So my setup is in my garage and the breaker it is on is a 15 amp breaker. So when I blew the breaker the first time with only a 400 watt mh, six 26 watt cfl, and a small computer fan I went to investigate what else was on the same breaker. I found out that all the outlets in the garage, all the outlets in a room on the other side of the house, all but one outlet in an other room, the only outlet in the bathroom furthest from the garage, 2 outlets in a room near the garage as well as one outlet in the living room are all on the same 15 amp breaker!!! I don't understand why all of these outlets would be on the same 15 amp breaker. I have like 8 breakers yet over half the house is on the same breaker. Are there any electricians(or anybody with electrical experience) here that could tell me why this might be. In all honesty it has me baffled.
Just replace 2 of your single pole breakers with 1 60 amp double pole break. Now just hook up an sub panel. Then you will run new circuits form your sub panel
Or just rewire your house with a breaker that can handle everything. Like a 200A or something. You have 8 breakers, and one of them has half the house's shit on it? That sounds retarded. I don't know too much electrical stuff, only about 2 months into the course so sorry I can't really help. Without tearing your walls down it's gonna be hard to fix the fucked up wiring your dwelling unit consists of.
Looks to me like there are 2 expansion slots on the top, if so. This gives you 2 options, #1 run a separate line for the grow, (ie. add 20 amp breaker to the panel, use 12/2 w grnd from panel to grow, at the grow use multi gang box, add your recepticles and covers, all done. option #2 run 220v to a sub panel. (ie. add 30 amp brkr into panel, use 10/3 w grnd from panel to a fused service disconnect box at least 2 brks, split the 220v 1 leg to each brkr, now you have 2 110v circuts, all the power you need, wire your recpticles up and what ever else you want, now you're good to Grow!
Run a dedicated line to the garage. Typically it is a 220v so you can split it up into 2) 110v 20amp service via a sub panel. That should be more then enough for a home grow and room for expansion.
If you feel confident about yourself as a handy man you can totaly DIY!(http://forum.grasscity.com/grow-roo...torial-wiring-240v-30amp-circuit-sub-box.html ) Heres a tutorial I made a while ago in easy to understand language. I highly recommend getting a helio's, flipbox or some type of lighting controller because they really make things easy(They basically are premade sub panels like everyones telling you to get). You might need to look up a couple terms to make complete sense of the tutorial. once you open up your breaker panel everything will make a lot more sense. Good luck
BTW it sounds like either way your going to have to run more power to your garage, one thing to keep in mind is, The price difference in running a 15 amp 120v line (yielding roughly 1200 usable watts) VS. 30 amp 120v line (yielding 2400 usable watts) VS. 30 amp 240v (yielding roughly 4800) isn't going to be much at all so if there's a possibly your going to run more in the future I would upgrade now. Another thing too in a lot of places 240v power is cheaper on the power bill every month
I am currently having issues deciding what type of line i should run for my breaker. i was gonna get a 40amp double pull breaker and maybe a 12/3 (or 12/2?) line and run it to my room and wire it to a single outlet so i can power everything off a powerbar. etc.
[quote name='"69Bandit"']I am currently having issues deciding what type of line i should run for my breaker. i was gonna get a 40amp double pull breaker and maybe a 12/3 (or 12/2?) line and run it to my room and wire it to a single outlet so i can power everything off a powerbar. etc.[/quote] Correct me if I am wrong but the 2 and 3 stand for how many wires there are. The third being a ground which I think you should have cause its safer. So probably the 12/3 that is if the 12 gage can handle however much power you run through it. I think if your putting in a 40 amp double breaker you will need a thicker gage so maybe 10/3. Please correct me if I am wrong everybody.
8/3 would be much better. For friends I have wired several 30 amp 240v with 10/3 wire (10 gauge 3 wires). Adding 40amp Double Pole 240v - Electrical - DIY Chatroom - DIY Home Improvement Forum Because of how long we use our appliances often 12/12 or 18/6 you really should use 8/3, its not much more expensive and will handle high loads much better. 10/3 will however work but I would highly recommend against it.
[quote name='"medicaliOG"']8/3 would be much better. For friends I have wired several 30 amp 240v with 10/3 wire (10 gauge 3 wires). Adding 40amp Double Pole 240v - Electrical - DIY Chatroom - DIY Home Improvement Forum Because of how long we use our appliances often 12/12 or 18/6 you really should use 8/3, its not much more expensive and will handle high loads much better. 10/3 will however work but I would highly recommend against it.[/quote] Good to know thanks for the correction.
Ok, ill run 8/3 line from a 40amp breaker. going to run 120v because i only got 3 lights on the thing and if need be i can always hook up the 2nd positive for 240v, just cheaper for me currently to run 120v.
If you guys want I've got my Electrical Code book beside me Make sure everythings up to code ahahahha.
[quote name='"chronicTRE"']If you guys want I've got my Electrical Code book beside me Make sure everythings up to code ahahahha.[/quote] Lol well I have a question that maybe you can answer. Since my garage is already wired to a breaker in my box. If I figure out which wires are from my garage can I just add a new breaker to my box and move those garage wires to it? That way I don't have to run any new wires.
Yeah you can. But I don't personally like to trust old/other peoples wiring. I would run a double post 20-30 amp in the top of your breaker (which looks to be a 100amp? Magnetrip). Wire everything out of that.