Appartment growing, electrical questions, thx.

very clear bro ! helps alot to understand how this works!

As for the outlets as someone else already explained, it's 1875w total not each outlet. Also, like someone has already said, it's all about amps. Most bedrooms in apartments or townhomes have a 15 amp rating, you can easily find this out by finding the breaker box which should be somewhere in your apartment. Most individual breakers are already marked for which room or area of the home it supports, if not just shut them all off and turn one on at a time and find out what room or area it's powering. Most bathrooms have 20 amp breakers. So if you need the amps you will need to run a dedicated extension cord that is rated for the watts you need, from the bathroom to the grow room.

An "example" of totaling up how much amps you're using is: two 600 watt digitals uses 5 each for a total of 10 amps, inline exhaust fan uses 1.5 amps, two regular fans use .25 each for a total of .5 amps. That's 12 amps total being drawn from that room, the maximum is 15 amps because the breaker has a 15 amp circuit. Now one could add a few more electrical items to that room, but honestly, you never want to draw the maximum amps so 12 would be a "safe" maximum on a 15 amp circuit. And you can draw all 12 amps from one outlet or all of them in that room on that circuit, it doesn't matter.

As for the landlord receiving copies or a record of every monthly bill, it's amount and usage stats I don't know. Most do not, most have it setup to where they are just notified if the bill isn't paid on time, and this is usually just with city utilities. Example being if you had to pay for sewer and water which is usually a quarterly bil, many landlords have it setup to where if you don't pay it, they are notified and they or the rental agency that many owners use to do all the work for them will send you a pay or vacate notice, each state has it's own time limits. But for a landlord to keep track of a regular electric and gas account which he is not responsible for is not the norm, unless it's in his name it's not an issue. At most he may be notified if it isn't paid. What you need to worry about is inspections or visits from the landlord or a maintenance person. Make sure the room you're using as a grow room has no "mains" meaning no circuit box, no water shut off switches, connected to the furnace room, has the attic access, ect. Have a plan for when an unexpected visit happens, and if it's like most apartment knobs it can lock from the inside and you can pop the lock with a paper clip or small screwdriver by poking in the small hole on the knob. Always secure that room and prepare fro an excuse for not being able to go in there is someone asks to. When I lived in a apartment I had a Ebay store so I had tons of boxes and I strategically divided my grow room with them and other shipping supplies so if someone peaked in it looked as if the boxes filled the entire room. Also, average out all the electric bills since you've lived there. If the total say is 650 kWh(kilowatt hours) each month which is a modest amount for a single person living alone, never exceed x2 that amount. For veg say if you use a 400 watt, stop using the dishwasher, or fill your empty fridge with food or gallons of water so it runs less, put in a few CFL or LED light bulbs. Try to even out that average. Then when flower comes around, stop using the dryer if you have one, use cold/cold cycle on washer, turn down water heater, install all CFL and LEDs, use your pc 50% less, turn lights off, use appliances less, quit using oven if electric, ect, ect. The key is to gradually raise your usage to the point it's not noticeable.

You HAVE TO have a carbon filter for odor, maybe use the exhaust of those rooms to partially heat the apartment if you live in a cold climate. In hot months if you have central air you can cut off the main rooms from receivng that air so only the grow room and the bedroom where you sleep will have cool air. In apartments it's all about sacrifice and saving energy so you can transfer it to your grow room.

Expect the worst and be prepared for it and you'll get through it if it gets hairy. Don't be paranoid about the bill, I know people that went from 150 a month to over x2 at 300-400 and as long as the bill is paid it's all good in most cases. Peace

I'm a newbie here and most your response to this question was great, but never under any circumstance should someone replace or switch a 15 amp circuit breaker with a larger amp breaker unless the wiring to that specific circuit is replaced as well. A 15 amp breaker is protecting a circuit that uses maybe 12 to 14 gauge conductors, a 20 or 30 amp should be ran off a 10 gauge wire. Way too much work and danger. He should just run a properly rated extension cord from the bathroom as most bathrooms have a 20 amp circuit breaker.

I'm not surenwhere the idea of bathrooms having 20amp breakers come from. I have a new construction, and no 20 amp breakers. My bathrooms do have gfci outlets however,which is bad because galaxy's have the tendency to trip them. In your situation bro, ur gonna be using extension cords, u need to figure out which outlets are on what circuits. On a rental ur not gonna be tearing up walls running upgraded wires and putting in new breakers. Now where can et extra juice is ifu have an electric stove or drying with the big outlet. Those have extra amp availabilities u can take advantage of.

the most reliable way to get more power to that room would be to run a temporary bx (which is the armoured cable ) from you panel, exposed through the apt to that room and run the cable into a couple of plugs.. this way you can get power there, and still use the rest of the apt for its normal uses..

In this situation, the cable being exposed, you will have to possibly put protector strips if the cable is running across doorways etc.. the armoured cable is mechanically protected, so it is safe to run free air across the ceiling if you want.. but it can be crushed and is not supposed to be stepped on so i would suggest those little wire protector strips where the cable is in a traffic area..

YOu can tie your breaker into the panel on a new 15 or 20 amp breaker (depending on the chosen wire size ovbiously, 15 amp breaker for a 14 awg and 20 amp breaker for a 12 awg.. note, you must get the 15/20 amp plugs ( t-slot) plugs in the room if you decide to use the 20amp breaker as the typical outlets are rated for 15 amps, the t-slot are rated for 20a but can allow standard 15 amp plugs to be plugged into them.

also.. i am assuming with one room being a grow room, having an exposed cable wont be an issue for any of your visitors.. if you needed the cable to be hidden then the removal and install would be obviously more difficult, but still worth it to be safe in my opinion..

Find some one comfortable with removing the breaker box cover after you check the rooms and labels of breakers. If you have extra room in the panel for a double beaker remove a single and install a double according to wire size. In Ga. a 12 is required foe a 20 A service. Get a 'blue' old work box and 20A receptacle a length of 12/ 3 and place a new outlet below the breaker box for an extension cord. Unplug and walk way when you are done. if you have room for a new double install a dryer receptacle and have all the amps and watts you want. just invest in a floor sanding machine extension cord and duplex work box. Hooked It up for 20 years working hardwood floors. BE SAFE!

Just run a strait run back to the box on a new breaker safer then cords lying around if u don't wanna fish wire through the walls wire molding can b another option

Almost every home or townhome I've built or remodeled has had a 20 amp breaker for the bathroom, not sure why though. This is in 15 years of home construction in midwest area. But you're correct, most have a gfci outlet View attachment 2024115
and being I'm new to growing and have never specialized in electrical I admit I was wrong on the idea of connecting a ballast to this type of outlet. I remember these types of outlets are susceptible to phantom tripping, some more than others, so definitely not a good idea to use these for lights going on and off. Even other outlets that may be in the bathroom are connected to the gfci so no outlets in the bathroom are safe for grow lights. I always admit when I'm wrong. Wouldn't one need a a voltage converter to use the dryer 240V outlet for a 110-120V device? Unless they have a 240V connection for the ballast and that is the only thing they plan on connecting to that outlet and they don't want to attempt to rewire the double pole breaker to a single pole for use with 110-120 devices the converter is the only way to go no? My bro is an electrician, wish he was available to me right now.

Keep it simple, especially since you don't own it. If your devices use more than 15 amps then just grab those extra amps from another room with a properly rated extension cord, all this other advice requires electrical knowledge and experience. And the LAST thing you want to do other than electrocuting yourself or starting a fire is having another person know about your grow by having them come in and change out things in your breaker box.