Let's help each other's Electric bill

[dfkeddy]

where I live the rates are cheaper at night.

 

[AcesUp]

MA, he's got a butter warmer. LOL

 

[OGKushman]

put EVERYTHING on timers and photo cells.

end of thread

 

[Rolling Thunder]

Dont use MH or HPS to veg your plants. running those things cost alot, especially running it 18 or 24 hours a day, so go out and buy ...

EDITLED 300w Serena Broad Band Grow Light[/COLOR][/URL]. It's "80% more energy efficient than Metal Halide or HPS lamps."

 

[Flyinghigh]

Get rid of the O'lady if she can't help cut cost..!:hubba:
When it comes to the electric bill all she can say is, It Not My fault the Bill is UP.!! I can just Slap her silly..

 

[Mr Greenjeans]

I'm looking to buy an LED lighting system for the energy savings and to avoid attracting attention from authorities from using too much power. So what's the best LED light to buy. Looking for something that would have a similar output to a 400W Sodium. I'm interested in a quality lamp that will perform the best. I've heard that LED with different colors don't work as well cause certain parts of the plant won't get an even distribution of the needed frequencies, leading to disfigured, stunted growth. If you mounted the LED on a moving mount, wouldn't that distribute the light enough for the plant to benefit from getting a more or less even distribution of the different color lights?

Thanks,

S. Hebert

 

[greenfoxx]

Now We didn't pick threw every page on this suject, but one thing that helps for us and is a noticable diffrence in your electric bill, is using Power vamp. Its a surge protector you plug your tv into the main controller plug, and the rest into the controlled plugs. When your tv goes off, all the little red lights go out, vcr, dvd, sterio, cable box, ps3, xbox, so forth. also works for growing. The protector is only 25 to 30 bucks, but will save you hundreds a year. We started using them three years ago when we opened our enviromentally green biz, and they have been nothing short of god sent on the pocket book. Hope this helps.

GreenFoxx's

 

[oneplantwonder]

whnever u leave turn off ur fans they will reduce temp. in like 5 minutes in the room the second they turn on so save electricity that way

 

[tastyness]

Where I live if you use too much electricity they come to your door to inspect. They give 24 hours and then do the "safety inspection" so keeping kwh down is a major concern. So far they've mostly bothered innocent people with indoor pools, saunas etc.

Thanks for all the tips. I'm going to check out the Power Vamp. When I was in NZ they had a meter you can attach and keep a constant tally of how much electricity you have used (you input the cost in your area) this was at the B&B I stayed at.
I just saw them at Home Depot recently about 89.00-. Good to keep tabs on the bills and the danger.

 

[zem]

great thread! i've been reading through every page great info! power usage is a MAOR issue for me, one way i use to cut power down in my growroom is by running my HPS only 12/12 this is why i chose to do SOG style many small plants i basically keep moms under fluros total 108watts and some 30more watts for cloner, i take my clones from cloner and put them straigh into 12/12, i feed them when theyr still in the cloner to keep them green for some time so they grow roots and i use the right strains that dont stretch. i use insulation to keep things warm. this method saves me a great deal on the HPS which suck the most power and i save 12 hours/day becuz i dont veg with it

 

[nouvellechef]

This thread is old, but good. Since it popped back to top and fam is still asleep, I will chime in. I was terrified when I 1st got started as to how much my electric was gonna jump. House is 2k sq ft, all electric. In set wall heaters in each room on thermostat. Typically before I started we ran about $315 a month in power in the winter months. Obv we are in Jan now. I pay 8cents kilowatt for first however many then 10cents after that. So how did I run 6k watts and all the other misc electrical plus entire home and keep my bill under $360 max(our Dec bill). Woodstoves. I ordered 2 Napolean brand new inserts, 4 cords of wood and two chimney kits. Took a few hours to install both. One runs 24/7 and the other as needed. Yeah it cost some coin, but I would rather spend it on a woodstove than an attorney from Walla Walla Pen here in WA. My two cents.

 

[spacecruiser427]

This is something that effects all of us, and I think together we can come up with a lot of great ideas to help lower the electric bill for each of us. And what you might think sounds silly, and a waste of time sometimes isn't.
I would have never thought to turn off the drying cycle on the dishwasher ya know, so let's hear the brains working this one for all our sakes.
Here's one:
1. Got a dog in your home ? then turn off the porch lights, anything wrong will get the dog to barking.

smoke in peace
KingKahuuna

electric companies generally charge more during the day when people use electricity the most. You could probably find out the prices per time of day but i'm guessing that they would go down right after the time that most people go to bed so that could be when you turn your lights on. If you aren't a commerical grower and just do it for a personal supply my idea would be to put seedlings or clones straight to 12/12 and do it during the night. I've also thought of using solar powered fans for the ventilation system. The fans would get their energy straight from the lights but i have yet to try it

 

[bi0phreak420]

use CFLs they are way cheaper to run and the doo just as good as the HPS and MH...IMO..lol:angrywife:

 

[WeedHopper]

use CFLs they are way cheaper to run and the doo just as good as the HPS and MH...IMO..lol:angrywife:

Not for Flowering they dont.
T5s for Vegg and HPS for flower.
Change all your household bulbs to CFL's and you can save quite a bit. I changed all my 60 to 100 watt Incandesants to 11 watt CFLs and my bill dropped pretty good.

 

[Hick]

use CFLs they are way cheaper to run and the doo just as good as the HPS and MH...IMO..lol:angrywife:

when actually compared, cfls are both more expensive to purchase AND consume more watts/energy to produce equal light than hid's..

 

[Jericho]

Start using gas kettle, If you have a electric hob use a gas one or bbq more often, Dont use microwave as much, Change bulbs to cfls, Have a slightly colder shower or bath.

There are better ways to save some cash, Lights in a grow room is not something you want to go cheap on.

 

[bi0phreak420]

Hey hopper you might wanna check out the grow journals cause CFLs work great for flowering i have used them numerous times!!!lol:holysheep:

 

[bi0phreak420]

when actually compared, cfls are both more expensive to purchase AND consume more watts/energy to produce equal light than hid's..

I totally disagree cfls are way more efficent than hid's and hps ...IMO...

 

[nova564t]

Oh, now you did it THGs gonna be all over this!! I use CFLs and get good results but facts is facts and Hick stated the facts.

 

[Jericho]

If you did the maths you would know they are not more efficient. Its not an opinion its a fact.

600w of CFls would put out roughly 52k lumens were a 600w HPS would put out 90k lumens.

This is one example hXXp://www.1000bulbs.com/product/1573/FC200-FEIIB200W.html You would need 9 of these to match a 600w HPS in lumens. At 50 quid each i think its cheaper to buy a HPS with a cool tube for 150 quid instead.

If you compare bud grown under cfl to bud under HID you will notice a significant difference in size and density. I've seen the difference between the same strain grown side by side. By the weight of the bud there was at least a 25% difference. I will see if i can get some pics if my mate still has them.

Im not saying you can't grow amazing bud with CFLs because you can but you cannot compare it to HID,