Suspicious power usage?

[ross]

in a house with 3 people living in it, what wattage use on a grow-op would be suspicious? i want to run a 600W hps in a flowering room and a 400W hps in a veg room, plus fans, is that too much wattage?

 

[TheEnhancementSmoker]

Only worry would be the 3 other people. 1000 watts is nothing.

 

[whiterussian]

No not at all your cool man, it really shouldnt be a problem

 

[The Hemp Goddess]

There are things that you can do to help offset the increased usage. Change all your light bulbs out to CFLs. Turn your water heater down, take shorter showers (if it is electric). Keep your thermostat higher in summer and lower in winter. Turn lights off when you leave the room. Turn appliances OFF when you are not using them.

You should be able to approximate how much your power bill will increase.
But like everyone has said, 1000W is really not that much.

 

[ross]

should i consider getting a 1000W hps instead? the space is only going to be like 30 sqft, thats why i figured 600W since 30sqft * 3000lum/sqft = 90000 lumens.

 

[TheEnhancementSmoker]

For 30 square feet, you should get the 1000.....AT THE MINIMUM.

 

[ross]

if i'm doing the math right, a 1000W hps at 12/12 would use 360 KWH per month, and a 400W at 18/6 would use 216 KWH per month. last month our power usage was about 1000 KWH, this is a 576 KWH increase, and that 1000 KWH bill is with 2 plants flowering using 310W. This seems like a significant increase.

 

[TheEnhancementSmoker]

Yeah, but you still need about 50 Watts per square foot.

 

[215zealot]

1400 is about right, anything more than 2000 in my opinion is somewhat of a small red flag to anyone looking at your power bill.

however there are lots of excuses. for example a small portable bedroom heater runs approx. 1500 watts, you can just say that your running a heater all night.

 

[ross]

i think im going to run a 600W hps in a 4x5 flowering room and a 400W hps in a 4x3 veg room. both of those should use 432 KWH per month, which would increase my bill by about 43%.

 

[Trent45]

Well how about looking at the option of using CFL's for Veg to try and cut back on your hydro, rather than two HPS, you might have to veg a bit longer but you would have the piece of mind you are seeking, haha

 

[215zealot]

yea you dont need a HPS for veg/clone. you can get by with a MH or even CFL.

 

[ross]

so a 400W MH is more efficient than a 400W hps? or does MH put out the right spectrum for veg?

 

[215zealot]

MH is better for veg because the spectrum promotes stem/leaf growth, it also uses less volts (i think) and they are very cheap. I got my 400 MH for veg for only 60 bucks.

HPS shold only be used to flower buds, they use the most voltage so its good to cut down watts everywhere. If you switch all your regular light bulbs to CFL around the house you can save 50 watts per bulb. Switch 4 bulbs and you save enough to usea HPS.

 

[ross]

yea weve switched out all the old bulbs with the smallest flouro bulbs, and taken 2-3 bulbs out of the lighting fixtures in the main rooms and bedrooms. were probably overdoing it.

this store by me sells ballasts that can be used for MH and HPS, it sells 120V and 240V versions. would i want to get the 120V if i plan on using a MH in it?

they also sell the 600W ballasts in both those voltages, would i want to get the 240V if im going to be using it with an HPS?

 

[TheEnhancementSmoker]

so a 400W MH is more efficient than a 400W hps? or does MH put out the right spectrum for veg?

Technically the HPS is more efficient, because they emit more lumens. However, MH would be better for growing during vegetative growth.

215zealot: $60 for a 400 MH? Was that used or something? Where can I get that kind of deal?

 

[TheEnhancementSmoker]

yea weve switched out all the old bulbs with the smallest flouro bulbs, and taken 2-3 bulbs out of the lighting fixtures in the main rooms and bedrooms. were probably overdoing it.

this store by me sells ballasts that can be used for MH and HPS, it sells 120V and 240V versions. would i want to get the 120V if i plan on using a MH in it?

they also sell the 600W ballasts in both those voltages, would i want to get the 240V if im going to be using it with an HPS?

Voltage choice doesn't matter. Just buy whatever you have an outlet for.

 

[The Hemp Goddess]

For a 4 x 5 space, I would run a 1000W HPS. However, like mentioned before, you can get great results vegging with fluoros. A 400W MH used the same watts as a 400W HPS, but puts out less lumens. I use a 4 tube 4' T5 fluor for vegging. It uses 216W and puts out 20000 lumens. It does a great job. You can also use multiple CFLs.

Unless you already have 240 wired in, go with ballasts that are wired for 120. Does your grow space have the amps necessary to run all this?

 

[7greeneyes]

in a house with 3 people living in it, what wattage use on a grow-op would be suspicious? i want to run a 600W hps in a flowering room and a 400W hps in a veg room, plus fans, is that too much wattage?

I have 3 primary HID lights that I use the majority of the time: (1) hps 1000W, (1) hps/mh 430W, and a hps 250W. Plus my 150W that I seldom use and (2) 3x4footer flourescents (they're ~129watts/fixture) that are used 24/7 continuously for vegging purposes. As long as you pay your bill, be courteous to the meter man and DO NOT STEAL ELECTRICITY, you'll be golden!!! Wishing you much Green in your Future, friend. Laters.

 

[JB_In_Fla]

From someone who doesn't currently grow, you all are just paranoid.

I've add a pool with a timed 1.5hp pump, 800w of aquarium lighting with 700w cooler, 1800w pump for the koi pond, blah blah blah. Nobody ever came out and checked up on me. I wasn't doing anything wrong, so I didn't worry. Now my supercab is for tomato's, if I ever get a hair up my bud and grow something funny in there then you bet I'll probably start getting paranoid too, but relax bro, I've never had a problem adding multi-kilowat usage, especially on timed intervals. Around here they seem to catch the grow-houses, not the grow-cabs.