How to deal with really high electricity use.

  • Thread starter bestgrow
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bestgrow

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How do all you vertical tree growers out there deal with you electricity usage. (in terms of not getting caught).

I would like to be able to run max 30,000 W. I think the only 2 ways to do with are to rewire a portion of my house, like the garage, to a higher voltage or whatever. I heard you can call the electric company and get them to put a bigger box for you. Someone told me to say I am making a small machine shop or something.

the other way would be to use a generator. I would love to not have to use a generator, but I would also love not to go to jail =).

Any experience with this?

Thank you

:harvest:
 
M

Married2Mary

Premium Member
Supporter
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Simple... PAY YOUR BILL ON TIME.. You shouldn't run into any trouble as long as you're not stealing power and paying your bill on time...
 
N

NorCalHal

Guest
I agree with Married...pay that Bill. I have some pretty huge elec bills, but just pay them on time and you should have no issues.
 
Dr.stickerdick

Dr.stickerdick

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30,000 W. is approaching 300 Amps ...... good luck. Stick out like a sore thumb
 
true grit

true grit

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Ok how bout 6-10K, you folks just paying your bill on time as well?
 
M

MADISM

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30,000 watts? You better be in a house that's over 12,000 sq ft.
 
J

joe.5

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30,000 watts? You better be in a house that's over 12,000 sq ft.

Large buildings don't stick out, they could quite easily pull big juice, but a lil shed with a big bill would flag suspicion.. pay da bill and the leccy company don't mind.. the more you use the more money they make init? but i dunno, if i had to use that kind of power i'd have an industrial unit sized annex.
 
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Rasta311

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30k Yeah um k. Trust me if you were looking to set up a 30k room you wouldn't be here asking questions like that. You would already have your shit on lock. And if you are really setting this up I would suggest other wise as I can already tell you are not ready. And this is not a case for "just pay your bill on time, you will be fine" sorta thing.
 
G

grizz

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A grow that big is risky at best, I would get permits for a welding shop, ceramic kilns, whatever sucks up lots of power, and the main point as everyone has said pay that bill as soon as you get it to keep it out of human hands, the bills are all computerized and the only way it will raise extra supision is not to pay it on time.
 
J

Jalisco Kid

Guest
If I was a building inspector and I heard kiln I would think pot. Not that many potters out there. To go big you need a/c so get a permit for that and the future. Service panels jump from 200 to 400A so it is not that big of a deal. JK
 
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Rasta311

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^^^ thats a whole other ball game then. You need to get an electrician to come out and wire you a panel up.
 
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bestgrow

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Even though its legal, I don't feel like getting raided and all my stuff taken away and my crop destroyed. Do you think they will raid me with such a high electricity bill? I think I might be better of going with a generator.
 
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Denny Crane

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The power company aint gonna narc you out for using too much power. That's like telling the cops that so & so is buying way too much of your product. Not happenin'. Now your USAGE patterns are a dead giveaway, but as was said a couple of posts up, pay your bill and pay it on time!!! Keep it out of human hands.
Your greatest security threat is your own ego. Not you personally, but everyone who grows. I have no idea why I can bring home a fern, or some other decorative plant, and it's just a plant that MIGHT get watered. But throw a Cannabis plant in the mix and we tend to it like it's a preemie newborn. And the first thing we are DRIVEN to do is to show off what we have. It's an almost hormonal need to brag, and show off our growing prowess. Thank god for these forums where we can get our egos stroked with relative anonymity.
FLIR is another tool the police use that is a deterrent by the fact that we know they have it. We as They know that those who do not understand FLIR will be too cautious to try anything for fear of the cops using FLIR. They perpetuate the myth that they can "see" into your room, or have powers far exceeding the reality.
As of this date, they MUST HAVE a warrant to use FLIR on your residence (IF they're gonna use any of the evidence collected in court). FLIR is expensive, often times several jurisdictions will share a unit. The helicopter time is expensive, especially these days of $3 per gal gas. (AvGas is infinitely more expensive than regular gas), and if they are gonna use FLIR to prosecute you, the data from the FLIR must be interpreted by an expert in FLIR, and that expert MUST appear to testify in court. Understand that they CAN use FLIR without a warrant at any time. They just cannot tell the courts they did it, and no evidence collected can be used in court.

Keep your mouth shut and you should be just fine.

Now, all that being said, WTF are you thinking with 30K? If this were a legal grow as you stated earilier we wouldn't be having this thread. Legal grows do not have LEO security related issues to MY knowledge. Just rippers & pests. You gonna do a grow that big you may as well be outside.
Getting bigger is not necessarily a better thing. You can have quality or quantity, but you can't have both. You can find an acceptable balance between quality and yield, but the bigger the grow, the more quality will suffer. It seems that it would be neigh on impossible for someone without an entire crew to maintain a 1000 plant grow and still maintain the attention to each plant required to max pout quality AND yield.

I find that there is that segment of society who want the absolute finest smoke available, they want to KNOW what the smoke was grown with (Organically). For this clientele, cognac is OK, but it's VSOQ or nothing. These people will PAY for the quality. I'd much rather cater to that clientele. At least they have the connections to actually HELP you should the unthinkable happen.

God am I stoned!!! Sorry for rambling. Hope this helps.
 
B

BETA

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It's not about paying your bill, It's when you bill is a lot more expensive then what a normal house should be pushing out, then you get red flagged and they will
let the police know that something is going on...
2 get rid of this problem???
Buy a generator!
 
D

Dice

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I dont know about in a legale grow but up hear in the midwest they will bust you. I have had a friend that paid on time and he was only running 3000 watts.
Power company stoped in and wanted to check things out. Said he was using way to much power. He said no and made up some excuse, they called the pigs and he got nailed. That night.
I have had problems with the power company calling me and asking what i have pluged in. In this case the truth is it was Diesel pick up trucks I had pluged in. So I wouldnt trust the power company.
 
D

doubleds

Guest
Hi there

i am a legal grower in canada and run 30 k in one building and 14 k in another, same proprty 2 different metres. The 30 k garden first started up and i didnt see a leccy bill for 2.5 months. I called the company and they thought they had read the metre wrong. I explained that i ran a business and they said ok...... my bill showed up and everything has been ok for 2 years now.

My 14 k building started 3.5 monthsaho and i still havnt seen a bill yet.

will be calling tuesday.

dds
 
Olyver

Olyver

343
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DO NOT TRUST POWER COMPANIES

From Epcor, BC Hydro, etc, they all use Digital Recording Ammeters (DRA) that easilly clamp over the Primary feeding the can (14.4KV or 7.2KV), or after the transformer has stepped down to 240V. They will place the DRA for a period of 5 to 7 days and record every flucuation in amperage, every minute taking a reading. It's simple math, if they read 2A @ 14.4KV = 28.8KW. They will send info to the police and you will be investigated. You need to be aware of the location of your service. Video surveillance and driveway alarms are your best option. If you would like to know more, send me a PM. The power companies sometimes use 2-way radios instead of cellphones, so a decent radio scanner will also help.

Best Regards


Olyver
 
I

ismokepot

Guest
It's my experience the electric companies are way more concerned about people by-passing meters (not paying for electricity). People normally by-pass to eliminate high use detection. They regulary monitor neighborhoods to make sure what they are delivering to an area is being legally used and accounted for. So, for an example, they will add up the usage for 10-25 houses and see if that agrees with that they are delivering to that area. This detects if anyone is by-passing their meters. If that's the case, an investigation is started........
 
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