[Awek99]

First pose here, glad I found somewhere to ask questions.

I'm setting up an indoor gardening facility, and I need to run 220v power into the room, leading to an HID lighting relay box.

The room sits directly above the panel. The wall the panel is on, is the wall the relay box will be mounted on. Basically directly above the panel, only a ceiling/floor separating the panel from the relay.

Few questions.

First, can my panel handle the addition? It has a 200 amp main, then (1) 50, (1) 40, and (1) 30 amp double pole breakers, then (22) 20 amp breakers and (1) 15 amp breaker.

It has 1 open space, and 1 of the 20 amp breakers is not in use. So I would remove the 20, and put a 30 amp double pole in place.

The relay has a rating of 4000 watts, so that would be the highest load the breaker would ever see.

The house was wired with an ungodly amount of outlets per room, and a ton of breakers. Wired by a fire chief afraid of fires.

Half the rooms in the house are unused, and the ones that are never demand much power. And 90% of my power usage will be at night when most other things are not in use.

Secondly, is it legal (up to code) to run wiring outside of the wall, if it's secured and run through conduit?

And lastly, would it likely be a project that could be done by an electrician for under 200 dollars?

Thanks for any and all help!

 

[Speedy Petey]

Without a load calculation it is impossible to know if your service can handle the added load, but from where I sit it should be fine.

It is certainly legal to run wiring on the surface in conduit provided it is done legally and to code.

I can all but guaranty you this cannot be done by a real electrician for $200 or less. A handyman hack would probably do it for $100 and a six-pack.

 

[Awek99]

I can't imagine this would be a job that would take more than an hour. If it's legal to run external, then all I really need to do is drill a hole in the ceiling/floor and run conduit up. That's about it.

 

[ront02769]

An hour on site. Time to get there, secure parts if needed, get home, depreciation on truck and euipment, insurance, license, permit, no way $200. Ron

 

[Arrow3030]

$200 might get you a design

 

[Awek99]

I've got the parts, and I'll do the running of the wires, just need an electrician to plug in the ends really. If the electrician charges 65 an hour, and quotes for things like outlet installation, or switch repairs are around 100-150, it shouldn't be too far off. I don't need things to look pretty, hols in the wall are fine.

 

[Awek99]

My main concern is entering the panel up to code, and the load capacity of the panel. That's all I really need the electrician for.

I could do the rest in a few minutes if I'm doing external conduit. It's literally a just a hole in the ceiling and up through the floor, then a hole in the wall above the panel.

The wires would go from the breaker up through one of the little punch out holes in the panel, then up the wall a foot, then come outside the wall and go up through the ceiling/floor.

So to put a hole in the drywall above the panel, and a hole through the ceiling/floor should take me about 15 minutes. Then I'd run conduit, and send a wire down through it. The electrician just shows up and verifies the load, and plugs it in.

 

[Awek99]

The TV cable was put there years ago by my father. How's that for some top notch DIY!

But so you can see here where things will go. The relay box will sit next to the right of that standard outlet. That puts it pretty much directly above the panel.

 

[Oso954]

Lighting inside a residence cannot exceed 125V.

If you are thinking of growing marijuana in that bedroom, it is a very bad idea. It is known to cause mold growth, and certain types of mold can be hazardous to your health.

When you go to sell the property or the mold is otherwise discovered, the mold remediation costs can be staggering.

 

[Awek99]

Lighting inside a residence cannot exceed 125V.

If you are thinking of growing marihuana in that bedroom, it is a very bad idea. It is known to cause mold growth, and certain types of mold can be hazardous to your health.

When you go to sell the property or the mold is otherwise discovered, the mold remediation costs can be staggering.

I grow professionally, and have for years. Anti microbial paint, poly tarps, and strict environmental control keep any mold possibilities from arising.

The room has been grown in for a long time, just doing a major renovation. Just finished splitting the bedroom with a new interior wall.

 

[Speedy Petey]

I've got the parts, and I'll do the running of the wires, just need an electrician to plug in the ends really. If the electrician charges 65 an hour, and quotes for things like outlet installation, or switch repairs are around 100-150, it shouldn't be too far off. I don't need things to look pretty, hols in the wall are fine.

Yup, like "plugging in the ends" is the hard or technical part.
If you're gonna do all the labor and code intensive work why not just finish it since you are capable. You obviously know exactly what it will take the electrician to do.

 

[Awek99]

But it is.

Anyone with any amount of basic carpentry skills can drill holes and run wire through conduit.

I just don't know a thing about wiring code, or how to calculate the load properly or any of that.

So I just need the electrician here to make sure the wire is safely run and up to code, then plug in the breaker and verify the load. Then I'd have him wire the relay box (5 minute job for him) and install a kwh meter when he wired the breaker.

 

[Awek99]

But aside from all that, now that you know more about the project, do you guys still think an electrician would try and charge 200+ just to basically plug things in?

One guy basically said that no electrician would be able to come out for even just an hour, for less than 200. But if that is the case, then how are outlet installations and wiring repairs all quoted for well under 200?

Sorry I'm such a noob here with questions.

 

[Jump-start]

First, how much power will your lights draw?

 

[Awek99]

First, how much power will your lights draw?

Max of 4000 watts.

 

[Awek99]

This is the only thing the breaker will power. This relay box will only ever power a max of (4) 1000 watt HID lights. That's what it is designed to do.

 

[Arrow3030]

You're coming off as someone who doesn't value a skilled tradesmen IMO. I don't think it's your intention but it might rubbing people the wrong way. The easy things you're asking for take a lay person hours to research and a journey man takes years to become confident. It's worth paying for a professional in your case IMO.

 

[Awek99]

You're coming off as someone who doesn't value a skilled tradesmen IMO. I don't think it's your intention but it might rubbing people the wrong way. The easy things you're asking for take a lay person hours to research and a journey man takes years to become confident. It's worth paying for a professional in your case IMO.

Definitely not trying to, thanks for the heads up!

I definitely appreciate all tradesmen and the work they do. I just have a very limited budget, and the know how to do a lot of it myself. Not trying to discredit someones work, just trying to save money.

 

[Jump-start]

Max of 4000 watts.

4000/240= 16.6 amps. A simple 240 volt 20amp circuit will do.

 

[Jump-start]

BTW.... 1000 watts are the bulbs? The ballast will also add to that, about 100 to 200 watts.