how many watts in an all utilities included apartment?

The key behind electrical bills is to show a long period of specific electrical usage, decreasing your usage at night. I don't think you'll have a problem with that wattage from the start, but if you plan on expanding, that's a thought you should keep in mind when it comes to the DEA. They will not only look at total watts used in a given period, but your usage by hour. After all, who turns on 1000watts for 12 hours at the exact same time every day for a few months?

Obama recently instructed the DEA to put marijuana grow ops at a low priority, due to budget cuts. So personally, I think your setup will go undetected. Consider installing thermal shielding on your walls if you're still worried.

 

I always have a big spike at night even before all of this. Im a night owl so staying up playing video games on a large tv and roomate doing the same on another setup. So i guess that kinda covers it.

 

Does the landlord have you on a separate meter, or are you bundled with other tenants on a single meter? If so, how many other tenants?

If you are bundled on a single meter with several (or more) other tenants, then your juice use will disappear into the average.

 

A coffee maker pulls 600W, toaster @ 1000W, hair dryer @ 1200W, and on and on.

Closet grows can be very efficient. Your biggest battle will be the heat output from the bulb. In a 3' x 3' enclosed area, 400W would be adequate(45W/ sq.ft.) as it puts of less heat which in turn allows you to get the bulb closer to your plants (=better smoke) and is less work to exhaust.

Apartment growing carries extra risk. Be .

 

And if you ran such appliances for 12-24 hours continuously every day then it would be a valid comparison. A toaster rated at 1000 watts (which is to say it is rated to use 1000 watts per hour of continuous use) and runs for about 1 minute a day, so it uses 0.5 kilowatt hours per month. A 600w MH/HPS running 24 hours a day will use 432 kilowatt hours per month, or nearly 90,000% more. A slight difference.

Very much agree with this.

 

If its a huge concern go with a bunch of cfls and 4ft fluoros. The day I started my grow, I quit watching tv in bed, switched most of my incadescents in my house to cfls, unscrewed unneeded lights and just watch my consumption much more. If you want something, sometimes you have to make sacrifices. Every building Ive ever lived in had the power meters on the outside of the building. Look for them and count them.

 

If you have an old style meter, like the kind with analog dials, there's no way for them to know what time of day you are using the extra electricity unless they send someone out to read the meter multiple times per day.

I don't know about the newer meters that are digital. They might have some sort of data logger that keeps track what you are using and when, but the old ones have no such data logger, thus unless they read the meter multiple times per day, they have no way of knowing that your usage is the same amount the same time every day or if it's 1000 watts for 12 hours each day or 500 watts all day long, or 2000 watts for 6 hours a day.


Usually all utilities included apartments are that way because they on a common meter. Like old houses or other buildings that were converted at some point to be apartments and it was easier to use a common meter than to spend a bunch of money rewiring the place to split it up.

I'd say you have nothing to worry about. The landlord might ask about it, but at most you could just say that it's because you built a kick ass computer with a monster power supply that you leave running all the time and offer to give them an extra $30 per month for the extra power you use.

 

Personally I think 600W is a bit much for an apartment grow. I'd go 400W instead if I were you. 9 plants is a lot for an apartment too. That's a lot of smell to cover for a small space like a studio. Try 4 plants at 400W, imo.

 

An apartment grow is quite risky in any event, I would advise against it.

 

You can do an apt grow you just need to take extra precautions. Im only doing 2 max using cfls. Yea itll take longer to veg out and flower out but its worth not getting busted for it.

 

Everyone is saying Apt grows are more risky because of the landlord issue?? or are there other variables?


Im thinking of doing a Apt grow...but my landlord is a pothead who drinks a good amount. He rarely comes in the apt because he tries to avoid doing work on the place.

 

What are you going to do when they announce fire dectector, mold, water heater or just plain old periodic inspections?
You should be able to get away with 400-600w, maybe even a 1000w, but past that with AC & fans & misc. plus living there that might be pushing it.
And whats your contract say, does it have a specific clause about controlled subtance & fed law? Typically to discourage dealers from moving in, there was a similar thread last week, and the poster did have this in the rental agrement stating a USC code.
The feds may act on a complaint or tip and or the police from your landlord, they may not file charges if you are a MMJ patient with a Dr. rec. but they may put on a show at you apartment.
Your biggest liability is thinking your landlord is ignorant, he just didn't become a lanlord yesterday, or maybe he/she did