zzyx
Well-Known Member
so...how does leo know that you're legal? have you informed them?
POWER BILL / ELECTRIC COMPANY - How not to become a suspect.
- Thread starter Chris n
- Start date
zzyx
Well-Known Member
whietiger88101
New Member
im legal to grow but useing a 400 watt hps / hm only costs me 40 to 60 bucks extra per month.. depends on the lights cycle... now i have never had had a problem paying my bills.. You just cant go krazy ! 3 1000,watters would get your bill up alot per month... listen sneaky way of doing this is... durning the winter time every one uses more eletricty to heat there homes etc... So this would be the best time to start your new grow op. So ur bill goes from 75 dollars to 175. during the winter time this should be ok no problem... you must think smarter an wiser an be able to outsmart them.
RawBudzski
Well-Known Member
Paranoid PPL think like this. Are we talking about Grow OPs as in WareHouses or in Homes. Cause BIIIG Diff.. In a HOME.. You can run all the POWER you want and if your PAYING your bills no 1 will care. (unless its like 600+ plant grow home) but for a few plants for a Few 1000w that does not cause suspicion. A small PORTABLE heater runs 1500w + =/ you would need 20k + wattage of lights for the Power company to bat an eye
RawBudzski
Well-Known Member
anyone with less than 5k watts running at once.. is only making the electrical company happy with $$
collective gardener
Well-Known Member
I agree fully with Raw...and I think he's playing it way safe. If we're talking a large house, you could probably do more, as long as your electrical service can take it. A non-growing friend of mine lives in an 8000 sq ft house and his electrical bill in the summer is $1,500+.
I like to imagine every possible non growing appliance I could add to the residence (freezer in garage, electric floor heat, window air conditioner in every room, electric space heater in every room, electric stove, etc...). Then calc what all that would draw. You'd be amazed at how much many non growers spend on power!
Chris n
Member
I just purchased 2x 600Watt HPS for my grow. If these lights are used 12/12 for 30days that comes out to 432KWH of power usage. I realize this isn't a huge amount of power draw for a four bedroom house. The only thing that worried me was the 12/12 pattern with the smart-meter. Though I'll go ahead and assume from what the people here with experience are saying that 1200watts won't even be a blip on the power companies radar...
collective gardener
Well-Known Member
C'mon, man. Don't let that smart meter scare you. Do your thing and keep your mouth shut.
medicine21
Active Member
Hydro company here now offers a free online "service" which allows you to type in any address and get the annual power consumption. It is marketed as: "Estimate your consumption before you buy the home". So much for privacy.
Icannabis
Well-Known Member
Well I will weigh in on this subject...I know every one in here has heard of the green movement. I heard about this years back and I started a plan to cut my power usage and save on my bill...My growing had nothing to do with wanting to save the environment...But it made me think how could I grow using the suns energy without getting caught outdoors? So I invested in solar panels and a converter and laid those hard earned pot dollars down. I invested about $5000 dollars in converting my whole home over to use as little power as possible. What I realized through all of this was in the summer my bill went the other way. I got a bill just to have there service...one other thing to note was after informing them of the solar setup which was 1500w or about half of my roof...that power fluctuation where expected. Never mind you I don't use space heaters or other energy hogs. And one thing I think everyone could use with there grow op's is a power conditioner easy to use and will give you clean power. But I'm ranting again...good growing
redwolf666
Well-Known Member
the way i do it is my plants lights only come on in the evening when pretty much everything is turned off except for the fish tank, tv and my ps3 so that all the power i use durring the day pretty much equals what im puting out at night im also only running about 350 watts (actual wattage not equivilant)of cfl and an oscilating fan
oh and it also helps if you have two flowering areas(1 for male, 1 for fem, or 2 for fem) that when one turns on one turns off that will keep your hourly rate about even
oh and it also helps if you have two flowering areas(1 for male, 1 for fem, or 2 for fem) that when one turns on one turns off that will keep your hourly rate about even