Hi! I live out in the country but in a state where there is potential for armed men to take me captive if it were known that I am growing this plant. I've heard that grows can be discovered by the spike in power consumption caused by the lights and equipment running. I've also heard that men can fly over in a helicopter with an infrared camera and see the heat given off by the lights and equipment. How big of a concern is this? I have a single 600W light and a few fans. I doubt if my total wattage exceeds 800W. My biggest fan is a 115W, 450CFM inline vortex fan that I have hooked up to the cool tube on my light and it keeps it quite cool. Temps don't get above low 70s, plus it's underneath my house with plenty of air space, concrete block walls and insulation overhead. I don't know what their cameras are capable of but I feel like it shouldn't be too visible. Over all I feel fairly safe because they've got no reason to look at me. I've never sold anything to anyone, I make no waves, I show up in no police records, the only connection I have is to a small time pot dealer from whom I've been purchasing my personal supply for a few years. Every story I can find on the internet about marijuana busts in my state involve much larger operations and multiple people involved in trafficking. Busts cost money and I don't feel like I'm worth the time, money and effort it would take to bust and prosecute me especially since I add nothing to the street supply and am actually decreasing demand by taking my business out of the market. But some reassurance would be nice.
All right I'll give you an analogy man. You ever go fishing? You don't always catch all the big fish, sometimes the small ones get hooked. Same shit with drug busts. I am in a similar situation as you and am paranoid as fuck about it. Just remember, loose lips sink ships.
If the heat profile is a room in a house and isn't very much higher than the rest of the house it will look like a warmth lover's room. The extra electric use could be a new plasma TV or water heater for all the electric company knows. Don't worry. Keep on doing things like you have been and you'll be ok.
Where your located sounds super awesome. As Weedpack said, Loose Lips sink Ships. Dont tell anybody and you should be good!
Infra red can see heat, it can't see through walls. You don't want a bunch of 1000w bulbs heating up a room with an exterior wall. What mostly gives a grow away to FLIR is the hot air being vented out of the building. For just 600w, you can vent that into the basement, attic, or another room of the house where air conditioning can cool it back down.
Yeah, I love it out here. I'm actually pushing cool outside air into the space rather than exhausting hot inside air out of it. That air passes over my light, keeps it cool and keeps all the air under the house circulating so there shouldn't be any real hot spots I wouldn't think. The entire underside of my house stays a little warmer than normal but not dramatically so. From what you said, I think I'm safe.
i've got a similar question if anyone would like to help. 2 plants under a 600w HPS in a 2'x5' grow tent with an oscillating fan moving air around inside and an extractor fan venting out the top of the tent with no tubing going anywhere, just the fan connected straight to the hole in the top. the tent is in a loft space with an adjacent attic bedroom (separated by a very thin plaster wall and ceiling - no insulation) but the roof of the tent is close to the exterior roof of the house which makes me think it will be heating up one spot on the roof..? any comments would be much appreciated.
I don't know but my feeling is that would be noticeable on FLIR. I think they'd need a reason to look at you though before they could do it.
Yeah, I think it would probably show up a bit... I could get some ducting going more towards the centre of the loft space where it would mix with the draught and heat from my room beneath the top of the duct. This will require some DIY to get the ducting going where i'd like and I'm only living at this address for another 3 months. Also, my exhaust fan isn't huge so i want to keep the exhaust short...
Personally I think you'll be fine . I run 2x 1000w in my veg & 4x1000w in each of my 2 flower rooms i exhaust into a cold room then outside.I live in a rural area where fly overs are common and they always fly right by my house.my power bill is about $1200 every 2mnths but i just say that i have a 500gallon tropical reef tank w/ live corals that need hid lighting!even though i have a medical license i dont tell anyone what i have going on, including friends, family, or the hydro company!!!! loose lips do indeed sink ships good luck & good growing
If you are venting to the attic it very well may show up on flir. Before i got a place with a basement, the roof area above my grow area would be warm enough that snow would melt there first and create a near perfect outline of the room. Im pretty sure that would show up. Never was a problem though.