fuses...am I screwed. electricians and handymen help!

I just moved into my new place to find that the power setup is far from awesome. The upstairs runs off of only one 20amp fuse. The WHOLE upstairs. We are using 2 600w that are 120v so I'm guessing roughly 10-12 amps. I want to know if I can add more and/or bigger fuses by myself. If its unsafe to do it myself I would get an electrician. I appreciate the feedback and will be upping reps for those who help! Thanks guys!

I would highly recommend an electrician if you're not at all familiar with electricity.. it can and will kill, without warning. This msg is for your own safety, and is by no means an insult or a bash. That said: I = W / V ... 1200 / 120v = 10A, guaranteed... 20A fuse circuit breaker/fuse is rated for 1840W (the 1840 value is a calculation of 20A breaker max W value * .8 - it's used to protect against material failures. Depending on the schematic, and how much of the downstairs wiring actually comes upstairs, you'd also learn how to safely 'fish' walls to run new wiring, and that's assuming you have all the other access points you need, which can change drastically.. especially if you're in an apartment-type setup. You can see how this may very well save 9 headaches by having another do it, as I've just touched on the beginnings of what's actually in play.. and I haven't even seen the blueprints/schematic - which is more than likely either A) partially re-wired over the last 10 years, B) schematic not updated to reflect changes or C) Any of 900 other things that could be a nasty surprise, and may cause you to take out power to your whole place.

Edit: If you're adding legs to circuits / things that require work in the fuse box.. might as well have them all re-settable circuit breakers (as you'd said fuse, I would take that to mean screw-in fuse) and breakers are much less of a headache in the dark w/no light to navigate by.

Go back to a 1000w only, its about 10A. Use large cfls for veg, tighten the flower room a little (get 50w sq/ft), use your brains, if you play with the electrics just guessing ,youll electrocute yourself or start a fire later on when your not home burning the house down.

*BUDS said:

Go back to a 1000w only, its about 10A. Use large cfls for veg, tighten the flower room a little (get 50w sq/ft), use your brains, if you play with the electrics just guessing ,youll electrocute yourself or start a fire later on when your not home burning the house down.

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Can run 2 600s w/10A .. 1000W = 8.33A~ ..

It's possible you could get an electrician out to change the fuse box, however he may refuse if the wiring in the building is too old, it will require a rewire if this is the case. In short it is not a cheap job at all.
You can not carry out any work like this yourself, it isn't simple and if you own the house it can not be sold without an electrical safety certificate for this box.

As for the current set up you have aprox 2400 watts to play with before your going to trip it.
Now what are you really running upstairs? Are you going to exceed this? I have to make sure not to use certain appliances during lights on as it can cause my circuit to trip, so could just be a case of avoiding some things.

Yes. Screw in fuses. Unfortunately I'm in a townhouse and cringe at the thought of paying somebody to do that when il just be out in a year. Upstairs there's going to be the 2 600w, oscillating fan, exhaust fan, possibly ac and all the pumps. There's a computer and tv that will probably have to stay off most of the time.

the AC is going to trip the breaker if you are running that with the lights on 20 amps

Whatever you do, don't just put in a bigger fuse. Under the best scenario, you've got no. 12 wire running the circuit. that's good for 20 amps. what is much more likely is that it's no. 14 wire, good for 15 amps. In most places, if you have a fuse box rather than breakers, the circuits were designed as 15 amp circuits. In the era that fuses were the standard equipment, we didn't have as many electrical items in the typical home, so 15 amps were the standard size circuit. As time marched on, we tend to have more electrical load in our homes so 20 amp circuits became the standard. The problem is people got used to the idea that when you overload a 15 a circuit, just screw in a 20 amp fuse and everything is kosher. In reality what happens is that if you are wired for 15 amps but continuously pulling more than that through your wiring you will eventually get thermal breakdown of wire insulation or other components.

Not to bore you with the details, but to give you an understanding of the risks involved, pulling more than 15 a begins to overheat the wire and insulation beyond it's safety factor. As the wire heats up, the resistance of the wire also goes up. As resistance increases, it requires more amprage to overcome the resistance of the wire and still deliver the required amount of amprage the equipment is calling for. This is a vicious cycle that sooner or later will lead to a failure and under many circumstances, an electrical fire. 9 times out of 10 when you hear of a fire that started electricaly, this is the cause.

On a side bar, reguardless of wire size, I would inspect the wire leaving the fuse box. If it's not plastic or rubber coated and by that I mean, it looks like it's coating is made of string woven around the conductors, I would de-rate my load by 25% of the rated wire size, minimum. Over the years, I probably removed several miles of this type of wire and I can say with authority that it is not uncommon at all for that type of insulation to be so brittle from thermal breakdown that it crumbles from handeling. Be cautious if you decide not to replace this type of wire.

*BUDS said:

Go back to a 1000w only, its about 10A. Use large cfls for veg, tighten the flower room a little (get 50w sq/ft), use your brains, if you play with the electrics just guessing ,youll electrocute yourself or start a fire later on when your not home burning the house down.

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not sure how this is of any help? he said he has 2 600w lights which is far better than a 1000w light.....did you even read his post or do you have another post stuck in your head from a different thread. he didnt even say anything about a veg room.....

I just moved into my new place to find that the power setup is far from awesome. The upstairs runs off of only one 20amp fuse. The WHOLE upstairs. We are using 2 600w that are 120v so I'm guessing roughly 10-12 amps. I want to know if I can add more and/or bigger fuses by myself. If its unsafe to do it myself I would get an electrician. I appreciate the feedback and will be upping reps for those who help! Thanks guys!​

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and to answer the OP's question. pay an electrician man like others have said if you have screw in fuses than that prob means the electrical in the house is old. by putting a 30A fuse in place of a 20A your just asking for a fire.

safety is your number 1 priority.

that being said, you can always call an electrician and ask about running a dedicated line just for your grow equipment. im not an electrician and i do not mess with electricity. I know if you had a newer fuse box and the newer style breakers you could just add a 30a breaker off the main feed and a dedicated 30A rated line to your room and wire it in. the details i couldnt tell you but the internet could. this would be reasonably safe as most breaker box's are designed to be able to add new breakers. replacinf a 20A breaker with a 30A breaker is never a good idea as like someone stated above certain wires are rated for certain amounts of electricity.

call an electrician, get a quote and then ask yourself if its too much money and burning to death in a house fire is worth the few bucks you will save by mickey mousing. Not trying to be rude just dont want to see anyone get hurt. this is a great hobby and its meant to be fun. but its not worth putting yourself or your family at risk over.

happy growing and be safe man
RMTB

I really think this place needs more moderation .. I imagine someone probably already burnt down there home , due to the bad advice given here ...

ProfessorPotSnob said:

I really think this place needs more moderation .. I imagine someone probably already burnt down there home , due to the bad advice given here ...

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HAHAHAHAHAHA, yeah shame they prob didnt make it to tell thier story i dont think my advice was too bad.

You can't add a fuse w a bigger amperage w/o increasing the gauge of the wires leading to that outlet. 15A gives you like 1650-1800w so just don't push your 20A limit Two words, Extension Cords (to other outlets/fuses)

so what wire would i need to run 30 amp. using 1000w mag ballast and 3 fans. i think im around 15 amps when all is turned on.

instead of running two lights on the same flowering cycle why not use 1 light and run it 24 hrs a day instead. flower half in the day and the other half at night.

use 1 light in 2 separate flowering rooms on different flowering cycles. Flower one in the day and one at night. power 1 light 24/7 to achieve the same effect as running 2 lights for 12 hours a day,,


im waiting for my '' likes''.. lol

cosmoridez said:

so what wire would i need to run 30 amp. using 1000w mag ballast and 3 fans. i think im around 15 amps when all is turned on.

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No. 10 wire.

droopy107 said:

No. 10 wire.

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A 30 AMP would need NO 10 wire. If you can get your lights on 220v you would cut your amps in half and not need that large of a wire.

I like the idea of running a flip box. Or like someone else said, get a 12 gauge extension cord and plug into another circuit. I highly doubt this guy is going to know how to wire 220.

If you rent then you should check the local county and state codes about residential electric; I don't know about your state but mine actually requires separate circuits for light (over-head) and outlets, and to have all electricity modern and up to code before rental is possible. You could avoid having to pay for an electrician by making your landlord pay, and it is time we hold landlords responsible for the jobs they ought to be doing.