For those of you growing in non legal states how much power is to much? 4br 4b home at approx 3500sqft. Is 4000-5000w too much to draw? Do you worry about cycles causing eyes at the power company? Just curious
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Don’t steal the power and you will be good to go. Depending on the state a power bill of $1k is nothing for a 4br house(without a grow)
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most circuits don’t accept more 1800w. 1200 per circuit is rec’d for safety on most houses unless you have a higher amperage on your circuit. some wall meters will cut off your power at 1800 and send you caution emails at 1200. i try to split mine across 2 circuits…total wattage for me is around 1000 running 540w of lights. the fans and stuff add up. also, there might be tv’s, computers, etc. if you blow out the transformer you may get sued by the utility company. it’s expensive. my home use has gone over 3200kwh in a month and that doesn’t seem close to what a large home with a pool, shop, work from home, etc going on.
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Yes make sure your electrical safety is on point.
And pay your bills. Nobody will ask questions.
And if they do just tell them you’re a potter and run a kiln.
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I used to do crypto mining and 5 power supplies alone pulled 5000w so I’m not tooo concerned but curious.
My last three months I’ve used 700KWH, 650KWH and 700KWH. Is that a lot?
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“Dear sir:
We have noticed you are giving us too much money and demand an explanation.
Yours truly,
The power company.”
My grow is microscopic compared to what you’re doing.
I’d be more concerned about electrical fires because those will get you busted.
Smoke alarms, fire extinguishers, don’t fuck around.
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Exactly what a friend of mine did. The year prior to starting to grow, he bought an old kiln (220). When the power company came around asking what he was using all that power for, he introduced them to his kiln. No problems after that.
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There are also things you can do to reduce your overall power footprint.
I have 2 chandeliers that pulled 1000 watts until I replaced them with LEDs and now they run 50.
My whole grow only runs 400ish watts so this one move alone not only offsets the cost of my grow but actually saves me money long term.
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I’m sure there are other good lies that would work.
And I agree it’s prudent to have one at the ready.
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The problem you’ll run into is the way residental wiring is done in the US . It’s not uncommon to have 2 - 3 rooms on one 15A breaker . One tent with light , fans & irrigation / air pump you can exceed that . Add in dehumidifier(s) , heat , cooling etc it adds up . Have to be able to control your enviroment . As stated above any mishaps in an illegal place you’re jammed . I live in an illegal state , run 2 tents . Lung room has it’s own split unit & 2 dehumidifiers . I also pulled 2 additional circuits for the tents themselves . Everything to code , inspected etc. To me it’s cheap insurance because with my age / health any sentence is a life sentence .
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In my youth we blamed it on the hot tub.
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Yup I draw nothing outside of this. Work all week no tv etc
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So I’ve got 6 circuits in my basement. One 240v as well for two of my lights. I made sure I have only a few items per circuit. I had to run an electrical cord to my Dehumid to keep it on a second.
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In my state, if you use more electric they give you a discount.
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When weed was illegal SWIM had 10K watts running in a 2400 sq foot house. Electricity was 2k/month way back then and nobody ever looked. If you aren’t in the million-dollars of profit range, usually nobody even looks…it’s not worth their time
As long as you pay on time no one will ask a thing.
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Smart meters should be a consideration.
Usually an investigation need to be started before the police get this info.
But anything can happen.
Smart appliances may also talk to the smart meter , which allows customers to track electricity use by appliance.
“While conventional meters only measure a consumer’s total electricity usage, smart meters record detailed electricity usage as often as once every 15 seconds, and the resulting usage profiles make it possible to identify which appliances a consumer is using at a particular time,” reports the law firm Proskauer Rose, LLP,
Also HID ballasts give off RF interference and can piss off the cable company and HAM radio operators.
It blocks the signal.
How do I know?
The cable company had to install something to keep the signal from back feeding the cable line.
They said I was fucking up everybody’s cable in the houses around me.
That is when I learned about the Ham radio thing.
I am pretty sure you can find your neighborhood grow houses with a ham radio roaming round the hood.
I have not heard to the law using these thing to find grow houses but you never know.
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With LEDs the ballasts don’t worry me. How does one know if they have a smart meter installed?
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I don’t think you have anything to worry about, but another good excuse is
“I have saltwater reef aquariums”.
Power consumption in that hobby is off the charts
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