Reduce Electricity And The Bill

any one have any ideas how you can save power and reduce your electricity bill from using these 400 hps lights

the only way i know of is to reduce electricity use elsewhere (like replacing all bulbs with CFLs or making sure you turn off all electrical equipment you aren't using).

build a wind generator or use solar panels.

As far as lowering your elect bill... turn down your hot water tank, dont use the dryer
and put the ossilator fans on a timer. also the last 10 days of flowering u can run the
light at 11hrs. plants love that, then turn off light for two days before trimming.

I can not believe not one of you guys did not present the BEST OF ALL WAYS to save power on a small grow like his........

First off... DO NOT GROW DURING THE HOT SUMMER MONTHS...

Grow during the cool fall, winter, or spring months, and use the heat from your grow room to heat your home. It is now January, and my heat is never turned on at all.. no need.. I do some times have to wear a sweater when I get home from work all hot and a little sticky from the day. And yes I have turned on the heat for like 30 minutes a few time.. I have my lights set up to be off while I am away, and have the heat to turn on at 66 degrees. But it never turns on.

When I first moved to the area where I live now. When I did my first grow, where I live now. I grew during the hot summer months.. WOW... was that stupid.. 118 degrees outside, and I am heating a room to grow buds in.. I had to run an air conditioner to just cool that room, and even then my home AC unit was going BALLS TO THE WALL.. My elect bill then, was 6 times higher then it had ever been on record in that place, at that time of year. But now that I am venting my heat from my room into my living area, and during the winter, my ELECT bill is a little below normal because of all the other things I also do,, like CFL's, keep the heat at 66 degrees, but it rarely goes below 70.

THINK SMART PEOPLE. High TECH is not always the answer.

my heater is dusty

hps space heaters are the greatest

just watch yourself on everyday basis. just think about everything that is plugged into the wall and why its on. also get a timer for your water heater. those things use around 3,000 watts. if you have it off while your not home it saves you boo-coo.

billybob88 said:

just watch yourself on everyday basis. just think about everything that is plugged into the wall and why its on. also get a timer for your water heater. those things use around 3,000 watts. if you have it off while your not home it saves you boo-coo.

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How is that Billy?? Thermal loss is Thermal loss.... A BTU IS A BTU!!!!....... (British Thermal Unit)the only way to help save money on your water heating is one of two ways,,, either blanket the tanks, or get a new more efficient system.... OR....... turn down the temp a bit might help.

billybob88 said:

just watch yourself on everyday basis. just think about everything that is plugged into the wall and why its on. also get a timer for your water heater. those things use around 3,000 watts. if you have it off while your not home it saves you boo-coo.

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bingo i mean its common sense...

i think like most house use at least 60 watt incandescents, with at least 10 light bulbs....thas 600 watts right?

try using 9watt cfls...as they will be as bright, if not brighter using less energy

9 and 10 is 90 last time i checked.... thas a save of 510watts bro.


turn your frigde up, freezer as well. as it will take more energy to cool a lower temp'd fridge and freezer because it will have to continously run that fan and blah blah...

turning down your water heater along with an insulation bag/wrap.


stay on people in your house about turning them damn lights off when not in use (not like it will hurt tho since you got cfl)

turn shit off.... seperate circuits so you wont have a tv or stereo or fan/heater on the same circuit as the grow room.


unplug all appliances, devices, gadgets, whatever plugs in not in use...regardless if the thing is powered off. standby still draws power!!!

I changed all my home bulbs to cfls 23 and 13 watters.That alone was 800 watt savings.Turn computers off as they draw 200-500 watts.Big screen tvs draw 250-800 watts so turn them off and watch smaller tvs when possible.I gus the laundry and hot water tank stuff works if you have only electric but most people have gas for those.Unplug unused dvd,vcrs,and stereos that have standby or clocks as they draw the same amount of electricity as being in use.Turn house lights on as late as possible a hour difference a day adds up.If you have electric heat and not gas make sure you have heavy curtains as they block cold from window panes.If your not needing it direct sut it off.Dont turn porch lights on just because its dark only when your gonna be out late and coming home.You figure a 400 watt light will only cost maybe $25 a month running 24 hours a day and the cfl change in your home will cover that and drop your regular bill in the end making your bill smaller while growing.

if ur really worried about it u can shove out the extra cash for a LED grow light, -HID-LED-UFO

Only thing on that is leds are really exspensive and of all the grows I have seen attempted with them they just dont do the job and if they can it takes enough to equaly 400 watts anyways with poorer results.They do make good additional color lighting

i think its my best option, if it doesnt turn out then ill have to buy a 400 watter and snatch the electricity bill b4 pops sees it

So for 4 plants you ll need about 4 of those ufo led lights so your looking at grand for lights and then the actuall wattage will be little more then the 400watt from a hid light.Consider an electronic ballast used about 350 watts which is less then a computer left on all day and the leds in order to grow will use more then that and the original cost will be quadruple so I guess your question is more about stealth then saving money

wire the meter thats cheap. only kidding.

or go with a T5 setup as they do well all the way through and dont use much electricity just cant do a ton of big plants but 6-12 smaller will work good with a 6 or 8 tube t5 fixture

I have two computers that are onn 24/7 even when I am not here. So if I started turning them off I could get another light qith the money i save. Never knew how much power I was wasting with the pc's running all the time. thanks for the good info

once i started running my 2 600s and my 250 i started watching my power consumption. the month after i started running them my bill went DOWN 80 dollars. as for the water heater. a timer makes it so the water heater cant turn on when your not home. thus drawing no electricity.

but isnt an electric water heater hard wired? How do you put it on a timer?