I am curious about how much electric usage is too much. The national average in the United States is 908kwh a month. That means that i am already over the average use without having anything running for growing. My average per day is probably about 35-40kwh, if you take the national average and divide it by thirty it comes out to 30.2kwh/day to equal to 908kwh/month. I have looked for the past two or three days to try and figure out what indoor growers are running in non legal states. What seems to be a safe amount of equipment to be running. I can't really find a solid answer. What i want to run: 1,000 Watt HPS 5,100 BTU AC Two fans w/fan controllers, one inline w/filter, one duct booster to vent cool air inside grow room. One fan for air circulation. I do autoflowers so i run everything 24/7. The light alone would mean 24kwh/day, or 720kwh/month. So my question is to those of you who grow in states where growing is illegal what are you running, and how many hours per day, and how long have you been doing it for? Here is what I have ran before: 600 actual watts of LED lighting. 8,000 BTU AC One 6 inch inline fan w/filter. Fan inside tent for air circulation. I want to try to do a grow with an HPS 1,000 watt just to see the difference between thst and LED. I used mars hydro 3x100 old model lights before, a total of four, 150 or so actual watts. Here is my reflector/light. Hace the MH installed now, but planning to run HPS the whole way. I want to grow 6 autoflowers. Should thst one light and reflector be enough to accomplish that?
I have a smaller operation so I can only offer so much. 600w of led and HPS right now. When I first started I was pretty paranoid about the spike in usage as well. In my googling it seems like as long as you pay your bill, don't steal power, don't cause interference/disruption for other customers you'll be fine. Id have to guess that only when you're on the police's radar is when they might look at usage. And to get to that point... well. Lol yolo
My uncle has been running 10 1000 watt lights for as long as I can remember. Never has had an issue with law. Sent from my SM-G920V using Grasscity Forum mobile app
Yeah, i pretty much gathered the same information. From what i've read as long as youre not burning 3x the amount of electrcity as the homes around you then you'll be alright. Still worried though. When i grew before the electric company never called or anything to see why our usage had spiked. I purchased a new AC unit so i assume it is much more efficent and will use less energy than my older one that was 8k BTU. How many plants do you grow under 600 watts? The most i could do with my four LED panels was four. I tried six but i ended up killing two.
The electric company could care less if you're using ten times, as long as you pay your bill and aren't causing issues for other customers. Do you really think they're going to lose the profit of your bill just to have you busted, only if you owe them will it piss them off. Like said before, if the po po are onto you then they may run a check on your power consumption but other than that just pay your bill. For all the electric company knows you just added a spa and a heated garage....
As long as you don't steal electricity and pay your bill on time, the company doesn't give a shit. I've been running one 1000 watt hps/mh, three 150 watt LEDs, two 12" oscillating fans and a dedicated 3 ton AC unit to that one room. My monthly charge is around $40. The AC uses most of the power, but is a must have item. I grow 6 plants at a time. Sent from Cannabis Heaven
Awesome. Do you do six regular plants, or 6 autos? I'm going for autos but I would only like to do four at a time. I know i can pull 2 oz from each LED i have... do you think i would see a difference using one 1000 watt hps, or should i just stick the LED?
You guys realize these lights are legal grow lights used to grow indoor herbs and such for people who just like to grow. Nothing illegal about the light, only what you grow Sent from my QTAQZ3 using Grasscity Forum mobile app
Yes i do, however... i don't want the electric man at my door asking if he can take a look at things to see why i am using so much energy. I would like to run all 1.600 watts i have available but i am scared to do so.
Then don't grow or get your own generator and then worry about the noise of the generator . there is another way but I do NOT suggest it ...bi pass the meter ...then be paranoid you're going to get caught or grow outside and be paranoid you'll get caught No matter what I can't find a way you won't be paranoid , other than not to grow , so let me know your solution.
I've never heard of the electric company coming to check people's electronics. I'd tell him to eat a dick if they came to my door. I run a 400w and 2 window units so not that much power but I would definitely runs 18/6 so your plants can sleep some and save yourself some money. The main almost only reason grows get busted is because of loose lips. Don't let anyone know and you won't have to worry. Good luck buddy
I've grown before. I assume it is normal to be somewhat paranoid. I'm also super anxious lol. All i do all day when i'm off is research. I haven't grown in a little while. I only have two good grows on my resume so far. Anticipation is KILLING me, its like my first grow all over again. I can't stop thinking about it, or searching for answers to my questions. I've never grown with an MH/HPS before. I'll have 400w more than ive had in any other grow. Since this will be my first grow with MH/HPS i am excited to see what the end result will be. I'm not sure how many autos i want to either so i'm going through the journals on here to get an idea of how many plants i should do. What do you think the footprint of my 1k is with that reflector? I know they says 4x4 or 5x5 right?