Suspicious power usage?

[dubblehue]

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?

When you say suspicious, are you referring the suspicion being arisen with your roommates? IF they are not into what you are doing, then it's probably not a good idea to do it at all.

 

[ross]

no my roommates are cool with it. were all investing money in it. and to hemp goddess, how can i tell if the grow space has enough amps? it has one outlet. the outlet will have about 650W connected to it total.

 

[215zealot]

each bedroom shold be able to handle 1000 watts, but each outlet i would not run more than a 400w and maybe a fan. In my bedroom, i tried to run two 400s from one outlet and it didnt work. you have to use seperate outlets, or run power from a seperate room/breaker.

I am running two 400s HPS on the rooms two outlets, another 400MH running from another bedroom. in the future i am gonna run a 600watt connected to the washer/dryer breaker which is good for alot of wattage.

i also switched all my bulbs to CFL and probably saved like 400-500 watts for my total house. CFLs use 14watts, regular light bulbs use 60-80.

 

[ross]

how do you run a light off the the washer/dryer breaker?

 

[215zealot]

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?

check craigslist, i just came up on nine 5-week plants for $100. thats ready to flower plants for the price cheaper than clones. saved me lots of time and money by skipping.


and yes, definately do NOT NOT NOT steal power. this is practically begging to be caught.

as long as you arent no running 5000 watts or more, you should be cool. my buddy and I currently run about 1000watts but we will probably be close to 2000 in a little bit.

 

[215zealot]

how do you run a light off the the washer/dryer breaker?

well the house is only 1000square feet so the washer/dryer is only like 20 feet from the grow room. just see where your washer and dryer are plugged in, they should be plugged into a special 60amp breaker. just run extension cable that is like 16 gauge and connect it to your ballast. every 20 amp braeker can run approx. 1000 watts of lighting, so a heavy duty 60 amp breaker can easily run a couple 1000 watters plus equipment.


also, i have read alot that 1000watts are actually less energy efficient. you are better off using multiple 400s or 600s. 3 400s can cover a nice amount of area because you can keep the lights closer and the lights get more lumens, a 1000 is spread out alot so some plants dont get the best light. either use 3 400s or 2 600s.

 

[ross]

i think i'm going to use one 600W for flower and one 400W for veg, veg at 18/6.

 

[The Hemp Goddess]

Ross, How old is this house? Sometimes several bedrooms and maybe a bathroom will be run on one 15A circuit. If so, you are limited by what you can plug in (especially if you have a wife/GF that uses a 1500+W blowdryer...)

Washers and dryers are run on separate circuits. The washer will be on a 120V line that probably shares a circuit with other rooms. The dryer will be on its own 240V circuit, which will probably be a 30 amp. IMO, using either one of these is problematic.

 

[ross]

the house is probably 5-10 years old. it's just me and my two roommates. the rooms will be in the upstairs bedroom closets, and the washer/dryer are on the 1st floor.

 

[Flyinghigh]

paranoid. .

Man That One "Scary Word" to pass along to Others.!!! :rofl:

That is a Good Song from Black Sabbath "Paranoid".. I Rock to that Song Going down the road with the window rolled down..


Boo !!! Ur electric bill will go up about 50 bucks or just a little more or less and U be just fine as Long as U Pay UR BILL..
Be nice to the Electric meter read man (give Him a brownie) for his Hard Work. :aok:

 

[TheEnhancementSmoker]

check craigslist, i just came up on nine 5-week plants for $100. thats ready to flower plants for the price cheaper than clones. saved me lots of time and money by skipping.

You bought pot plants off of Craigslist? Wow.

 

[215zealot]

i live in Oaksterdam, we all have 215 medical patient cards, its a rather easy, simple transaction that hopefully will be more common place when marijuana is finally legalized nationwide. Its pretty much legal here, cops have many many other things to worry about. Commercials routinely play on the radio stations here encouraging entry into a marijuana horticultural university in Oakland. Theres also adds that have a girl speak about how Alcohol is more dangerous than pot.

 

[Flyinghigh]

i live in Oaksterdam
Commercials routinely play on the radio stations here encouraging entry into a marijuana horticultural university in Oakland. Theres also adds that have a girl speak about how Alcohol is more dangerous than pot.

Call that Radio Station and say "Thanks" from all of the MMJ user...

 

[JB_In_Fla]

I'm *guessing* we're talking USA here, 120volts. Most all residential has minimum 15amp circuits by FHA guidelines (some things have more, like your A/C and Dryer). The formula for amps is AMPS=WATTS/VOLTS, in this case volts=120 and watts=400 so amps=3.33. You should be able to run 15-amps off of a single circuit, and standard wiring (white stuff) is good to 15-amps. The yellow-wrapped stuff is 20-amp plus. I know this because on my aquarium I did have to add a 20-amp circuit, but I was pushing multiple MH lights, water cooler, heater, pumps out the yin-yang, etc.

The thing about not putting more than one MH light on the 15-amp circuit is because at startup a 400-watt ballast will draw much more than the 3.3 amps we calculated earlier, but only momentarily. Staggering their turn-on (even by 1-minute) will cure that.

Keep in mind, that 15-amp circuit might be connected to MULTIPLE outlets, lights, etc. Sooooo, just find out what all is on that circuit and figure all the wattages out, calculate your amperage, and if you're under 15 you're good. Actually, I would stay under 12 or so just to prevent possibly tripping a breaker if something gets turned on. Still, 12 amps is 1440 watts which is a lot of juice.

 

[antipeterleague]

unplug appliances and chargers that aren't in use!

(except not ones with a clock. would be annoying to have to reset the clock each time haha)

 

[HydroManiac]

slap all the people that said that isnt big usage then slap yourself 1000 watts just tacked on is HUGE USAGE you must be supplying a big habit tops im using is 150hps for veg and 250 HPS/MH for my cloner/flower thats 400 watts at any givin time plus you gotta tack on room for veg and flower

NOT SMART MAN NOT SMART AT ALL

 

[TheEnhancementSmoker]

He said he had three other people there, so that's basically 250 watts each.

 

[ross]

it's actually 3 people total.