Power Consumption tips for new growers

I am too cheap to spring for a plug in watt meter, and my power bills have been high lately. This prompted me to figure out some things about power. I decided to share them with everyone. If your power meter does not have a spinning disc this article is not for you.

First, Turn your grow on with everything that would normally be on during the time your grow would be on. Like your computer, television, etc...

Next thing to do would be to look at your power meter (the box on the side of your house). Pick a point on the spinning disc dealy and count how long it takes to get to that same spot. For mine it was 13 seconds. You also want to look for a number that has a small Kh annotated next to it on the meter itself. Mine is 7.2 as is alot of them.

Next you use this formula watts are measured in per hour, this tripped me up while figuring all of this out.
Watts=3600*the Kh number/the number of seconds it took per revolution
so mine was 3600*7.2/13= 1993 Watts
Take this number and move the decimal to the left 3 times (mine was 1.993 or 2). This will give you kilowatt hours. multiply by 24 and you have how many kilowatt hours you are using per day(mine was 4

Last thing that you can now do is look at you power bill and average how many kilowatt hours you used last month or recent months into per day format. Then compare it. If it is drastically more than normal with your grow on you may want to consider shutting off an appliance or two to conserve electricity. I turned my hot tub off, now only using it when i decide to warm it up.

I hope this helps someone else because it was really important as my parents pay my power bill and got pissed about this lol.

Bump bump bump bump to spread the word.

This may not have anything to do with your post.. but.. If you are noid about your power consumption and the company noticing a big spike in it, turn off the lights in your house, open windows/curtains, dont run the AC and that will make up for all the power you are using running your lights.. I'm doing it currently.. Electricity bill has been the same always..

grapesnowcone said:

This may not have anything to do with your post.. but.. If you are noid about your power consumption and the company noticing a big spike in it, turn off the lights in your house, open windows/curtains, dont run the AC and that will make up for all the power you are using running your lights.. I'm doing it currently.. Electricity bill has been the same always..

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well I used this method to figure out what was causing the spike and was able to figure out it was my heater and hot tub.

I have said it before and I will say it again. Getting busted for a normal sized grow op (1000w or less) via power consumption is less likely than getting busted by the cop that you invited to your house to see your plants. It won't happen. Period the end.

thanks for the reassurance bigv, however I have had friends that have had trouble with the law because of this. The police were searching for evidence to get a warrant and they added it in as evidence even tho it was only a 10 plant grow with one 600w hps. THey can do watever the fuck they want to do, to make you suffer for doing something that doesnt hurt ne one. Don't give police the evidence is my opinion on the matter. This was more for energy saving and money saving techniques.

I'm comparing to the bills from last year, and my calculations had my grow op at a $45 increase from last year. My last bill was about $50 more, but all lights haven't been on for a full month so I'm guessing it'll be another $25 to $50. I think it's adding 300 kWh. I'm switching bulbs to CFL's as they burn out.
Daniels

I am using 4000 watts of electricity in a small home, we try to conserve what we can but I have a fear that our usage will be wayyy too high soon, I only have 2 mh's going right now. I don't really have a point here, since I'm not gonna stop or do anything drastic. We are going to just hope for the best, it's over in 9 weeks *fingers crossed*

BCBuddy420 said:

I am using 4000 watts of electricity in a small home, we try to conserve what we can but I have a fear that our usage will be wayyy too high soon, I only have 2 mh's going right now. I don't really have a point here, since I'm not gonna stop or do anything drastic. We are going to just hope for the best, it's over in 9 weeks *fingers crossed*

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I am around 100kwh per day here. Adn Im running similar lights.

Danielsgb said:

I'm comparing to the bills from last year, and my calculations had my grow op at a $45 increase from last year. My last bill was about $50 more, but all lights haven't been on for a full month so I'm guessing it'll be another $25 to $50. I think it's adding 300 kWh. I'm switching bulbs to CFL's as they burn out.
Daniels

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keep an eye on your meter dont use heat or ac while lights are on. Theres lots of things to do to make it less kwh. Dont use cfls to reduce power bc in all seriousness over time HID lamps are more efficient

a 1000 watt light uses 1 kw of electricty per hour.
1 250 watt light uses 1 kw every 4 hours

Yea, I meant replacing the bulbs in my reading lamps, & etc with CFLs as they die. My grow is 400w MH & 300W HPS. My bill says 1048 kWh for the whole house this last month. Looking back that was clearer in my stoned brain.
Daniels

I have a 250 watt light operating at 20 hrs. a day.
250 x 20 = 5000 watts or 5kw
i pay approx $.08 a kilowatt
5kw x .08 = $.40 a day x 30 = 12.00 a month (approx.)
of course you ballast is not 100% efficent so it will probaly draw a little more then 250watts . negligible

I haven't fired mine up yet and for the last year i have benn running 4 26 watt cfls in a mini grow.
leaving every light and the house on the tv computer. Just so there will be no diff. in the bill.
acutally when i turn my light on my power bill will acutally go down i hope.
I also changed the light in my house from 26 watt cfl to 75 watt incadesents just to use more electricity till i start my 250 grow.

Sounds like i dont even have to worry about with such a small light.
but i still do.

Check with your power comany many lower their rates for nightime usage. If so cycle your usage accordingly..

Your friends got busted because they told a bunch of people. Any spike in power can be used by the police ONCE THEY FIND YOU. Power companies run connections to EVERY HOUSE. Not just in the city, EVERYWHERE. Nobody looks at when you use power and how. They'll check into it if your bill SUDDENLY doubles because that raises an alarm at the company saying "hey, this person has a short and it might burn their house down". If its not sudden swings, nobody looks. Ever.