Low electric bill. high yield is it possible?

Jon808Burn · May 1, 2012

So it has come to my attention that while planning my first grow i never really considered how expensive running these lights could be. At first i wanted to run a 600w MH/Hps, now im thinking thats way to much of an electric spike for me. Does anyone have info on an average monthly bill rate? obviously city to city is different but a general ball park would be nice. My utilities are covered by land lord so i have no idea the rates. Im wanting to keep this stealthy so you can see my concern. Now, possibly thinking of going the cfl, or t5 route, do they use a considerably less amount of electricity ? at the same time i dont want to sacrifice yield and potency. suggestions?

tattoojim · May 1, 2012

stick with the 600 bro...i run a 2000watt grow and never paid more than 375$.

ykk · May 1, 2012

You would be absolutely fine with even a 1000w increase. A space heater in the winter operates at 1500w. An AC runs similar depending. Who are you scared of noticing?

paulycali · May 1, 2012

LED Lights!!!!!!

Only way to pull it off

With HPS/MH your landlord will see a $100 minimum increase in electricity

LED maybe $25 increase

Go LED :)

CrippledArcher · May 1, 2012

See what the rate is for a Kilowatt hour and do the math.

outwest · May 2, 2012

2 600s bumped my bill ~$100. Not a big jump.

outwest

ProdigyGrower · May 2, 2012

shit just turn your central off on the unit that will save you 60 amps of power depending how big your rang is i ran 9k total and my bill was never more than 250 to 275 with the central off and thats with adding ac units and all the other stuff u need to grow ohh and i wouldnt waste ur money on a 600 you figure a 600 uses as much power as a regular house hold computer so you will be fine running a 1000 and it will be well worth it also as long as your not running something stupid like 10k in a 1 bed room apartment you will be fine as long as you pay your bill every month

Jon808Burn · May 2, 2012

ykk said:
You would be absolutely fine with even a 1000w increase. A space heater in the winter operates at 1500w. An AC runs similar depending. Who are you scared of noticing?

well we dont use either of those. But just my landlord our utilities are included in the rent and am unsure how much of an increase the bill would be. Just wouldn't want any suspicions or problems to occur

Jon808Burn · May 2, 2012

tattoojim said:
stick with the 600 bro...i run a 2000watt grow and never paid more than 375$.

ProdigyGrower said:
shit just turn your central off on the unit that will save you 60 amps of power depending how big your rang is i ran 9k total and my bill was never more than 250 to 275 with the central off and thats with adding ac units and all the other stuff u need to grow ohh and i wouldnt waste ur money on a 600 you figure a 600 uses as much power as a regular house hold computer so you will be fine running a 1000 and it will be well worth it also as long as your not running something stupid like 10k in a 1 bed room apartment you will be fine as long as you pay your bill every month

yeah no central air, and i live in san diego so rarely ever use a space heater. do you think a 600 uses the same amount of electric as a lap top? my utilities are included in the rent so my only concern was that it would be a considerable increase that my landlord might notice

Jon808Burn · May 2, 2012

paulycali said:
LED Lights!!!!!!

Only way to pull it off

With HPS/MH your landlord will see a $100 minimum increase in electricity

LED maybe $25 increase

Go LED :)

the LED's are just way out of my price range to purchase. and am unsure of their quality have you used them before?

baba G · May 2, 2012

I think a 600watter uses around 5.6 amps at 120V, so a laptop prob uses half that, but a big desktop is prob even with that energy drain.
Easily you could do a 250 or 400 and you could do a 600 watter but after a fan or two and anything else you plug in....adds up
Low electric bill and high yield= OUTDOOR GROWN

Jon808Burn · May 2, 2012

outwest said:
2 600s bumped my bill ~$100. Not a big jump.

outwest

really that doesn't seem to be a large increase at all. do you use both during the whole grow or single and then double it up for flower?

Jon808Burn · May 2, 2012

baba G said:
I think a 600watter uses around 5.6 amps at 120V, so a laptop prob uses half that, but a big desktop is prob even with that energy drain.
Easily you could do a 250 or 400 and you could do a 600 watter but after a fan or two and anything else you plug in....adds up
Low electric bill and high yield= OUTDOOR GROWN

yeah i would really love to do it outside but no place at all for that

baba G · May 2, 2012

If you live in a tiny studio or a 1bedroom, that 125 dollar increase could be double your bill, they will notice that and I'm betting it's in your lease that they can enter with a 48 hr notice...start small, use it for a bit then upgrade...If you just go from 0-60 real fast the bill is gonna go up:)

Jon808Burn · May 2, 2012

baba G said:
If you live in a tiny studio or a 1bedroom, that 125 dollar increase could be double your bill, they will notice that and I'm betting it's in your lease that they can enter with a 48 hr notice...start small, use it for a bit then upgrade...If you just go from 0-60 real fast the bill is gonna go up:)

mm good advice i've actually just considered finding a new place where i pay the utilities myself. in my opinion it would be worth it

baba G · May 2, 2012

good thinking, rushing into it could cost more than the herb you grow...think it out and research it all, it is expensive to do it right with quality equipment but way worth it! Just make sure you do a good job carbon filtering if your gonna be living in town and it can be really noisy...so consider adjoined/shared walls if your renting a duplex or something of that nature.
Other than that, get started, it's fun and teaches you a lot!!

Jon808Burn · May 2, 2012

baba G said:
good thinking, rushing into it could cost more than the herb you grow...think it out and research it all, it is expensive to do it right with quality equipment but way worth it! Just make sure you do a good job carbon filtering if your gonna be living in town and it can be really noisy...so consider adjoined/shared walls if your renting a duplex or something of that nature.
Other than that, get started, it's fun and teaches you a lot!!

yeah man im really excited about it and have been doing a lot of research it seems as soon as i think i have a good grasp on what i want and how to achieve it, some new info or a problem i hadn't though about arises. its great i love the challenge.

Jon808Burn · May 2, 2012

have you had many successful indoor grows? any suggestions on a good setup

outwest · May 2, 2012

Jon808Burn said:
really that doesn't seem to be a large increase at all. do you use both during the whole grow or single and then double it up for flower?

Run them both the whole time.

baba G said:
good thinking, rushing into it could cost more than the herb you grow...think it out and research it all, it is expensive to do it right with quality equipment but way worth it! Just make sure you do a good job carbon filtering if your gonna be living in town and it can be really noisy...so consider adjoined/shared walls if your renting a duplex or something of that nature.
Other than that, get started, it's fun and teaches you a lot!!

As always Baba, good info. You certainly get what you pay for. As a personal grower, I made back my investment in my first grow. I did the math with a friend recently, and I am definitely saving money over buying it. . . I smoke A LOT. Even then, I need variety sometimes!

outwest

Jon808Burn · May 2, 2012

outwest said:
Run them both the whole time.

As always Baba, good info. You certainly get what you pay for. As a personal grower, I made back my investment in my first grow. I did the math with a friend recently, and I am definitely saving money over buying it. . . I smoke A LOT. Even then, I need variety sometimes!

outwest

if you dont mind me asking do you remember how much you yielded on your first grow? were you using the 2 600 setup then?

Low electric bill. high yield is it possible?

Low electric bill. high yield is it possible?

Jon808Burn

tattoojim

Unknown farmer

ykk

paulycali

CrippledArcher

outwest

Premium Gardener

ProdigyGrower

Alien Junkie and bush master

Jon808Burn

Jon808Burn

Jon808Burn

baba G

bean sprouts are tasty

Jon808Burn

Jon808Burn

baba G

bean sprouts are tasty

Jon808Burn

baba G

bean sprouts are tasty

Jon808Burn

Jon808Burn

outwest

Premium Gardener

Jon808Burn

Low electric bill. high yield is it possible?

Low electric bill. high yield is it possible?

Jon808Burn

tattoojim

Unknown farmer

ykk

paulycali

CrippledArcher

outwest

Premium Gardener

ProdigyGrower

Alien Junkie and bush master

Jon808Burn

Jon808Burn

Jon808Burn

baba G

bean sprouts are tasty

Jon808Burn

Jon808Burn

baba G

bean sprouts are tasty

Jon808Burn

baba G

bean sprouts are tasty

Jon808Burn

Jon808Burn

outwest

Premium Gardener

Jon808Burn

Privacy & Transparency

Privacy & Transparency