Discrete Electrician Needed

Need to upgrade power allocation and was hoping to have it done right...I'm in North Carolina, anybody in the forums have any recommendations or am I basically S.O.L.? Fricking sucks

what is it that you want to do?

I had trouble finding one I could trust, though recently one came around, a friends dad. Unfortunately I'm not in NC but I do understand your frustration. took me months to find the right guy. id ask friends. I was going to just say it was for legal plants, a hobby. but I decided to wait to find the right person. also considered taking classes myself.
Good luck.

It is frustrating! Trying to upgrade my room with a dedicated amount of power, because as of now, I've reached my max at around 1400w total, and one watt over that trips the main breaker in the house which is obviously no good...I've got a friend who thinks he can help but he's no electrician per se...He thinks he can cut main power line in the attic, and then run line and drop it down to the room which I guess would give me a dedicated 240 outlet and I could then use a centralized light controller, and use up to 4000w in theory..I would feel more comfortable having it professionally done by an electrician that asks no questions and likes to get paid in cash lol..Any help or advice would be appreciated.

Truth is...the only person you can trust is yourself when it comes to this kind of stuff. You can call anyone to upgrade your service if that's what you're after but as far as running high amperage dedicated circuits to your grow room...do that shit yourself once you've done your homework. Whether you are legal or not, that won't prevent a robbery if someone happens to run their mouth to the wrong person. Just ma 2 cents.

Ive got a dude in North Carolina , i think hes around wilmington ? Maybe a little south, not sure.

Such a bugout thinking about bringin someone in..Someacdude how legit is your guy? Fricking sucks dealing with elec shit

I had an electrical need, bought a book.

I added to 15 amp breakers to my panel.
each breaker is wired to an individual 4 gang outlet.

Bless,
DZ

just say its for a air compressor for a future tool area workshop..

highqualityDO said:

just say its for a air compressor for a future tool area workshop..

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Just make sure the area is clean first, and figure out what type off amp. load your toys will have

It can't hurt to read up on basic electric any way you look at it, but it's always nice to know what your talking about so you don't seem deceptive

heelzballer said:

Such a bugout thinking about bringin someone in..Someacdude how legit is your guy? Fricking sucks dealing with elec shit

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Hes legit, hes also a super geek so he doesnt give a darn about your plants, only how to dial in your humidity and temp and how to properly size and run your circuit. I am on several hvac forums and anyone who does this crap all day then gets online to learn is the cream of the crop, kinda like this place.

send me a pm if you want his number, hes a good dude, matter of fact ive already told him how there is a nitch for trustworthy people to work in the grow hvac-electrical field, so hes down for referrals if you feel like it.

wait you are scared of a local electrician out of the blue. probably some guy that has a family and drinks a beer after work. But youll gladly take a recommendation from some guy on an internet forum?

Theres nothing magical about electricity and the only scarey part is putting in the new breaker. Have the electrician just put in a new breaker or subbox and run the wire out of the breaker box to were you can get to and the rest is just running wire to where you want outlets.

I told him it was for a bank of battery backups for my servers. Dont tell them its for a motor or air compressor as those are usually 220 and youll get a funny look when you want that much juice for 110 stuff.

I'm here to tell you that electricity and how your house is wired is not rocket science folks. In fact, it's pretty god damn easy if you follow a couple basic laws.

1. Never exceed the rates capacity of the wire by 80% of its rating
2. Watts\volts = amps. You can move the numbers in that equation to solve for anything

Google and a decent book (assuming your not a complete dumbass) will quickly solve your problem. If you want some help I can tell you exactly what you need to do and how but I need more details.

Own or renting your place?
Location of main breaker box
What kind of appliances you have (gas or electric water heater, stove, furnace)
How many lights your looking to run
What voltage your ballasts can run on.


I realize that it's a scary deal at first. He'll my hands were shaking the first time I replaced a circuit breaker. But fast forward 10 years and I just ran an entirely new service meter to a new socket, wired the whole grow room and basement, and built a custom light controller that handles 80 amps of 220 ballasts (18 1k set ups) with time delay start up, auto shut off at 90 degree room temperature and 15 min restrike waiting time.

That controller box cost me about $300 to make with everything included.

Answer the questions above with a picture of your service panel with the cover off and we will get you there. I promise, not going to cost more than $150 to run another line and outlets.

To all you Its so easy folks out here, Thank You.
Ive spent the last 30 years fixing things that you already fixed and made a lot of money and got a lot of laughs doing it.

Dude...what size is your main breaker? A simple 40 amp service is the easiest way to add to your room. If you have the room in your main breaker box install a double pole 40 amp breaker and run 12/2 wiring(stove wiring) to a smaller box in your grow. This is done all the time for pools, spas, welders and the like. You now have 40 amps to do with what you want right in the room. Use it 220v or spilt it up with 110v breakers. Just remember to hook the wire to the breaker...LAST and make sure the MAIN breaker to the entire house is off. Hope this helps a little JAS

JonnyAppleSeed420 said:

Dude...what size is your main breaker? A simple 40 amp service is the easiest way to add to your room. If you have the room in your main breaker box install a double pole 40 amp breaker and run 12/2 wiring(stove wiring) to a smaller box in your grow. This is done all the time for pools, spas, welders and the like. You now have 40 amps to do with what you want right in the room. Use it 220v or spilt it up with 110v breakers. Just remember to hook the wire to the breaker...LAST and make sure the MAIN breaker to the entire house is off. Hope this helps a little JAS

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Depending on where you live , doubling the wire size is not acceptable. 12 is only good for 20 amps by its self, 10 is good for 30 amps. Do not split your load between two separate conductors.

Look at it this way, if something does happen , the insurance company will not cover anything, plus fines, plus restitution. If your grow is that big do it right, let the electrician take the responsibility.

JonnyAppleSeed420 said:

Dude...what size is your main breaker? A simple 40 amp service is the easiest way to add to your room. If you have the room in your main breaker box install a double pole 40 amp breaker and run 12/2 wiring(stove wiring) to a smaller box in your grow. This is done all the time for pools, spas, welders and the like. You now have 40 amps to do with what you want right in the room. Use it 220v or spilt it up with 110v breakers. Just remember to hook the wire to the breaker...LAST and make sure the MAIN breaker to the entire house is off. Hope this helps a little JAS

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It's this kind of stupid shit that drives me crazy. If your not sure on your advice then don't fucking dole it out.
40 amps on 12/2 wire? That is a terrific way to start a fire. It's less than half of what is required.

8/2 for a 40 amp circuit. Code says up to 100'. You could get away with up to 200 feet easily.

Someacdude said:

To all you Its so easy folks out here, Thank You.
Ive spent the last 30 years fixing things that you already fixed and made a lot of money and got a lot of laughs doing it.

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If you fuck up, and start a fire on a circuit you put in, and are using for illegally growing marijuana, and a fire fighter dies in the process of putting your fire out, you will be charged with murder. This is why i dont fuck with electricity, considering the fact that i dont know shit about it. Sure i could read a book. But id still rather have a pro do this for me.

nicktater said:

If you fuck up, and start a fire on a circuit you put in, and are using for illegally growing marijuana, and a fire fighter dies in the process of putting your fire out, you will be charged with murder. This is why i dont fuck with electricity, considering the fact that i dont know shit about it. Sure i could read a book. But id still rather have a pro do this for me.

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Thankfully im legal here.

One day shortly after I started doing commercial electric work I realized how fucking awesome it's going to be to be able to do all this shit myself, I am just beginning my apprenticeship but I could do something simple like run a breaker to a room. I wonder how an electrician gets in the business of being grow-friendly, because I would certainly be weary of someone that claimed to be in an ad or something similar. I guess waiting for legalization in my state or moving to a more green friendly state would help though.