No, most of us don't use that much. A small personal grow can need just a few hundred watts, just a small bump in the electric bill and of no concern to anybody.
They get their power from the electric company and take the risk that they are still flying under the radar. Commercial growers who know they are far exceeding "normal" usage often will do quick turnarounds, doing a big grow (often SOG to reduce total time) then tearing it down as soon as its over and moving on to somewhere else.
I don't want to step on toastybiz's Feet, but here's another example, For each house, count the number of bedrooms. Now, It is safe to use one, 1000 watt per bedroom just to fly low. Also the importance of turning down and / or off some appliances. The water heater, don't use the oven, take showers at your local YMCA, *( Or what gym you use ) etc. Those things add up, so 3 bedrooms, 3 1000 watt lamps. 2 bedrooms, 2 1000 watt. . . . . .
if your doing a large grow and are located were no one will notice them running, i'd use generator(s) solar or wind power would be nice too, i just not know enough about them or how much you'd need. for a generator i'd use digital ballast that are gen. compatible. good luck don chetto
I saw a good idea about this a few months ago that Rumpleforeskin posted, look for his post in this thread http://forum.grasscity.com/general-indoor-growing/383610-generator-question.html
I seriously was not flaming. I was reflecting how at my house I take showers, my mom and dad take showers, my grandpa takes showers and my sister and her BF take showers... That is like 6 hot showers a day. I was being dead serious lol
Don't think he was, might have genuinely not have thought about it. Unfortunately sometimes you've got to take a quick shower, or don't want to drive out of your way to get clean. Whenever you could avoid using the house would be good, you'd just have to prepare by turning on your water heater 30 minutes before showering, and remember to turn it off.
I C,.. I read it wrong, .. sorry my friend ^^^^ Yes, 30 min before is great, then off. Saves your Electric Bill .. .. ..
That's a rule of thumb I've heard before too, I just don't know if the power company or the police have heard of it too. If you do something like this then you can't add that on top of full-blown regular living power consumption, you have to scale other usage way back as the Widow Man said. Generators are very loud and will cost a lot more in fuel than if you bought that power from the electric company. Wind and solar also are very expensive. It's all about remaining inconspicuous. And there is no magic line where on one watt over you are conspicuous and one watt under you are inconspicuous. Some folks want to know exactly how much they can get away with so that they can do 99.9% of that and think they are safe. Doesn't work that way, the higher your profile the higher your risk, period.