Electric Power Usage/Facts & Myths?

tat2ue

tat2ue

Well-Known Member
Mr. Good said:
Yeah but,

If people are trying to steal the power then I just assumed that the electricity issue was not easily solved.

So is it safe to say that if you start comparing pregrow to post grow....electric bills that is from this time last year I am eating 1300kwh MORE each month since I've started....anyone else notice this?
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Of course you usage will go up. But did it jump up all at once or did it slowly increase??

It took almost a year but I slowly built up my kilowatt usage. Started w/ a 400w and added another a few months later and so on. In the course of a year I had 5 x 400w. Then sold them and got a cpl 1000w and added another a few months later. Now I run 4 x 1000w on 12/12 in flower room and a cpl 400w in the mother/clone room. So it goes...from the mom to the cloner to the flower room...no vegging at all and the levelized billing runs about 225-240 per month. Its just me and my gf in a 2800sq ft 2 story house so the kw usage pretty much falls in line.


But if you go straight into a huge grow op right off the bat your kw usage and bill will junp big time.
 
Mr. Good

Mr. Good

Active Member
tat2ue said:
Of course you usage will go up. But did it jump up all at once or did it slowly increase??

It took almost a year but I slowly built up my kilowatt usage. Started w/ a 400w and added another a few months later and so on. In the course of a year I had 5 x 400w. Then sold them and got a cpl 1000w and added another a few months later. Now I run 4 x 1000w on 12/12 in flower room and a cpl 400w in the mother/clone room. So it goes...from the mom to the cloner to the flower room...no vegging at all and the levelized billing runs about 225-240 per month. Its just me and my gf in a 2800sq ft 2 story house so the kw usage pretty much falls in line.


But if you go straight into a huge grow op right off the bat your kw usage and bill will junp big time.
Click to expand...
Thats a good question! Is 2, 1000watt lights, the 2 inline fans, pumps, one of 'em for the Aeroflo36...etc etc...a big grow op?

I have been paying electric bills here that are consistently $800-$1000, but never $1100 and sumthin...until now. So I didn't take a year to do it the right way.

I did it in more like 30 days...like I said, the kwh billed 12 months ago was appx. 7500 and this year 8850 or so.

Any ideas?
 
southern homegrower

southern homegrower

Well-Known Member
this might help some i checked my hot water heater and it uses 1600 kwh every time it comes on so i put it on a timer to only run 12 hr and it brought my bill down more then i thought it would. and my hot water heater is only 19 gal im sure yours is bigger so it might save u even more and i turned the temps down on it to. try it for a month and see if it helps any
 
doobnVA

doobnVA

Well-Known Member
If you're that worried about your usage, switch to the "budget billing" option. They charge you the same amount every month regardless of use, so as long as the bill is paid on time nobody is ever really going to scrutinize your electric bill.

That being said, people use lots of electricity for lots of reasons. I have space heaters I run in the winter that drive my bill up to more than double what it is in the summer.

The only time law enforcement is going to bother checking how much power you're using is if someone tips them off to your grow and they need evidence to help them obtain a warrant.
 
Brick Top

Brick Top

New Member
Mr. Good said:
So if my timer is kicking on a 20+ amp draw at 3am when my lights come on...how the fuck does that get explained? Do people use timers on other appliances to turn on or off to coincide with the lights?....

I want back ups for my back ups!
Click to expand...



You really need to get off the amp thing and only think kilowatts used.

Your meter does not register amperage draw and at what time of the day or night it may occur.

It registers the total amount of kilowatts you used and then that number is multiplied by how much your electricity company charges per kilowatt-hour.
　
You said your home is 4,000 sq. ft. Unless in the past you have already been ultra careful about not using any more kilowatts than you absolutely had to then there are many ways to offset or at least coming close to offsetting your electricity usage for your garden.
　
At night turn off all the lights in your home that do not need to be on. If no one is in a room, it doesn’t have to be lit.
　
In the room or rooms that are occupied at night use minimal lighting, or none at all if only watching TV.

If you have rooms that are almost always unused close the doors, close the heat-A/C ducts in those rooms and to not pay to heat or cool them unless Aunt Tilly and cousin Eb come for a visit and then open the doors and heat-A/C vents in those rooms so they will be comfortable. Your heat-A/C unit(s) will run less and even if you use natural gas or propane or oil the fan that blows your heated air will run less and unless you have a swamp cooler for you’re A/C unit your heat pump or A/C unit’s compressor will not run as long to cool your house each time it runs in the summer.
　
If you have not already done so replace all the incandescent light bulbs in your home with CFLs.
　
In the summer raise the temperature of you’re A/C by one or two degrees.
　
If you have heap pumps or any other form of heating that heavily relies on the use of electricity in the winter lower the temperature of your heat by one or two degrees and wear thicker socks and a sweater.
　
If you have an electric water heater install a timer so it turns on and heats roughly 45 minutes to an hour before you wake up and then turns off after you and anyone else has had their morning shower or whatever. Then have it set to come back on roughly 45 minutes to an hour before you come home later in the day and then turn off again an hour or two later. Also install a double layer of insulation around your water heater.
　
Some electricity companies offer different plans for billing/electricity usage where you pay different rate depending on the time of day and the season. You will pay more during hours of peak electricity usage but you will pay less for electricity used during off-peak hours. If a program like that is offered get on it and then alter how you do things and use most of your electricity during the off-peak hours. Normally with plans like that every weekend and all holidays are considered off-peak hours 24-hours per day so it is not like cooking your Christmas turkey will then cost you more than it otherwise would.
　
Some electricity companies have other plans like where they will attach a gizmo to your water heater, if it is electric, and they will be able to turn it off for short periods of time during peak usage hours of the day and then they credit your bill some amount. If you already took the previous tip about electric water heaters you will already have installed a timer on yours by then and you will set the time to only heat water during off-peak hours so when the electricity company switched off your water heater it will already be off. That will not save you kilowatts used but they will credit you an amount that will slightly reduce your bill even though you already had your water heater turned off and what they did changed nothing and saved nothing above and beyond what you have already done yourself.
　
Likely this one will not apply to you because it is just for lower income people and since you said your home is 4,000 sq. ft. I doubt you fit into that group but if by chance you somehow do unless it is very modern home it likely is a major waster of energy. Some electricity companies, like in California, will replace your old appliances with brand new energy star appliances, increase the insulation in your home, they replace old windows with new high efficiency super insulated low-e glass windows, they will add a storm door to your entrance/exit doors. Again if you have heat pumps or some other heat-A/C system that heavily relies on electricity, or possibly just an A/C system, if it is old they will replace it with a new high efficiency unit. It is all done free because some electricity companies are unable to generate enough electricity and it is cheaper to replace your oven and stove and A/C unit etc. than it is to build a new electric generation plant. With new high efficiency appliances and increased insulation someone would use way less electricity then before so that would way more than offset the electricity used in a garden.
　
Anything that is plugged into an electric socket has a tiny amount of electricity leakage. For anything that is plugged in but seldom used, unplug it and leave it unplugged until you use it and when finished unplug it again. Consider many people’s computer setups. They power down their computer but many leave scanners and printers etc. turned on 24 hour a day. Not only turn them off but also unplug the power strip they are plugged into.
　
Anything like a TV or other electronic equipment with a remote control is not actually turned off when you press power. It only goes into standby mode and continues to use a small amount of electricity so when you next hit power to turn whatever it is on again it can do just that. If you are like me and have TVs and stereos and 300 disc cd players etc. all over the house but only one or two of each is often used, unplug the rest until you are going to use them.
　
But remember what could give you away is kilowatts used and NOT amperage drawn so if you really need to be paranoid focus on reducing the amount of kilowatts used per month.
　
Something else that may help to ease your paranoia is to consider what wattage different things that are totally normal for people to have in their homes or might add to them. I am a collector of lava lamps, I really do not know how many I have now but it is around 50. The standard bulb for one is only 15 watts but if the number 50 is accurate if turn 49 of them all on at once combined they draw 735 watts and the other one is close to three feet tall and uses a 150 watt bulb. Add that and I am using 885 watts just burning lava lamps.
　
Consider something like a hot tub. Depending where you live, and assuming you have a high efficiency energy star unit, one will use between 117 to 283 kilowatts per hour per month (that is a comparison between Miami and Fairbanks). Does the DEA kick in the door of everyone that adds a hot tub to their home just to see what the additional wattage used was used for? I don’t think so.
　
With a little energy conservation and taking advantage of any programs your electricity provider might offer you should be able to offset your garden’s electricity usage or at least greatly offset it.
 
I

Illegal Smile

Guest
As I recall the original question/problem was not about cost so much as perceived security. If your usage went up 10% there are hundreds of things that could do that. Just another person in the household would do that. By the way, AMPS x Volts = Watts.
Volts will be 120 so an amp is just another way of saying 120 watts for this purpose. Second by the way: my computer and peripherals use twice as much as my grow lights.
 
Mr. Good

Mr. Good

Active Member
Brick Top said:
You really need to get off the amp thing and only think kilowatts used.

Sorry...hard to forget about 50 amps though....

Your meter does not register amperage draw and at what time of the day or night it may occur.

What about consistency? Can the elctric company say....."look at the pattern..."?

It registers the total amount of kilowatts you used and then that number is multiplied by how much your electricity company charges per kilowatt-hour.
　
You said your home is 4,000 sq. ft. Unless in the past you have already been ultra careful about not using any more kilowatts than you absolutely had to then there are many ways to offset or at least coming close to offsetting your electricity usage for your garden.

I totally agree and just in the last 30 days we have been doing just that....offsetting electricity. I took the numbers off the meter today and the wifey is looking online now to learn to read the meter! I'd like to see if my yelling at the kids for a month has helped.:cuss:　

At night turn off all the lights in your home that do not need to be on. If no one is in a room, it doesn’t have to be lit.

Common Sense
　
In the room or rooms that are occupied at night use minimal lighting, or none at all if only watching TV.

If you have rooms that are almost always unused close the doors, close the heat-A/C ducts in those rooms and to not pay to heat or cool them unless Aunt Tilly and cousin Eb come for a visit and then open the doors and heat-A/C vents in those rooms so they will be comfortable. Your heat-A/C unit(s) will run less and even if you use natural gas or propane or oil the fan that blows your heated air will run less and unless you have a swamp cooler for you’re A/C unit your heat pump or A/C unit’s compressor will not run as long to cool your house each time it runs in the summer.

When taping off AC ducts to unused rooms...do you tape the hot air returns too? I have a room seperate from the main house but attached to the garage and I'm sure it is costing me a lot of dough.
　
If you have not already done so replace all the incandescent light bulbs in your home with CFLs.
　
In the summer raise the temperature of you’re A/C by one or two degrees.
　
If you have heap pumps or any other form of heating that heavily relies on the use of electricity in the winter lower the temperature of your heat by one or two degrees and wear thicker socks and a sweater.
　
If you have an electric water heater install a timer so it turns on and heats roughly 45 minutes to an hour before you wake up and then turns off after you and anyone else has had their morning shower or whatever. Then have it set to come back on roughly 45 minutes to an hour before you come home later in the day and then turn off again an hour or two later. Also install a double layer of insulation around your water heater.
　
Excellent Idea! I have 2 of those biznotches! But what about a hot water exchanger? I have one...so should I not fuck with that? Hate to mess something up. Next to my outside AC unit is a panel for a heat exchanger...for hot water.

Some electricity companies offer different plans for billing/electricity usage where you pay different rate depending on the time of day and the season. You will pay more during hours of peak electricity usage but you will pay less for electricity used during off-peak hours. If a program like that is offered get on it and then alter how you do things and use most of your electricity during the off-peak hours. Normally with plans like that every weekend and all holidays are considered off-peak hours 24-hours per day so it is not like cooking your Christmas turkey will then cost you more than it otherwise would.
　
Some electricity companies have other plans like where they will attach a gizmo to your water heater, if it is electric, and they will be able to turn it off for short periods of time during peak usage hours of the day and then they credit your bill some amount. If you already took the previous tip about electric water heaters you will already have installed a timer on yours by then and you will set the time to only heat water during off-peak hours so when the electricity company switched off your water heater it will already be off. That will not save you kilowatts used but they will credit you an amount that will slightly reduce your bill even though you already had your water heater turned off and what they did changed nothing and saved nothing above and beyond what you have already done yourself.
　
Likely this one will not apply to you because it is just for lower income people and since you said your home is 4,000 sq. ft. I doubt you fit into that group but if by chance you somehow do unless it is very modern home it likely is a major waster of energy. Some electricity companies, like in California, will replace your old appliances with brand new energy star appliances, increase the insulation in your home, they replace old windows with new high efficiency super insulated low-e glass windows, they will add a storm door to your entrance/exit doors. Again if you have heat pumps or some other heat-A/C system that heavily relies on electricity, or possibly just an A/C system, if it is old they will replace it with a new high efficiency unit. It is all done free because some electricity companies are unable to generate enough electricity and it is cheaper to replace your oven and stove and A/C unit etc. than it is to build a new electric generation plant. With new high efficiency appliances and increased insulation someone would use way less electricity then before so that would way more than offset the electricity used in a garden.

Did I mention that we have (had) 3 old ass AC units. bottoms all rusted out...leaking freon...the radiators were so clogged and fucked...the head pressure read by a friend of mine was rediculous...he said in fact "you must be paying a fortune for electricity"...I forgot that....fucking weed.:blsmoke:
　
Anything that is plugged into an electric socket has a tiny amount of electricity leakage. For anything that is plugged in but seldom used, unplug it and leave it unplugged until you use it and when finished unplug it again. Consider many people’s computer setups. They power down their computer but many leave scanners and printers etc. turned on 24 hour a day. Not only turn them off but also unplug the power strip they are plugged into.
　
Anything like a TV or other electronic equipment with a remote control is not actually turned off when you press power. It only goes into standby mode and continues to use a small amount of electricity so when you next hit power to turn whatever it is on again it can do just that. If you are like me and have TVs and stereos and 300 disc cd players etc. all over the house but only one or two of each is often used, unplug the rest until you are going to use them.
　
But remember what could give you away is kilowatts used and NOT amperage drawn so if you really need to be paranoid focus on reducing the amount of kilowatts used per month.

Don't need paranoia just seems to find me. Reduce the kwh used...got it!
　
Something else that may help to ease your paranoia is to consider what wattage different things that are totally normal for people to have in their homes or might add to them. I am a collector of lava lamps, I really do not know how many I have now but it is around 50. The standard bulb for one is only 15 watts but if the number 50 is accurate if turn 49 of them all on at once combined they draw 735 watts and the other one is close to three feet tall and uses a 150 watt bulb. Add that and I am using 885 watts just burning lava lamps.

It's just that I happen to start drawing massive amount of "watts" "volts" whatever but anyways I start drawing that energy at 3am...anyone else hear have appliances that come on like fucking clockwork at 3am that pull that kind of power?　

Consider something like a hot tub. Depending where you live, and assuming you have a high efficiency energy star unit, one will use between 117 to 283 kilowatts per hour per month (that is a comparison between Miami and Fairbanks). Does the DEA kick in the door of everyone that adds a hot tub to their home just to see what the additional wattage used was used for? I don’t think so.
　
With a little energy conservation and taking advantage of any programs your electricity provider might offer you should be able to offset your garden’s electricity usage or at least greatly offset it.
Click to expand...
Thanks for setting my mind at ease though. It did work.
 
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