I am paying far to much for power,what can i do to pay less?

B

bbxww

Well-Known Member
headbandrocker said:
I have a residential property and I am interested in ways to lower my pge bill,right now im being raped by pge and want to figure out if there is a program or some other way to drastically reduce my monthly bill.(besides cfl and led lol)
I have heard of agricultural meters,commercial rates,and medical baseline and even getting first tier electric prices by getting an electric vehicle.
Any help on this would be greatly appreciated.
Pretty sure my usage puts me outside of the care program,it was nice while it lasted but now im payin full price for power and need to solve this dilema soon.
What can i do to save money with the power co?
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Invest in LED's
 
ttystikk

ttystikk

Well-Known Member
I'm in Colorado and I just had another water chiller fail on me. Instead of buying another unit right away, I went to the junkyard and got a radiator from a Mitsubishi Lancer. It even came with the two fans still in the shroud. I got a power supply and some fittings and now it cools my chiller circuit and that cools my whole grow. I don't know how much capacity it has, but it is clearly making a big difference.

That's sixty watts instead of thousands to run an AC compressor, and it seems to be doing a great job thus far!
 
Uncle Ben

Uncle Ben

Well-Known Member
Hydroburn said:
stealing power is illegal, but we are all breaking the law here so who cares... the real issue with stealing power is getting caught.
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Getting caught is the real issue? Fuckin' dishonest loser.

I care because when dishonest low lifes like you steal what doesn't legally belong to you it drives my costs up. It's ethically flat ass wrong.

There's a big difference between stealing from someone who put in the time, risks and investments than some self centered petty little thief that's hung up on self induced medication....drugs.

Get a job,
Uncle Ben
 
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DurbanP

DurbanP

Well-Known Member
waterdawg said:
I know its way different up here. If we r caught growing and stealing power this is what could happen......first it is classed as a commercial grow op. They will try to seize the house, then you go to jail! Any grow that is 5 or more plants is mandatory 6 months.......Canada has harsher penalties than most States now, oh and you'll probably get another 6 months for the theft thing. Any whooo, I did try as an experiment, running my lights for a shorter period but staggered once. It worked well for keeping plants in veg but can't recall if quantity suffered, probably as I did it once lol. I think lots of commercial flower growers use it to keep costs in check. Other than that I run T5's for veg and supplement a 600 with them as well. Run all my lights at off peak. And move outdoors when weather allows. Good luck, electric bills are a bitch here as well, with the highest prices in North America I believe (peak rate .14 kwh) not to mention a whole bunch of extra bogus charges and tax, its around .17 kwh
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Just as an fyi, minimum sentencing doesn't kick in until 6 plants. You can grow 5 without facing the 6 months in jail. Not trying to be "that guy" just wanted to point it out.

http://www.marijuanalaws.ca/penalties.html
 
waterdawg

waterdawg

Well-Known Member
I thought it was 5 or more my bad if wrong. But it doesnt matter cause no matter how I do it thats not enough lol. Tried to do 4, not enough, tried 6, not enough, at 12 now plus clones, may just do it lol.
 
DurbanP

DurbanP

Well-Known Member
waterdawg said:
I thought it was 5 or more my bad if wrong. But it doesnt matter cause no matter how I do it thats not enough lol. Tried to do 4, not enough, tried 6, not enough, at 12 now plus clones, may just do it lol.
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Might as well grow 200, it is 6-200 so doesn't really make a huge difference on sentencing although 200 would probably get you more than the minimum. It really goes to show the stupidity of some laws.

My point being, if you grow 6 might as well grow as much as you need because you hedge your risk in a sense. 4 is enough for my needs I just wish I could have 8 and do a veg and flower room.

Cheers
 
C

churchhaze

Well-Known Member
If you break the law by stealing, you're a thief and I don't want anything to do with you. You are not allowed on my property. I've got my eye on you. Don't touch any of my things.

If you break the law by smoking pot, you're a pothead. Big deal. In my mind, you did nothing wrong.

I can't see how these crimes are considered even remotely similar. They define your character. When you steal something tangible like power just to make some extra cash, it makes you a bad person.
 
ttystikk

ttystikk

Well-Known Member
Hey look, build more energy efficient grows and you can have your cake and smoke it, too;

I just built a compressorless chiller that runs when it's cold outside and removes massive amounts of heat from my op. The colder it gets, the better the thing works!

Try running vertical grows; you get more square feet for your watts and it fits in smaller spaces.

You need to use liquid cooling to take advantage of the compressorless chiller idea, but that's its own dividend; they improve efficiency in many ways over simple AC.

The list goes on and on and on...
 
waterdawg

waterdawg

Well-Known Member
Or grow outside!! But yes there are ways to lower the cost of a grow. Efficient grow methods, passive cooling (has its limits), energy efficient lighting and maximizing schedules. It should be a enviromental concern as much as a cost saving thing.
 
Flash63

Flash63

Well-Known Member
I replaced any electrical appliances with gas,(stove) (dryer).and run the lights during off peak hrs....
 
ttystikk

ttystikk

Well-Known Member
Flash63 said:
I replaced any electrical appliances with gas,(stove) (dryer).and run the lights during off peak hrs....
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These are good ideas, I've personally implemented both. When looking at gas ranges, beware of the dreaded dual fuel units; fuckers look fine with gas burners on top and all but underneath lurks an ELECTRIC OVEN.

WHAT IN THE EVER LOVIN' FUCK IS UP WITH THAT?!?
 
ttystikk

ttystikk

Well-Known Member
Place your chiller inside for the winter and it will heat your home. Free of charge... after all, you're going to run it anyway, you may as well get the heat back and do something useful with it.
 
igothydrotoneverywhere

igothydrotoneverywhere

Well-Known Member
grow in a basement to start, basements are very cool compared to above ground operations. a basement with outside windows can intake filtered cool air when it turns fall/winter, or you can filter the exhaust from your bloom room and connect it to your hvac system to heat your house in the cold days and months. in the spring and summer months it is almost impossible to reduce your cooling costs, but growing below ground, at night, and with LEC lights that dont generate alot of heat is a good start. I have a set of lec's and they have been killing it for me, over a gram/watt with no substantial heat signatures full, full white and uv spectrum including lots of uvb. i dont need a heater or a/c and i run 4 of them. 3.5lb harvest using 1260 watts(315w x 4).
 
headbandrocker

headbandrocker

Well-Known Member
I got temps under control by switching back to running at night,. What are Lec lights? Tty do you have a link to the heat exchanger you mentioned?
I am curious
has anyone here ran a solar grow room before?
Interested to hear back from you if so,please share your experience
Bless
 
DurbanP

DurbanP

Well-Known Member
igothydrotoneverywhere said:
grow in a basement to start, basements are very cool compared to above ground operations. a basement with outside windows can intake filtered cool air when it turns fall/winter, or you can filter the exhaust from your bloom room and connect it to your hvac system to heat your house in the cold days and months. in the spring and summer months it is almost impossible to reduce your cooling costs, but growing below ground, at night, and with LEC lights that dont generate alot of heat is a good start. I have a set of lec's and they have been killing it for me, over a gram/watt with no substantial heat signatures full, full white and uv spectrum including lots of uvb. i dont need a heater or a/c and i run 4 of them. 3.5lb harvest using 1260 watts(315w x 4).
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I like the HVAC idea. I have it set up in my grow room to exhausted in my kitchen venting during winter and outside during the summer. My basement keeps it right at the 78-83 mark with lights on and dehumidifier running.

IMHO the upfront cost of solar is alot and the upkeep of the system is pretty bad as well. I installed a solar system when I built my house 2 years ago and if everything goes perfect it'll still take 15 year to recover the costs--we aren't allowed to sell back to the grid though which would make it much more cost effective. Having said that, costs are starting to come down on them so maybe things have changed since I purchased mine.
 
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