heart. I forget amount of current it takes to stop the human heart but it's really low. Half an amp maybe. A 60w light bulb that happens to be on that hot circuit when you touch it will kill you if your grounded.

For the really paranoid, always stand on a piece of 2x12 when your working on a panel. Make sure there are no nails in it. If you really want to be anal, you wrap it with roofing rubber or shower pan liner. If your REALLY paranoid, go buy a pair of nomex gloves rated for 600v. You should atleast wrap the metal shaft of your screwdriver with electrical tape so just the very tip is exposed. That has saved me from getting shocked more times than I can count.

 

[deepforest]

thanks PC and mad penguin