Does anyone use a short (three to six feet) extension cord to supply power for a high-amperage constant (12+ hours/day, every day) load to supply their grow room with electricity in a safe manner? Something "store-bought" and - preferably - made in the United States instead of the PRC (red China).
Me, I'd just make one to length and of suitable AWG. But my mother would want something "store-bought" (for insurance purposes in the event of an... issue?). She recently bought herself a 14,000 BTU portable air conditioner. I forget the exact electrical load, but I think it's somewhere in the neighborhood of 12 amps. Hopefully no more, lol, because I don't like >80% circuit loads - and 12 amps is 80% of a 15-amp circuit's capacity.
I figured I'd ask here because we have to build and safely operate our grow rooms; an electrical load is an electrical load, lol.
BtW, portable air conditioners suck. Single-hose portable air conditioners REALLY suck, as they suck some of the room air (that you're paying to cool!), use it to cool the compressor/etc., and then blow it outside which not only wastes some of your cooled air, it creates a negative pressure situation which tends to draw in un-cooled air from other areas of your house or, in a "leaky" environment, through the gaps in your walls/windows/doors from outdoors. The second hose of a dual-hose portable is for drawing outside air into the unit and across the hot components (a small amount of indoor air may get mixed with it, I'm not real clear on this part). If you require air conditioning for your grow room and you absolutely, positively cannot install a ductless mini-split (best choice) or a window/through-the-wall unit, then...
...move. Failing that, if you're bound and determined to purchase a portable unit, make sure that it's a dual-hose model. The one Mom went with (I think - I haven't had a chance to see it in action yet) is a Whynter, I believe an ARC-14SH. The "H" stands for heat. It is rated at 14,000 BTU cooling and 13,000(?) BTU heating. The heat only works down to 41°F as it is a heat pump and does not have one of those equipment heater whatchamacallits like one's central air heat pump would have.
IIRC, 100 watts of lighting produces something like 341.3 BTU per hour of heat. If I am remembering correctly, that works out to 1365.2 BTU/hour for a 400-watt light, 2,047.8 BTU/hour for a 600-watt light, 3413.0 BTU/hour for a 1kW, et cetera. If you have an LED panel that is consuming 350 watts, it adds 1194.55 BTU/hour of heat to your grow room. Et cetera. This heat load would, of course, be in addition to the normal requirements for a space of that size, insulation, etc. For those who operate air conditioned grow rooms (for stealth, because they cannot physically install ducting/fans for whatever reason, or so they can seal the room and add supplemental CO₂), proper sizing of their air conditioner is important. Too small and it will obviously run all the time without providing enough cooling. Too large and it will tend to cool the space faster than it can dehumidify it - if you've ever walked into a room that was being cooled by a large-capacity air conditioner and noticed that the room was cool but very humid ("clammy"), the unit was probably so large that it was not having to run enough to properly dehumidify the space.
Anyway... Does anyone use a short, heavy-duty, extension cord? If you're happy with it, please let me know the brand and model number. If I have specific recommendations, I can find my own store, lol - but if the product happens to be available via one or more of our forum sponsors, feel free to post a link. Always support our sponsors whenever possible - because they are the ones that pay the server/etc. bills which keep this forum up and running.
Me, I'd just make one to length and of suitable AWG. But my mother would want something "store-bought" (for insurance purposes in the event of an... issue?). She recently bought herself a 14,000 BTU portable air conditioner. I forget the exact electrical load, but I think it's somewhere in the neighborhood of 12 amps. Hopefully no more, lol, because I don't like >80% circuit loads - and 12 amps is 80% of a 15-amp circuit's capacity.
I figured I'd ask here because we have to build and safely operate our grow rooms; an electrical load is an electrical load, lol.
BtW, portable air conditioners suck. Single-hose portable air conditioners REALLY suck, as they suck some of the room air (that you're paying to cool!), use it to cool the compressor/etc., and then blow it outside which not only wastes some of your cooled air, it creates a negative pressure situation which tends to draw in un-cooled air from other areas of your house or, in a "leaky" environment, through the gaps in your walls/windows/doors from outdoors. The second hose of a dual-hose portable is for drawing outside air into the unit and across the hot components (a small amount of indoor air may get mixed with it, I'm not real clear on this part). If you require air conditioning for your grow room and you absolutely, positively cannot install a ductless mini-split (best choice) or a window/through-the-wall unit, then...
...move. Failing that, if you're bound and determined to purchase a portable unit, make sure that it's a dual-hose model. The one Mom went with (I think - I haven't had a chance to see it in action yet) is a Whynter, I believe an ARC-14SH. The "H" stands for heat. It is rated at 14,000 BTU cooling and 13,000(?) BTU heating. The heat only works down to 41°F as it is a heat pump and does not have one of those equipment heater whatchamacallits like one's central air heat pump would have.
IIRC, 100 watts of lighting produces something like 341.3 BTU per hour of heat. If I am remembering correctly, that works out to 1365.2 BTU/hour for a 400-watt light, 2,047.8 BTU/hour for a 600-watt light, 3413.0 BTU/hour for a 1kW, et cetera. If you have an LED panel that is consuming 350 watts, it adds 1194.55 BTU/hour of heat to your grow room. Et cetera. This heat load would, of course, be in addition to the normal requirements for a space of that size, insulation, etc. For those who operate air conditioned grow rooms (for stealth, because they cannot physically install ducting/fans for whatever reason, or so they can seal the room and add supplemental CO₂), proper sizing of their air conditioner is important. Too small and it will obviously run all the time without providing enough cooling. Too large and it will tend to cool the space faster than it can dehumidify it - if you've ever walked into a room that was being cooled by a large-capacity air conditioner and noticed that the room was cool but very humid ("clammy"), the unit was probably so large that it was not having to run enough to properly dehumidify the space.
Anyway... Does anyone use a short, heavy-duty, extension cord? If you're happy with it, please let me know the brand and model number. If I have specific recommendations, I can find my own store, lol - but if the product happens to be available via one or more of our forum sponsors, feel free to post a link. Always support our sponsors whenever possible - because they are the ones that pay the server/etc. bills which keep this forum up and running.
