HeadbangaBoogie

I have been doing my research and eating my wheaties . I'm just about ready to start moving to my new place, and then I plan on building my new box. I have been buying my supplies very slowly, all cash, and never making two trips to the same store. I also have used a friends car on a few occasions when picking thigs up, and did my best to get things into my place in a discreet manner (carrying stuff in a cooler has worked well).

I have plans for a carbon filter that others have reported alot of succes with, so I dont think smell is gonna be my problem. My problem is my own paranoia . I am worried that even as discreet as I have been, the police might still be watching me, or at least keeping records of some sort. A high electrical bill may be just the thing they need to take a REAL interest.

Would it be a good idea to let all my stuff run without any plants growing? The motive here is to push them over the edge, let them come search the place and find nothing encriminating and then start up that same day. Is this a smart idea, or just a paranoid fantasy that is gonna cause me more trouble than its worth? Also, how hard is it for them to do anything based on just a utilities bill? I have read alot of posts about it, but am still a little shady on some of the details

GreenNinja

Wholly crap, bro...I thought I was paranoid, but really that's a good thing... If you play with fire, chances are good you'll get burned. So stay paranoid, it'll keep you safe. Of couse, I can't tell you what to do, but you may want to consider:

Where are you growing?
1) Own or rent, house or apartement?
You've got some legal remedy if it's your own property. If you rent you'll still probably enjoy a little protection from your state's landlord-tenant statutes. Still, renting alone is reason enough to keep a pretty high paranoia level. On the bright side, though- even if the leasing agreement has some ridiculous clause allowing them access to anything anytime- there'll probably be things they can't do, by law- even if you acknowledge and agreed to it.

2) How much power do you use regularly in no-grow mode? Also, heating & cooling a couple of thousand square feet, washer & dryer, etc. will definitely help mask a power signature, but if you're growing in a 1 bedroom apartment you may want to go with flouros...

3) What's the local power company like. Is it state of the art, or is it a smaller power service. This is just my opinion, but I think larger power companys will tend to have a standing corporate policy regarding privacy- smaller ones might be less formal. I worked for a software company years ago, and had the DEA contact me to help them get into a computer they'd siezed- went to my boss who told me if I gave them any information I'd probably get fired, and quite possibly sued (which was fine by me- pricks).

On the flip side, larger power companyies'll have the financial wherewithall to track and maintain the massive amounts of data associated with tracking peoples power usage...basically, if they get a subpeona you're toast...just food for thought.

In short, I don't think you're being overly paranoid. In fact, your're better off listenting to that little voice inside your head than to anybody here (no offense). After all, if you can't that trust voice- you've got bigger problems than whether or not to grow your own MJ.

Peace & Play Safe!

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afterburner

Exellent, it sure sounds like it man <Gives big hearty penguin pat on the back>

Dude by the paranoia that you've put fourth already, taking friends cars and the like, you'll be waitin several lifetimes for the poe poe to come ah nockin on ur door...

Most likely the only reasons they're gonna come nocking anyway evidence of marijuana discarded in your trash and smell an all that jazz, but im sure you'll have that covered.

Just grow it and dont say a word to anyone!

Remember the power companies are in bussiness to sell you power, so unless your using outrageous amounts of lighting, 3000 watts + you've got nothing to worry about.

-Afterburner

SuperJJ85

afterburner's right, HeadbangaBoogie.

Check out the Security subforum of The Library, there's a bunch of great threads on the subject that should put your mind at ease (OK, maybe just make you slightly less paranoid in your case ).

SuperJJ85

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HeadbangaBoogie

From alot of the other "paranoia threads" I have read so far I pretty much thought that was the response I would get . I know SuperJJ was watching my original post (which you can look at here ), and I thank you, and everyone else who has given me thier advice thus far.

I have decided to go with the stealth box, based mostly on stories I have read about fire inspections. I figure if theres no smell, a grow cabinet that looks like a dresser would be far out of the scope af a fire inspection even if it DID have an exhaust fan on it (does that sound right?).

In order to go stealth I am going to likely give up some height (not sure dimensions yet. Have been garage saleing to find a winner), so I have decided to use some floros, more for heat than anything. I will use no more than 200W floros, and as soon as I can get it together I was gonna build this thing and add my 150W HPS to the setup so my girls can get more of what they need for flowering stage .

So you guys are saying that kind of wattage is fairly minimal? Also keep in mind, I'm gonna try to keep power supply up from day one. It's a new place so I can make it so there is no "spike".

And as for my paranoia, I think I shouls make it clear that I'm not a psycho or anything and I'm not losing sleep here . I just believe in covering my own backside and tying up as many loose ends as possible.

afterburner

Your computer uses a lot more power than that...

Run a little space heater for an hour, that sucks up 1800w at LEAST....

Reeeelax bro, smoke a bowl and chill... Your totally cool.

Im just starin at this fatty 1000 watt ballast that just arrived at my doorstep and im not worried about power usage at all compared to the amount im worried about making sure all the electrical wiring doesnt start a fire. I live in an apartment too!


Peace,
Afterburner

SuperJJ85

Ooops sorry, HeadbangaBoogie, I was thinking of someone else.

Take it easy.
SuperJJ85

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