Can I run a 250 watt HPS setup here?

[Anon25314]

Newbie here! Used to grow in my closet when i was a teenager with cfls and experimented with outdoor grows aswell. Now I am a medical patient and am trying to grow the strongest medicine to help my chronic pain. BIG question is can I grow with HPS/Metal Halide lights in my home? its got fuse boxes still and in the kitchen we can't run the microwave and instapot at the same time without blowing one LOL. So heres a pic of the fuse box connected to my room and a pic of the layout. I have a window ac unit/tv w ps4 soundbar/and laptops in the room. Never had any problems with blowing a fuse here in my room but could I add a grow tent in with all this? I'm shooting for a low key 150/250 watt hps setup with possibly adding a veg box in here after the first grow. my room is the top left in the pic, ignore the 2's in the closet. 3 in the middle is for my ceiling fan, tv setup plugged into the 3 next too the door. ac into the 6 by the closet. I feel like id blow a fuse having the window unit and grow setup plugged into 1 socket. other than that no idea what im lookn at here. lmk what you guys think

 

[getogrow]

You are going to need to upgrade electrical box. I'd change that box out for dirt cheap but im far. Im going to take another look at your diagram but your pushing it to the limit wirth that ol 60amp fuse box. the hardest part of your job is to get a 14/2 or 12/2 piece of romex wire from your tent/room , to the fusebox. Do you by chance have access to an amp probe ? If not no big deal , i'll do the math....

 

[getogrow]

If im reading right then 3 is almost empty. looks like the only thing on 3 is your ps/tv and fan , thats nothing. That leaves 3/4 or more of that circuit open for you. It appears , you have around 1000 watts to play with without popping a fuse. Thats your light and plenty of fans to go with.
To prove my theory , go plug in your microwave into 3 and run it for about 3 min and that should work.

 

[Renfro]

To swap the fuse box to a breaker box you will need to pull a permit and have the meter pulled, work done, inspected and meter will be put back in by the POCO. The POCO will probably have to run a new drop from the transformer to handle the new load of a 100, 150 or 200 amp box.

 

[Renfro]

You may wish to consider a LED grow light for less power usage if you intend to keep the 60 amp box.

 

[getogrow]

To swap the fuse box to a breaker box you will need to pull a permit and have the meter pulled, work done, inspected and meter will be put back in by the POCO. The POCO will probably have to run a new drop from the transformer to handle the new load of a 100, 150 or 200 amp box.

I'm all for doing things the legal way but im not for wasting money. Any real electrician can hook him right up without messing with the poco. or a permit. The electrician will inspect the drop coming in from the pole and swap accordingly. He MAY choose to have you call the poco to change the drop , depending on your future needs. The way it sits now, it just needs to be swapped with a 60 or 100 amp box with AT LEAST 10 slots for breakers, 20 is better.
***don't try anything yourself !!!!!***

 

[Renfro]

The electrician will inspect the drop coming in from the pole and swap accordingly. He MAY choose to have you call the poco to change the drop , depending on your future needs.

Don't know where you are located but here the POCO handles the drop, never the electrician.

 

[Renfro]

Also if you find an electrician willing to change the panel without having the meter pulled to kill the power, RUN. That is not a professional.

 

[getogrow]

Also if you find an electrician willing to change the panel without having the meter pulled to kill the power, RUN. That is not a professional.

Of course were not going to change it without pulling the meter. I have done it in an emergency though. You gotta work on a lot of live stuff in hospitals/medical facilities. Here in the big city , the poco is supposed to come and unplug but if we were to sit and wait on them all day people would be PISSED.

Question Anon: why is 8, 9 and 10 labeled on the diagram ? Where are those circuits ?

 

[Anon25314]

If im reading right then 3 is almost empty. looks like the only thing on 3 is your ps/tv and fan , thats nothing. That leaves 3/4 or more of that circuit open for you. It appears , you have around 1000 watts to play with without popping a fuse. Thats your light and plenty of fans to go with.
To prove my theory , go plug in your microwave into 3 and run it for about 3 min and that should work.

sorry for getn back so late, im really happy I got a response so fast! im gonna get somone to help me out with the microwave test as I can't really move that into my room by myself :/. and don't have an amp probe but might be able to get one. I know an electrician but he doesn't know about the grow, I could possibly see how much he would charge to change the box. we do live in the city so idk if that will be a prob or not changing it under the table like that.
8, 9 and 10 are the living room and thats a diff box

 

[Anon25314]

Also if you find an electrician willing to change the panel without having the meter pulled to kill the power, RUN. That is not a professional.

Definitely hahaha, I know of someone who can possibly do this for me. It's a family friend in a local union here

 

[Anon25314]

If its too much to run a 150 or 250w hps then think a t5 setup would work? I know those have good result for cfl grows
Also what does it mean when the 6,3 are right next to eachother, is the first circuit the socket up top? because there's 2 sockets on the wall in those places one high one low

 

[PrometheanLeaf]

What size tent? And what lighting budget do you have?

 

[getogrow]

I would like to see the other box if possible ? Are they both connected to the same meter base? With a service that old , you don't have to explain yourself to the electrician. Just tell him you want the box only updated if its safe to do so. Soon as he sees it hes going to say "yea this is too old , lets get you a breaker box" and all the boxes in the stores are going to have more space then your old one. If he "thinks" the box is ok then tell him you need a couple more circuits for your kitchen later down the road, he wont ask questions.

 

[getogrow]

Dont worry about the microwave test....do you have a toaster ? if so that will work or a space heater, coffee pot ect... anything with a heating element is going to be more watts then you need for lights. im suspecting you have around 1000 watts to use without popping a fuse.

Im guessing there are 2 sockets on 3 and 2 on 6 in that spot on the wall , they just didnt label it .

 

[getogrow]

no nevermind, im pretty sure both the outlets up high are on 3. the rest of the room is on 6 so im assuming the plugs down low are on 6

 

[Anon25314]

What size tent? And what lighting budget do you have?

Going to get a 2x3x67inch ish or 2x2 tent and was gonna scrog it for max effeciancy. And as far as budget, ill have around 1200 to play with the whole setup, got an organic soil cookn as soon as i get an able bodied person to mix this for me.

 

[Anon25314]

no nevermind, im pretty sure both the outlets up high are on 3. the rest of the room is on 6 so im assuming the plugs down low are on 6

Did a test with a space heater i could roll to the plug. Pretty sure you're right the doubles are 3 high 6 low. Plugged the heater into the 3 next to my closet i would have everything plugged into. No blown fuses, ran for like 10 mins on high heat. Essentially i have 1000 watts to play with then eh? More or less. I forgot there is a lamp and something the rear surround speakers are plugged into the 3s aswell. So how do you do the math to figure out wattage for the fuse? Also here are pics of the other boxs

 

[PrometheanLeaf]

Going to get a 2x3x67inch ish or 2x2 tent and was gonna scrog it for max effeciancy. And as far as budget, ill have around 1200 to play with the whole setup, got an organic soil cookn as soon as i get an able bodied person to mix this for me.

This is what I would get if I wasn't going to diy a light for that space.

https://timbergrowlights.com/model-2vl/

That will flower a 2x2.5 ft tent remarkably well. And gives you the option to dim the power consumption down if you need to. As well as not having to go in and change the bulb, which sounds like it could be troublesome for you. (Not sure if you have mobility issues)

 

[Anon25314]

good shit thanks for the link, I'll check into LED growing. seems like that might be my best option here without having to change the box
and yeah mobility is an issue with me sadly, gonna have a trusted person set most of this up for me