all utilities included apartment- can I grow?

[TruthOrLie]

I'm pretty sure the landlord pays the electricity so he can charge more overhead on the rent.

Most tenants probably use less than $100 in electricity, so he just marks the rent up $100 and advertises "all utilities included."

The landlord is just trying to make an extra twenty or forty bucks each month.

 

[bigghead]

does each apt. have seperate utillities?

 

[on star]

I would be cautious if you have been there 2 years with your electric consumption being normal and then it goes up considerably it will throw flags, most places have separate meters! be careful

 

[CFL_Grow]

You said "almost zero" not "zero" chance of someone coming in.

The end.

But no one would notice 400watts. that's like 10 bux a month here.

 

[Iron_Lion]

It would cost an extra $37.80 to run a 400w set up, thats including an extra 100 watts for fans etc..on an 18/6 cycle at 14 cents per KWH.

If you dont leave your lights on when your not home and you dont run alot of electronics this would be shit. I know peeps with window A/Cs in every window, leave lights on all the time, have big screen tvs, video games and computers and think nothing of it.

Using CFL's in ever light would cut the electric consumption for the lighting by 1/2 to 2/3.

 

[midgethorse]

pay your bills keep the place clean. But I would really consider a pc grow, go as small as possible.
Midgethorse

 

[ambition]

I just wanted to pop in and say that I've been refreshing this page every few hours ever since I made this thread. I really, really appreciate the different perspectives. I haven't made up my mind yet. To clear up a few things (as opposed to replying to every post):

-My only concern is electricity. I have zero concerns about random entry. It could happen, but it's a one in a million, for a variety of reasons. Even if they were to come in, odds are I'd be OK.

-any way to tell if my units are individually metered? I live in a large apartment complex that has always been used as such, fwiw. I've looked around on every floor for some kind of electric room or meter room or something, but no dice.

 

[Young Pumpkin]

-any way to tell if my units are individually metered? I live in a large apartment complex that has always been used as such, fwiw. I've looked around on every floor for some kind of electric room or meter room or something, but no dice.

Look upwards my friend. There has to be lines coming from the poles into somewhere. Follow that and the first thing they hit will be the meter(s). The juice has gotta get in there somewhere. uh, ok, guess you could be in an area where they bury the lines ')

I think the bottom line is this, if you cut into the profits of the company, no matter what you use and why, they are gonna find out why they are not making as much money as opposed to the last few tenants or your neighbors. Companies don't like to lose money. Somebody in accounting WILL notice this. You are about to become part of someones monthly report or Excel spread sheet.
Some one will have to answer this question when noticed. The home office will be getting the manager to explain this deviation of income, if its deemed to large.

When you look at short term gain, you need to look at long term potential. But thats my opinion. (That was kinda cozmic wasn't it, don't know where it came from tho) But I am cool with you cutting out other stuff to balance things. 400 watts isn't much but whats your total gonna be. Thats what somebody will be paying for..........who cares how you used it.

 

[IwannatokeNbone]

dont do it, save all the money you were going to buy equipment with and just pay your rent and buy a sac, your in a non med state and a apartment is going to be a constant worry for u on many levels. just buy some erb and get high, i thinks its not worth it, a 400 is no worry electrical wise to me but what youll yeild for the risk is a bad business decision imo

 

[gdbud]

I have a 400 watt system running 18 hours per day and with the light, fans and air pump I'm using around 570 watts. At $0.0765 per kilowatt hour that comes out to around $0.85 per day or $24.50 per month.

 

[mSeTxOiNcEaRn]

I tried it, got evicted. The landlord just gave me some bs excuse that they had to "work on the house" It was month to month, your situation might be different, hopefully.

400w btw

 

[st0ne]

I live in Canada, where hydro seems to be cheap. Eight cents a kilowatt. A four hundred might amount to an additional $20 a month. It may be more where you live.

I say go for it. Four hundred watts is fuck all.
Life is a risk, and risk makes it worth living. Even still, it pays to cover all of your avenues. Grow in a cabinet. Make sure noise and smell are taken care of. Minimize electrical consumption in other areas, if possible.

Too many nay sayers in this world.
Life is too short to play it safe.

Just my two cents.

 

[tequila_sunrise]

It is going to be hard to conceal a grow in a studio apartment. You can do it but you will need some balls to pull it off.

I think if you are asking the question here you already know the answer.

Like the others said, save up your $$ and get a house or at least a bigger apartment.

 

[TruthOrLie]

if you're in a non med state then I would side with what dude said about just paying your rent and buying a sac... not worth the risk if someone or something is a random variable like that.

if you were in a med state I'd be surprised you hadn't already started...

 

[dtfsux]

I always say no go in ANY rental.

But if you insist.

You are on the right track as far as the meters go. keep looking for the meter room. There may not be a meter room if there is only one meter for the whole building. I suspect each unit is not metered separately and that is why he includes the utilities. If that is the case, then he would not know who was using more power. And the more units on the bill, the bill probably fluctuates 10-20% every month anyway.


I always hear people say oh my computer uses 400W. No it doesnt. It has a 400W power supply that is CAPABLE of providing up to 400W. That would be with the hard drive running, fans on, processor running full speed, DVD drive running, etc. How many PC's are running like that 24/7

 

[JimBeamKush]

400watts is really not much

You could have 4 100 w incandesent light bulbs? lol

I would bet each unit is measured by it self. But 400 watts is not going to add shit to your bill honestly. Just cut back on a few other things and you will be fine.

lol 400 watts

 

[Sam the Caveman]

Here is what I would do

Get 5 100w regular light bulbs and put them in places you can leave them on all night. (12 hours) Meanwhile, keep you normal electricity usage to a minimal level.

Run this for a few months and see what happens.

If they contact you about it, tell them you'll pay extra.

If they raid your apartment to find edison's prized possession, they look like idiots.

Either way, I'd be safer about growing after one of these events happened.

 

[JimBeamKush]

If they raided everyone who all of the sudden started useing 400 more watts, they would raid everyone at one point or another lol

 

[Noobian]

I am in the same situation, not in a studio though and I only use a 250 to flower, but I say go for it. My landlord includes the electricity in the rent and I make sure and pay on time every month and have yet to have any problems. Don't listen to people saying just buy a sack and you'll be fine, that is not a good use of your money if you have the option to grow your own. Let's see you could be paying ~$300-400 per oz every few weeks/months, or you could spend that same $300 and get a couple #'s. Which one seems like a better use of your money?

 

[bigtopsfinn]

This is what I would do too...

This is what I would do too...

Here is what I would do

Get 5 100w regular light bulbs and put them in places you can leave them on all night. (12 hours) Meanwhile, keep you normal electricity usage to a minimal level.

Run this for a few months and see what happens.

If they contact you about it, tell them you'll pay extra.

If they raid your apartment to find edison's prized possession, they look like idiots.

Either way, I'd be safer about growing after one of these events happened.

You obviously have this one major concern, otherwise the grow would have already started. Give it a couple months

*edit: maybe even go 18 hours with the incandescents...