Best Way Of Saving Electricity?!?!

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jackwhite

jackwhite

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For you experience growers out there any tips on not looking suspect with the electrical company? Somethings I wonder how someone can run 4kwatts and not have the electrical company be suspicious
 
organix4207

organix4207

729
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Run them off 220 v rather than 110 v.
Also always pay your bill !!!!
Around here only time the electrical company cares is if you don't pay. My boys warehouse hydro bills have been between $60 000-$88 000 a month for 4 years and no one has asked him anything. This is in canada so can't speak on the United states
 
Smokey503ski

Smokey503ski

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240v or 120v is the same amount of power used.
Don't be fooled.
Look at your EC website and see if they have on and off peak hours.
This can save you money if you run your lights during off peak hours. It's usually a lesser price per Kph.
My other suggestion is to pay your bill on time.
Honestly I never sweat it. In Portland my bill was around $800 month in a 3 bedroom condo.
 
ziplock

ziplock

90
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240v or 120v is the same amount of power used.
Don't be fooled.
Look at your EC website and see if they have on and off peak hours.
This can save you money if you run your lights during off peak hours. It's usually a lesser price per Kph.
My other suggestion is to pay your bill on time.
Honestly I never sweat it. In Portland my bill was around $800 month in a 3 bedroom condo.
How'd you manage to rack up $800 in a Condo? You sleep on the porch?
 
We Solidarity

We Solidarity

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don't run 1000w lights, run your lights on a flip so you don't have a 12/12 power cycle on your smart meter. Most people just go for it, I don't think anyone actually gets caught by the power company in america anymore, I haven't heard of that in a while at least. pay your bill is the most important part though!
 
We Solidarity

We Solidarity

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In the mountains of colorado I've actually had a guy with power company knock on my door and let me know they were upgrading my street's transformer (13 houses on a one lane dirt road), he said it would be an hour or so in case I had to adjust any pumps or timers. It must have smelled outside or something.
 
jackwhite

jackwhite

482
93
don't run 1000w lights, run your lights on a flip so you don't have a 12/12 power cycle on your smart meter. Most people just go for it, I don't think anyone actually gets caught by the power company in america anymore, I haven't heard of that in a while at least. pay your bill is the most important part though!
what do u mean run on a switch?
 
Smokey503ski

Smokey503ski

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He's talking about a flip flop switch.
One ballast will control 2 light cycles.
Runs for 12 hours in one flower room. Then the flip flop switches it to the other flower room.
The ballast will run for 24 hours.
NONE of this matters if your kph are the same during a 24 hour period.
You need to look at your electric companies website to see if they have on and off peak hours.
Where I live it's 8¢ per Kph all day. So it doesn't matter what time I run my lights.
You do need to take in consideration of heat. If you can't control the heat you may need to run at night. If you run ac this will keep the ac from running all day during the heat.
 
organix4207

organix4207

729
143
He's talking about a flip flop switch.
One ballast will control 2 light cycles.
Runs for 12 hours in one flower room. Then the flip flop switches it to the other flower room.
The ballast will run for 24 hours.
NONE of this matters if your kph are the same during a 24 hour period.
You need to look at your electric companies website to see if they have on and off peak hours.
Where I live it's 8¢ per Kph all day. So it doesn't matter what time I run my lights.
You do need to take in consideration of heat. If you can't control the heat you may need to run at night. If you run ac this will keep the ac from running all day during the heat.
We have "off peak" , "mid peak" and peak billing in ontario canada. Those rates are between 8 cents kw/h - 28 cents kw/h !!!
 
We Solidarity

We Solidarity

1,610
263
He's talking about a flip flop switch.
One ballast will control 2 light cycles.
Runs for 12 hours in one flower room. Then the flip flop switches it to the other flower room.
The ballast will run for 24 hours.
NONE of this matters if your kph are the same during a 24 hour period.
You need to look at your electric companies website to see if they have on and off peak hours.
Where I live it's 8¢ per Kph all day. So it doesn't matter what time I run my lights.
You do need to take in consideration of heat. If you can't control the heat you may need to run at night. If you run ac this will keep the ac from running all day during the heat.

the switch doesn't save you money at all - it saves you from law enforcement if they're looking for 12/12 signatures. They have algorithms they can run, electric companies rarely check that sort of thing or care.
 
Smokey503ski

Smokey503ski

1,865
263
the switch doesn't save you money at all - it saves you from law enforcement if they're looking for 12/12 signatures. They have algorithms they can run, electric companies rarely check that sort of thing or care.
I'm fully aware a flip flop will not save money.
I was trying to explain you can save money by running at nighttime when it's cooler.
I'm so Fucking high high right now I'm not making sense. Lol.
 
The Terps

The Terps

748
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Sorry it's kinda a dumb question it's like asking how do I eat cake all day and not get fat. The fact is if you want to run X amount of light it cost z amount of power plain and simple. Just like the cake company though electric company's don't care if your diabetic or obese they want to sell a product and make money.
 
Desertboy

Desertboy

1,414
263
Flip flops can save considerable money depending where you live have 2 grow rooms both in flower on flips from each other and share the air between both rooms eliminating any heater costs! If you live in California it's probably not going to help lol but if you live in Seattle it will.

Ditch the air cons, fit air cooled lighting properly that will have a massive effect on power bill, go vertical and double your gram per watt that would also help.

Running SOG to reduce veg times is also an option, consider if you run heaters switching to propane or LNG.
 
ziplock

ziplock

90
33
This question came from another grower, and I have no idea whether it makes sense: Can you save power on an 18-hr grow cycle by cutting the HPS to 12 hrs, and adding 6 hrs of Hi intensity T5s? Maybe 3 hrs at either end of HPS cycle? I don't want to try it myself; I'm just starting to get the kind of results I can be happy with. Has anybody tried this? With what results?
 
fishwhistle

fishwhistle

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If you want to save power grow outside or in a greenhouse,flips or vert wont save you.
Not using AC can save some but if your not in the perfect place with conditions for it can cost you more in lost production than you save.
Probably the best way to save is new tech lighting like DE's or CMH,these can cut up to 25% off lighting electrical use.AC is going to cost you period,according to cannabis john even high seer units dont help much in our application as our units tend to run at higher speeds all the time.Chillers will save but you pay BIG up front.
High efficiency dehueys like Quest and super efficient fans like hyperfans use half of the power others do and help some.
Also your electric co. and the way they bill makes the biggest difference,I have tiers which go up with higher use effectively tripling or quadripling my bill,i have a buddy in another state that has no tiers and pays a straight 8cents a KWH(Lots of cheap hydro power)with no tiers,lucky fuck.I even put in a 10kw alternative energy source thinking it would at least keep me in lower tiers,it helps me but is no magic bullet,does cover my household use but im still in higher tiers.
Good luck.
 
Seamaiden

Seamaiden

Living dead girl
23,596
638
This question came from another grower, and I have no idea whether it makes sense: Can you save power on an 18-hr grow cycle by cutting the HPS to 12 hrs, and adding 6 hrs of Hi intensity T5s? Maybe 3 hrs at either end of HPS cycle? I don't want to try it myself; I'm just starting to get the kind of results I can be happy with. Has anybody tried this? With what results?
I don't see why this wouldn't work. Use the T5's top and bottom (morning and evening) to simulate sunrise and sunset even, he may see some interesting responses such as shortened veg time perhaps.
 
LI grows

LI grows

161
43
A nice controller to simulate sunrise would surely save electric.I would like to try it myself and eliminate cheesy timers im using now. What was the question?
 
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