Suspicious electricity bills

Frank.O · Oct 11, 2013

Hi, I´m worried about growing with 3000W in a 3 bedroom house. Do you guys think its too much? In my country, in central Europe, the cops are cooperating with the electric companies and watch this kinda stuff a lot. I´m afraid it would be suspicious when i turn on 3k Watts every 12 hours and every two months I´d run 24/24, than its quite obvious whats going on...

I had an idea that I could split my grow room into two smaller ones and run 1500W 24 hours a day, switching the lightning in the rooms. Then I could register a web hosting company at my address, and my "servers" would by the excuse for high electricity bills...

Anyways, just lemme please know whats your opinion, thanks a lot

dank.frank · Oct 11, 2013

well, figure out how much power your neighbors use in general, and make sure you don't stick out like a sore thumb on the grid by having what they can consider to be "excessive" usage...

dank.Frank

supermanlives · Oct 11, 2013

3 k aint nothing in a 3 br house. easily stay under radar. pay bill on time an no odor . no worries with 3 k. my safe rule is 1k per room easily

D-RingBinder · Oct 11, 2013

Yea man, 3KW is a 3br house is nothing really. I mean, at this very moment Im sitting in front of one of those fan heaters with the glowing element thing. That thing has 3 settings...400w, 800w and 1200w. I don't get my door busted in during the winter.

But now your worry would be the frequency of power usage. Yep, 3kw on for 12 then off for 12 might raise suspicions. But staggering your grow tents is a way to overcome that. Just have one turn on at like 6am, another at 12pm and the last at 6pm or something, you know. This way it'll always be up and down throughout the day...which could easily be people just using a heater, or air conditioner or any other "normal" usage for a 3 bedder.

That's just my thoughts anyways...

Hammerhead · Oct 11, 2013

I was contacted by the park manager regarding Electrical usage. She doesnt care how much I use she was unsure if I knew about it thought there might be a electrical issue. Im the 3rd highest user of the juice here. She has never said anything since then.

oceangrownkush · Oct 11, 2013

Hell yeah, another wayward soul worried about spiking the electrical bill as a dead giveaway.. Rest at ease soldier, if you are in a medical state especially.. If not, I'd stagger the on/off times but its really nothing to worry about. They will do much more up close and personal surveillance before kicking your door down. Sight, smell and sell are your biggest giveaways..

Frank.O · Oct 11, 2013

Ok thanks a lot everyone

I´m really more at peice now knowing im not risking gettin too much unwanted attention.... Thx

Frank.O · Oct 12, 2013

well, figure out how much power your neighbors use in general, and make sure you don't stick out like a sore thumb on the grid by having what they can consider to be "excessive" usage...

Well i did some math and it came out quite bad...
Considering I´d use 1500W 24/7 365, I would be using about 13000 kWh a year, when normally a family in a suburban home is using only about 6000 kWh according to what I find online to be the average. So i´d be using nearly twice as much, that might make some problems...

PoopyTeaBags · Oct 12, 2013

dude
i have ran 12k + in 3 bed room houses for over a decade... ull be ok.. .3k is not even alot of power.

leepy · Oct 12, 2013

Frank.O said:
Well i did some math and it came out quite bad...
Considering I´d use 1500W 24/7 365, I would be using about 13000 kWh a year, when normally a family in a suburban home is using only about 6000 kWh according to what I find online to be the average. So i´d be using nearly twice as much, that might make some problems...

m8 the electricity company aint going to bat an eye lid as long as the bill is paid on time why would they the more you use the more money you pay them :ying:

Dr. Buddington · Oct 12, 2013

I guess not many people actually read the original post before responding. OP is in central Europe, not US. Frankly, I would try to find out average electricity consumption around your parts and try to fit in that range or slightly higher. You don't want to be using ten times the power that your neighbor is, especially if the electrical company cooperates with local law enforcement. Good luck

944s2 · Oct 12, 2013

supermanlives said:
3 k aint nothing in a 3 br house. easily stay under radar. pay bill on time an no odor . no worries with 3 k. my safe rule is 1k per room easily

as the above and in the uk,,utilities dont care as long as you pay for your electric and you can use that power in a 3 bed easily without raising any sort of suspicion imo but i am talking about how it is in the uk only

,,,s2

mojave green · Oct 12, 2013

in the us, elec co's rarely rat out out customers to le, though they do send me an email telling my cost's are 300% higher this year than last! :thank you:

they WILL respond to requests from le though. if le is asking them, they are already interested in you from some other source. there be where your proplems may lie.

gonzo` · Oct 12, 2013

Dr. Buddington said:
I guess not many people actually read the original post before responding. OP is in central Europe, not US. Frankly, I would try to find out average electricity consumption around your parts and try to fit in that range or slightly higher. You don't want to be using ten times the power that your neighbor is, especially if the electrical company cooperates with local law enforcement. Good luck

I agree 100% with this advice. Your consumption may not be high in america but in central europe it might be... Your electric consumption is going to be looked at against your neighbours and if they dont use 13kwh a year but use 6kwh then yes you are a target...

The staggering won't work as they look at TOTAL consumption and if this is out of line then they investigate...

However, how do you know power company's cooperate with police? ISn't that against your rights etc... They don't do it in america and they dont do it in the UK.... Not from what I've heard anyway...

Easy7 · Oct 12, 2013

Split the grow over more houses.
Get black dog LED's to cut power to 75% of HID.
Grow outdoor

Frank.O · Oct 12, 2013

I plan to use the LEDs from Grow Blu, but imma check the black dog ones also, thx for the tip.
I´d still use about 3kW for roughly 25 squared meters though.

As for growing in more houses, its not as comfy as having it all in one and also a bit suspicious for a young guy like me to be renting two houses... unless at least one of them wouldnt be official cos the people renting it dont wanna pay taxes for the rent...

And growing outdoor... yeah next year imma do that too, but i dont wanna wait the whole season for my harvest so thats not really an option now.

Frank.O · Oct 12, 2013

Get black dog LED's to cut power to 75% of HID.

I just checked out the Black Dog LEDs and they consume more electricity per square footage, which would be probably worth it. I´ve read somewhere that the 5W led chips that are sometimes used have better light penetration through the plants but also put out more heat, so i´m not so sure about the efficiency. But its defo something to think about...

babelfish · Oct 13, 2013

hit up oneshot

Frank.O · Oct 13, 2013

hit up oneshot

Yeah I´ve seen his posts here and videos on youtube, thats actually where I first came across the GrowBlu LED lights that I´m thinking of buying...

babelfish · Oct 13, 2013

i got a 400w solarstorm, still have yet to put to use. sigh.

Suspicious electricity bills

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