Don't Burn the House Down!

"My Breaker keeps tripping..."

"My HID Lights won't turn on..."

"I keep hearing loud buzzing or humming noises"

A very common, devastating, and possibly even deadly mistake made by beginner indoor growers is their lack of knowledge regarding electrical components. Most beginners take the time to educate themselves on how to grow and care for plants, however they disregard educating themselves on the technology they are using. Usually it's because the technology seems difficult to learn or out of pure laziness. Not everybody can be an Electrician, and while this is true you should still take the time to learn the basics. Furthermore, you should not take on projects which are beyond your understanding. Seek professional help instead of risking disaster by doing it yourselves.

One of the most important things you need to learn is how to measure amperage to watts properly to avoid breakers from clicking off. Don't be intimidated it's actually alot easier than it sounds. Most houses or apartments have a small breaker box attached to the unit which you have access to should your breakers click into an off position during a short circuit. Almost everybody has at least had to do this once; stumbling in the dark with a flashlight into the basement/garage, or sometimes they are even located outside of the house. Before choosing which room in your home you will grow in, you need to visit your breaker box. Bring a flashlight if it's in an area where there is no light.

A common household Breaker Box - 120v

If you look closely, you will see numbers written directly on the breaker switches. These numbers represent the maximum number of amps each breaker(or room in the house) can handle before turning off for obvious safety reasons. In the picture above the refrigerator, laundry, and heater breaker can handle as much as 20 amps and are on their own separate breaker switches. This is because these appliances consume a wattage higher than 1000 and have a high amperage rating. For example, if you plugged in your refrigerator to your family room(15amp max) then it would cause a short and click the breaker off in the family room. At the same time however if you plugged in multiple appliances to the same outlet that is connected to your refrigerator, then the breaker would switch off as well. This is why it's important not to just choose any breaker with a high amp rating and assume all will go well. It's more beneficial to choose a 15amp breaker with no appliances connected over a 20amp breaker that already has appliances plugged in. Furthermore, if you plan on adding more or more powerful MH/HPS lights later on you don't want to run into this problem then. 

So where should you plug in all your growroom appliances?

I'm gonna let you decide, however I will show you an example. While it looks tempting to run my appliances for my growroom from the master bedroom or kitchen, to me that would be a fire hazard. With a tv, computer, fans or ac/heater, game consoles, lights, alarm clocks, cable box, dvd players, and cell phone chargers there isn't much room for me to add high wattage HID lights. For the kitchen method it would fail the second someone decides to make toast or a margarita. 

If the picture above was my breaker box then here is what I would do:

1. I would choose the unused outside outlet with a 15amp max breaker

2. I would run weather proof cabling from the outside outlet into my growroom(master bedroom)

3. I would plug in no more than 1500W to this connection (even though it can handle 1800W)

4. I would plug in no more than 500W of growing appliances in my master bedroom (so I can keep my personal appliances)

5. I now have 2000W of available, safe, and reliable power.

With this method for example I could use a 1000W HPS for my flowering room, and a 400W MH for my vegetative room with plenty of extra power for fans, heaters, ac's, co2, air movers, air pumps, water pumps, fluorescents, LEDs, and even another 400W HID if I wanted to expand. I could also go another route and use 2X 600W HPS lights for my flowering room, 1X 600W MH light for my vegetative room, and still have extra power available. 

That's cool but what if I want to run multiple 1000W HID lights? 

You would need to make a compromised decision in this case unless you have access to a 30amp or higher breaker outlet. A 20amp breaker outlet will usually handle a max of 2400W, but with other appliances plugged into the outlet it will easily reduce it to lower than 2000W. Therefore you will need to completely isolate the room (with the 20amp outlet) and use it solely for growing appliances. With a 30amp outlet, which can handle 3600W, you would not have this problem.

In Conclusion:
Identify what the maximum amount of amperage is allowed per outlet in your home, and work your gameplan around that. Take into account any appliances which are already plugged into the outlet, and identify their wattage consumption so you can make a calculated decision as to how many watts you have available safely.

• 15AMP MAX: 1800W
• 20AMP MAX: 2400W
• 30AMP MAX: 3600W

***NEVER replace a breaker switch with a higher amp rating without seeking professional help. If you want to change a breaker switch to a higher amp rating you will need to also make changes to your outlet, wiring, and breaker box. Failure to do so will eventually result in a fire!