smokinrav

I found this as I was surfing another site. Mostly relevant for large scale growers, but good tips are good tips! Hope they dont mind my passing along helpful info...

>>The number one power sucker in your home is the hot water heater. Most of these units use between 3500 and 7000 watts. Turning off this unit at the circuit box will dramatically reduce your power bill (not to mention the length of your showers, ha ha). Number two would be your baseboard heaters. These are the most wasteful power suckers. A 4-foot long baseboard unit can draw 1000 watts or more. A small apartment usually has several of these. Turn them off at the box. Plug-in electric space heaters usually consume 1000 to 1500 watts. Cold? Hang out with the ganja. (I have seen electric internal forced air heating systems in large homes that consume as much power as ten or more 1KW grow lamps. These are ideal grow houses because by turning off the heat, your bill may not be any higher than the previous residents). Tied for number three are your dishwasher and clothes washer. Both of these units use lots of hot water, and the dishwasher even super-heats the already hot water. The clothes dryer is also a major culprit. Use paper plates and go to the Laundromat. At number four we have the refrigerator and freezer. Most people won't want to try and live without these, but try putting gallon jugs of water in the empty spaces (if any) of both. Water retains its temperature more efficiently than air, so your fridge will use less energy. Also, a lot of people seem to have this thing about leaving all the lights in the house on all the time. Remember to turn off lights you're not using. Use low wattage bulbs. If no one is living at the grow facility, all of these appliances should be turned off at the box and you should be growing a lot of weed.<<

I didnt realize that about the water heater. Well, I kinda did, but not right out n front like that. Id like to add that insulating your home, summer and winter, is a great way to save percentage points on your bill. Pay special attention to the bottom of the doors and the seals that make them weather resistant.

Smokin

LadyGray

Hi,

I don't think the issue is so much the expense(we all know the rules to conserving energy here. God knows the West Coast started this whole thing.) The concern is that after a certain level of usage we get penalized with an even higher jump in rates!
The other problem comes from the eco/enviro nazis, who, because they reek of the need to be in everyone's business, will at some point find a way to get even further into our pockets, making us pay for something we didn't create.

Yet another issue comes from the whole idea that at some point, utility companies are going to start maintaining lists of bills that have consistently remained higher in spite of the recent changes. Keep in mind that higher doesn't mean higher usage, but over the level they have prescribed in order to maintain lower bills.

Last year, the water company came to our door because our water bill had been consistently high for about six months straight. It turned out we had a leak in one of our ground faucets that was worse than suspected. We were grateful for the guy coming over and talking to us about it. He told us that the water company keeps an eye on those things - for our benefit. Well, right now the chances of that visit coming from the electric company(or someone just as curious) has increased greatly. Needless to say, a lot of the paranoia comes from areas that have good reason to be, of which I am from one of those areas.

LG

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smokinrav

Hey LG, I just wanted the info to be out there as far as scale goes. Ive already turned my water heater down from 125(!!!) to 110. Im betting this helps a ton.

Im a Cali native from long enough ago to remember full resovoirs all over the north(lived near the one on SkylineDr. S. of Frisco). Im not suprised the state is so psycho about fresh water after the beatdown drought of the 80s. But really, I cant see any correlation between water and power conservation, and the techniques used to monitor it. There are WAY more ways to use power than water(and more power users), and we dont die without power(most of us, anyway).

greenfather

Smokin, your h2o heater keeps the water in the tank heated at a constant temp so it will be on quite a lot throughout the day. Maybe switching to a gas h2o heater if you can't turn off your electric one completely would be an answer. A waterbed heater also uses quite a bit of electric for the same reason. (About $25/mo where I live). Although I've turned off everything not related to growing (fridge, h2o heater, etc) bill still comes out "suspiciously" high. I've been informed on this forum that high electric usage is not enough for a search warrant. Others say that Electric cos. and cops don't get together and compare notes. I sure hope so because high electric bills could be a red flag that would be easily traceable by the cops and possibly a devestating chink in the armor of any larger grower's security.
~Peace

smokinrav

As far as the electric uage monitoring goes, think about the situation out west. With the incredible disparity in prices from one bill to the next, the margin between lowest and highest bill has got to be unbelievable. And some are doing all to conserve and some just dont give a sh!t. More disparity. I think its too much for them to care(right now anyway)
My mom in law is possibly gonna be transferred to my home cause she had a stroke and may need 24hr care for a couple months. We were warned(after I asked) that our power bill could go up substantially cause of the support equipment she needs, incl electric wheelchair and bed. Just an example of how your power usage can go up without any visable external factors for the power company to see.
The bottom line? If your power bill or water usage or surfing practices are being investigated, your already busted and their just making the case

Smokin

3hounds

If you are in an area of the world that supports it, look into solar hot water heaters.
I have been using one for years, and have yet to spend a dime on hot water... limitless showers, dish washing, laundry, etc.

Course now that the state of Florida is under stage 2 water restrictions, we could have a problem there. We can now only water outdoors legally two days a week, and only 2 designated hours at that.

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