Reading along, I think that would be one of the benefits. Sub-panels also offer more options. Who knows what you may want in 3 years.
3 Likes
Sweet! Thanks for all of the info and help everyone. Now I know what I need to do. $7.40 a foot for Romex 6/3. I’ll put together a parts list and get around to it in the next two or three months I’m guessing.
1 Like
It really comes down to isolation from the rest of the house and how much work you want to put into it. If you run 6AWG from a 50A breaker in your main panel, you only have to run the one run of cable from the main to a sub panel. You could keep the sub panel in the attic, but I wouldn’t. I’d run the cable between the studs down to the room and install the sub panel in the room. Then you can break it out into individual circuits from there. Personally, I would just make multiple runs from my main of 12/3 and reduce the number of holes I have to cut. But that’s just me. I would want it to look like the receptacles were installed as a part of the house build. You can do that with a sub panel, but you’re going to tear out a lot more sheet rock to make it look professional.
3 Likes
Its definitely the option the provides you the most flexibility. Its 1 line that you have to deal with the headache of running once from your main panel to the sub panel. Once that connection is made and good you can then run, rerun and reconfigure all branch circuits from the sub panel all you want without to much hassle.
Also be aware when choosing wire gauge that the distance the wire has to carry the power matters. Code might say that 240v can be 10 gauge but if its going over a certain distance then it has to be thicker like 8 gauge. So take both the amperage and distance into consideration when choosing wire size.
3 Likes
Thanks @The_Lazy_Hippie! I was just reading up on the distance of wire requirements and stuff.
@Coda Thanks for the info!
Appears I have choices to make.
1 Like
That’s true. To get around all of that, I pulled service line to my sub panel and that shit can pull 100 amps. Aluminum wire is more cost effective than copper. Just because I ran it for 100 amps doesn’t mean it’s constantly drawing 100 amps to the sub panel.
This would be how I would do it as well, Keep the subpanel in your grow area for major convenience reasons.
If you didn’t want to alter the house too much you could always just run the wire and the outlets on the outside of the drywall with everything exposed. Really depends on how you want the setup to look and your personal preferences. If you do go the route of having the wires and outlets exposed you might want to consider Metal Clad (MC) cable and metal junction/receptacle boxes. Its more durable then the normal Romex, but costs alittle more and is not as user friendly to work with (although not bad really). You’de probably be fine with normal romex and plastic outlet boxes as long as you weren’t banging into the wire or outlets. Just something else to consider.
2 Likes
This is off-topic, but you all seem super knowledgeable. Why is there a 20 amp breaker on my main outside panel with the main shutoff?
Awesome info. Thanks a ton!
1 Like
I wouldn’t run anything less than 10 gauge for 240V. For me, I despise dealing with sheet rock. I’m not good at it. I would drill a hole at the top of each wall, cut the square for the receptacle boxes, run a fish tape down, have a buddy or a girlfriend grab the fish tape and tie a string to it. Pull the fish tape back up, tie off the romex cable to the string and have your buddy or girlfriend pull the romex down to the square hole you cut for the receptacle box. Nice and clean and I don’t have to tear anything out or spackle. Again, that’s just me.
3 Likes
Yeah I should have disclaimer’ed that I pulled that example out of my arse lol. I didn’t look at what the code requirement was. Looking at it now it looks like for a 55amp load the code is a 6 gauge wire. Going over code when it comes to electrical is not a bad things at all, unfortunately the drawback is the thicker the wire the more a pain it is to work with.
Edit: I cleaned up the original post
3 Likes
I love the idea of the sub panel in the grow room, but I’m always thinking about resale. Nowadays though, you would probably get growers looking for just that set up and it would be a feature. Might even increase the resale value 
I’m not sure what the 20A circuit would be for, to be honest.
3 Likes
Not sure either. Toss a picture up if you can.
2 Likes
I think I feel safer/more comfortable running the two or three twenty amps up there and the 10 gauge seems easier to work with. Just have two or the extra outlets instead of a sub panel in the bedroom or closet.
2 Likes
Do you have a well or sprinkler system?
1 Like
I just went through this whole decision making process myself. I have an older house and needed to run some dedicated circuits for my grow equipment. I didn’t want to have to do a bunch of drywall work to run everything only to have to take it all out again when it was time to move or sell. I just ran everything outside the walls and made as few holes in things as possible lol. I ran a 240v 30A circuit for my led lights and a 120v 20A circuit for most everything else.
2 Likes
Nope. A well would be nice though.
2 Likes
Looks like it’s for your GFCI circuits, but I don’t know why it would be on the outside.
1 Like
Yeah, didn’t make sense to me, but I’m clearly no sparky.