Licensed Electrician Needed For An Estimate On Adding Power To Basement Grow Room

[chrizar]

Hey guys!  It's been a while since I've been on the site, last time I was here with the same issue.  Needed to add more power, and even had a guy come look at it etc.  Won't give any sort of details, but we passed on everything at the time and down scaled things for a bit etc etc.

 

So on to the fun stuff, I'm looking for someone who can add 2 more breakers to the main panel (if it's possible, 20 amp breakers) and re wire 2 more to be dedicated to just the basement.  Hell even bump those to 20 amp breakers.  All in all I need to safely be able to run 5k or so worth of stuff.  I'll lay out what I have and want to run.

 

2 1000w Apollo digital ballasts

2 Apollo 600w digital ballasts

1 Whynter 13k dual hose portable ac max 1180w

1 8 4ft bulb t5 fixture 440w roughly

400cfm fan 240cfm fan 150w roughly

air pumps, other assorted fans 100w roughly

1/4hp chiller 280w

cloner. 30w

 

so roughly 5400 watts worth, with room to go to 6k would be nice.  I do duct my heat out from the air cooled hoods, so the ac would not run all the time, nor would it be on max settings pulling 1180w.

 

I suppose I should note my space is about 12.6ft across and I want to say 16 feet long, but I have more I can use.  Going to try and make 2 5x5 flower areas for the 1k's, and a 4x4 for 1 of the 600's.  While having a 4x8 area for the t5 and another 600 for veg.  That's the rough plan at least right now, I have a current grow going with 1600w in lighting for my 5x10 tent, and an 8 bulb t5 in my 4x4 veg tent with a 30 site cloner, plus current seedlings.  I run a 1/10hp chiller to cool the cloner, as the frozen bottle trick got old.  I'm open to suggestion and imput from others.

 

pictures included to show what I'm working with.

[blackhorse]

Looking at the pic of the panel box, you have two empty slots at the bottom. This will give you two new 20 amp circuits. Shouldn't be any problem for an electrician or handyman.

[Indigro]

U r trying to cram a lot of gear in there... Id b surprised if that 13kbtu will work for u during the summer months, esp if u actually run it all simultaneously. Just a first thought

 

But you are working inside the box wo upgrading the main line... That is actually pretty darn ez to do, safely even. Im fearful (maybe respectful is a better word) of juice, but i would do all of this type of work on my own. It will costs u far less, wont have to involve another person to trust, and even still, you would be working w an unknown electrician that was willing to bypass pulling a permit and code. Id personally feel much more comfortable doing it all myself.

 

Just b cautious, understand what ur going to do, have a plan, double check everything. If u dont mind taking the main offline at the meter (also really easy), then u can even wire in a subpanel and not touch your existing breakers. You can also do a subpanel wo touching the meter. Im sure several of us here can walk u through it, combined w youtube and internet... Ez as pie.

 

But id tell a buddy and have them there to watch ur back if its a first time sort of thing, jic. He doesnt need to b an electrician, just able to perform cpr and get u to a hospital... ;-). I laugh at this a little, it really shouldn't happen, but yeah, it is juice. The biggest task is to always know the hot wire, to never touch it, and if u do, always triple check that the source is disconnected.

 

But depending upon where ur at, i know a darn good guy for electrical work... Trustworthy, honest, conscientious, competent, very fair in pricing. He's my best contact for the trades actually.

 

 

Btw... You can dump that chiller and cloner, which will reduce ur total draw and wont cut into your ac capacity. And can clone just as well... And not have to clean that thing everytime. Id ditch that stuff, totally unnecessary, and just requires more resources

[Willy]

you can buy a premade from this guy , i did , and highly reccomend his work. it fits and does everything you want, there are larger systems available, just pick one out.. if your intersted call him. good guy to deal with. he will do custom as well..

 

http://www.dxsoundco.com/

[Digitalmixx187]

I know a trustworthy Electrician in the Saginaw area, he is a grower and does great work. If your interested just shoot me a pm and I'll dig out his business card for ya.

[chrizar]

The chiller actually is going to be cooling my DWC setups soon.  For now though it will only have to deal with the cloner and 1 single rez to cool.  It does not run much now actually.  Never been a fan of the domes, but I'm sure it beats the hell out of carrying that heavy donkey thing full of water.

 

I should note I'm in Eastpointe, might make things a tad easier if the lighting controllers don't work out linked above.  Wish I'd have thought of something like that!

 

I emailed them about a lighting controller, that would be absolutely perfect for my situation.  I can safely handle everything but my lighting with how my house is wired up.  I'll wire up the outlets, that's easy enough.  I can't wait to get things rolling now, if they are still taking orders on these I'll be making big progress on a dream.  Working towards a friend and I starting our own genetics company!

Edited April 11, 2016 by chrizar

[chrizar]

you can buy a premade from this guy , i did , and highly reccomend his work. it fits and does everything you want, there are larger systems available, just pick one out.. if your intersted call him. good guy to deal with. he will do custom as well..

 

http://www.dxsoundco.com/

Going this route 99% sure.  I've talked to him today, got a reply within a few hours.  Told him what I wanted, and had, he made some suggestions and we're rolling.  I'll have to post pics and such if I go this route, since I'm already documenting my stuff via Youtube and Instagram.  I even have a friend who's going to get something from him if mine works well, so that's a plus too.  I appreciate the suggestion!

[Willy]

Going this route 99% sure.  I've talked to him today, got a reply within a few hours.  Told him what I wanted, and had, he made some suggestions and we're rolling.  I'll have to post pics and such if I go this route, since I'm already documenting my stuff via Youtube and Instagram.  I even have a friend who's going to get something from him if mine works well, so that's a plus too.  I appreciate the suggestion!

His stuff works great, i got mine a several years ago, and have never done a darn thing to it, maintenance free.. and on top of all that its safe, for us non electrical sorta guys, he's as good as it gets.  Glad it helped ya out.

Edited April 12, 2016 by Willy

[Highlander]

Just sharing my own experience after running RDWC for about six years. I scored a commercial grade chiller for a good price but went to great lengths to keep from having to use it. In the warmer months, I had the chiller outdoors. I dug a big hole (about 8 feet deep) next to the chiller and buried a 100 foot roll of PEX tubing so the nute solution would run through that before it hit the chiller. I set the chiller at 62 degrees and it rarely runs until about August. For the cold months I unhook the chiller and just let the nute solution cycle through the buried PEX. This keeps the nute solution between about 58 and 66 degrees from about October to May.

[chrizar]

Just sharing my own experience after running RDWC for about six years. I scored a commercial grade chiller for a good price but went to great lengths to keep from having to use it. In the warmer months, I had the chiller outdoors. I dug a big hole (about 8 feet deep) next to the chiller and buried a 100 foot roll of PEX tubing so the nute solution would run through that before it hit the chiller. I set the chiller at 62 degrees and it rarely runs until about August. For the cold months I unhook the chiller and just let the nute solution cycle through the buried PEX. This keeps the nute solution between about 58 and 66 degrees from about October to May.

 

I have a 1/10hp now, just for my cloner, but I'll be grabbing a 1/4hp one just to be safe.  I only plan on running 1 single 17 gal DWC container and my cloner.  I have 2 wort chillers to plop in the cooler, and using my small 132 or 256 pumps I'll push water through them with a temp controller in the res's.  It should be way easier to keep my temps down using the cooler to hold about 10 gallons of water.  Plus my chiller will be in another room, with heat being exhaust outside.

[chrizar]

Sad news, I don't have a 240v dryer outlet like I thought.  So I do need someone to run a power wire in, and up to the box I"m ordering from DXHydro.  Making a few local calls today and tomorrow, but no luck yet.

[Highlander]

Hopefully hydro Jack will chime in on this. But maybe not because as an electrician he understands the dangers of DIY. Best of luck to you.

[Willy]

Sad news, I don't have a 240v dryer outlet like I thought.  So I do need someone to run a power wire in, and up to the box I"m ordering from DXHydro.  Making a few local calls today and tomorrow, but no luck yet.

Shouldn't be too hard or expensive for  a dry plug installed.. Good luck..

[chrizar]

Shouldn't be too hard or expensive for  a dry plug installed.. Good luck..

 

I will probably just have them wire the box in directly to the power wire, and skip the outlet portion.  Have a guy coming to give me a quote tomorrow.

[SimonJones87EsJ]

I usually go to my neighbor for this kind of work. I'm very lucky that he's an electrician. Great that you replaced and fixed all details thanks for info and recommendations from this thread. But personally I in your place would find someone who really understand what to do. All this electrical theme is difficult for me and I am glad that many years ago I found this electrical contractor Louisville. They helped me with renovation of my house four years ago, and now if I had some issues I always call them.

Edited October 18, 2020 by SimonJones87EsJ