Electricians/Electrical Quest

Trying to figure out a way to build a darkroom.
It would be "best" to put it out back, but.....If I build it out in my backyard, it would be fairly expensive...and so far from a waste line that it would be cheaper (I would think) to install a Pump/Small Tank to deal with the waste water.
I CAN use one of my bedrooms. If I do that, can I put that room on a dedicated circuit.?
That is to say.....right now it shares a breaker with other Rooms/Areas (at this point, not sure what exactly) in the house. Would it be pretty difficult to get that One Room off those other runs, and get it onto its own breaker.? Would I have to open up walls to get that done.?
Thank You
actually.....this room is over the garage, so would that make it easier to do the Home-Run for the dedicated.?

That sounds great, but is it that easy.?
Is my bedroom (just the bedroom) running down to a shared breaker, or is it running parallel off a shared circuit...with several rooms sharing the one breaker, from one feed.?
Does each room have a home run to a shared breaker, and I can just pull it off that breaker and put it on to one all by itself.?

CMoore said:

Trying to figure out a way to build a darkroom.
It would be "best" to put it out back, but.....If I build it out in my backyard, it would be fairly expensive...and so far from a waste line that it would be cheaper (I would think) to install a Pump/Small Tank to deal with the waste water.
I CAN use one of my bedrooms. If I do that, can I put that room on a dedicated circuit.?
That is to say.....right now it shares a breaker with other Rooms/Areas (at this point, not sure what exactly) in the house. Would it be pretty difficult to get that One Room off those other runs, and get it onto its own breaker.? Would I have to open up walls to get that done.?
Thank You
actually.....this room is over the garage, so would that make it easier to do the Home-Run for the dedicated.?

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Please give the "backyard" darkroom some more thought. I built mine in the backyard and by not having it as part of the living house structure, I was not forced to deal with "black" sewerage (toilets, etc.) The sewer drains in my darkroom are strictly for "clear water sewerage. This is "code" here in Shreveport and everything that went into building the darkroom was "code". In those days (1980s) the equipment that went inside the darkroom and adjoining workroom would have been more expensive than the building had I bought all new equipment. I refurbished everything including the sink in 2014 and 2015 and some minor repairs for storm damage to the exterior along with a small fiber-glass patch in the sink and paint was about all that was needed. I have found the advantages of a separate darkroom more than offset any small additional cost....Regards!....P.S. I ran a hundred amp underground line from the main panel at the house to the building which has it's own 100 amp service which is plenty for cooling, heating, dry mounting press as well as enlargers, etc. in the darkroom...You only live once and if you get enough done, that is more than enough!

I expect that oldtimermetoo meant to only post that once.

It is difficult to generalize about rules, because they will vary with location.

I would suggest you consider a "real" electrician, not just an internet one. You are more likely to get what you need, and to remain safe while you do so.

I'm guessing that you probably have insurance for your home. Around here if you re-wire stuff and it isn't inspected and passed, and you need to make a claim on your insurance, there is a good chance the insurer will deny coverage.

A real electrician should be able to ensure you pass that inspection, and will also know whether what you want to do requires a permit.

It certainly is possible to do everything properly and get everything passed without an electrician, but generally that requires a fair amount of relevant knowledge and experience.

We have yet another (extreme) example of why this Forum software needs a way to delete posts!

Why do you want to have the darkroom on a separate breaker/circuit? Do you have a particular concern?

If you go with "conventional" equipment (i.e. not the biggest pieces of equipment ever sold), the electrical load should not be too high and your circuits should easily handle the load.

Typically when there is more than one room on a single breaker the wire just snakes through from spot to spot (minimum wire use), so it is unlikely the circuits in one room can easily be isolated from the others. If it were me I would leave whatever is there as it is and pull another circuit in for a few additional receptacles. But as RauschenOderKorn says, unless you have unusual equipment it may not be necessary.

RauschenOderKorn said:

Why do you want to have the darkroom on a separate breaker/circuit? Do you have a particular concern?

If you go with "conventional" equipment (i.e. not the biggest pieces of equipment ever sold), the electrical load should not be too high and your circuits should easily handle the load.

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Or you could do what I did when I had a darkroom in the roof space. Just put it on a plug on the end of a cable so it's not part of the house wiring.


Steve.

Steve Smith said:

Just put it on a plug on the end of a cable so it's not part of the house wiring.

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Better safe than sorry: If you do it, make sure that you have a breaker between the main line and your darkroom.

DWThomas said:

Typically when there is more than one room on a single breaker the wire just snakes through from spot to spot (minimum wire use), so it is unlikely the circuits in one room can easily be isolated from the others. If it were me I would leave whatever is there as it is and pull another circuit in for a few additional receptacles. But as RauschenOderKorn says, unless you have unusual equipment it may not be necessary.

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Finally...the answer to my question.
Thank You

I took over one of the bathrooms for my darkroom. I haven't added any circuits, the outlet is on the same breaker as the other bathroom above it. Works fine. Unless you're going to be running a great deal of power, I don't think there is a major need to isolate it. Location and placement of outlets might be another issue though.

Timers, safelights, an enlarger don't draw all that much power, the usual concern for adding a DR circuit is to avoid the enlarger dimming during an exposure due to use elsewhere on the circuit. The enlarger may be equipped with a regulated power supply anyway, so that may not be a concern. You also have the option of adding a voltage stabilizer. Even if you have a relatively high draw item like a dry mount press, they don't use any more current than a typical household iron that you would just plug in and use.

As Dave said, it's probably not all that easy to swing the existing room circuit over to it's own breaker, though if your box is in the garage that might make it somewhat easier. Whether or not you have to break open walls kind of depends on how much you want to spend. Electricians deal with that sort of thing all the time, and have all sorts of tools and tricks to accomplish getting wires to new places, but time is money.

One of the coolest design features I've seen in a house is done by one of the large timber frame builders here, The lower part of the walls are done with bead-board wainscoting and screwed into place, the wiring and any plumbing is accessible by just removing the appropriate panels.

CMoore said:

Finally...the answer to my question.
Thank You

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I'm not sure that actually was an answer to your question, but it was a good answer to what might be an even better question .

The biggest reason to consider re-wiring a bedroom would be if the bedroom electrical supply provides too little current capability and too few outlets and light circuits.

Ideally, you want several outlets, and separate switches for safelight, general room light and a print viewing light. In some bedrooms, you might have a couple of wall plugs and not much more.

Yeah...oddly enough, I was in the middle of using the switch, that runs the top half of one of the receptacles, to run a wall sconce, and make the receptacle a "normal" outlet.
I may abandon the wall sconce and use it for a red light.
Thanks

As mentioned, your typical darkrooom setup uses very little power. I am sure that whatever you have for a breaker now can handle a safelight, an enlarger, and something to play your favorite music. That's all you really need, other than a hair dryer for drying test strips quickly. Your room light can usually double as the viewing light w/ the right bulb.

I set up my trays and holding tub for developed prints on a wide board that is laid down over a plastic liner on the bed. The prints get taken to the bathroom out of the holding tub for washing after the print session is done. I used to do everything in the bathroom....this is MUCH better. If you need a rest, there's room to lay down on the bed too :}

Multi prong extension cords, or those multi plug deals that plug into a receptacle, are your friends. We aren't talking about very much current draw here.

Yeah...not worried about the current for the darkroom. I do Guitar Amp/Audio Repair, and the darkroom will share that circuit.
That is what spurred my question.
I will work something out.
Cannot imagine (but I am no plumber) how there would be a concern of "Black Sewerage". The sinks do not have any of those problems now.......

In plumbing terms, you have several types of water. Black water is basically what comes from toilets and anything that ends up mixed with it. Gray water is what would be from sinks and showers if kept separate from the toilet waste. When you hear about gray water recycling, it means the not-so-dirty water of the showers and sinks is treated and reused for non-potable uses.