Electric costs

[speedwell68]

Now you’ve got the shit storm of 54% energy price rises to contend with while you still haven’t reduced your electricity usage.

I am lucky I am on a single tariff as I am not a gas customer. My electricity has only gone up 30%, I was paying £0.22 per kWh and now I am paying £0.28 per kWh. I have dropped my energy consumption around the house as much as humanly possible.

Luckily my heating is fuelled by my log burner. It has a back boiler, the fire heats the boiler and pumps the hot water out to the radiators, pallets and scrap fire wood are 100% free.

I am experimenting with Autos as a way of saving electricity. Normally I would run a pair of small tents (3x2) with 120w of COBs in each. These are for veg. I would start my seedlings or clones in them a month before I need them and then transfer them to my big tent. That would be 240w of lights, plus fans for 18 hours a day. With Autos I just start them on 18/6 and run them in the big tent. My big tent has 600w of TS1000, during veg I run them at 50% and then slowly turn the lights a little higher each day once flowering begins. I am saving about 300w per hour or 5.4kWh per day, which is saving about £45 a month.

 

[twentyeight.threefive]

I am experimenting with Autos as a way of saving electricity. Normally I would run a pair of small tents (3x2) with 120w of COBs in each. These are for veg. I would start my seedlings or clones in them a month before I need them and then transfer them to my big tent. That would be 240w of lights, plus fans for 18 hours a day. With Autos I just start them on 18/6 and run them in the big tent. My big tent has 600w of TS1000, during veg I run them at 50% and then slowly turn the lights a little higher each day once flowering begins. I am saving about 300w per hour or 5.4kWh per day, which is saving about £45 a month.

Autos are probably the worst idea for trying to save electricity. They run 18/6 for the entire run while photos have months of 12/12 light schedule where you aren't paying to run your lights an extra 6 hrs a day.

 

[speedwell68]

Autos are probably the worst idea for trying to save electricity. They run 18/6 for the entire run while photos have months of 12/12 light schedule where you aren't paying to run your lights an extra 6 hrs a day.

Yes, but photos seem to take much longer. At the moment I am happy I am saving 300w of lighting.

 

[twentyeight.threefive]

Yes, but photos seem to take much longer. At the moment I am happy I am saving 300w of lighting.

Most autos take as long to flower as photos.

 

[speedwell68]

Most autos take as long to flower as photos.

We'll see. I am logging the electric usage. TBH I don't think there will be a lot of difference.

 

[harrychilds]

your biggest problem is you haven’t taken on anyones advice.

from reading your thread from page 8 I’ve counted at least 10 times where you’ve been told what to do.

stop buying more crap.

The answer is simple.

Number 1 you should have slowed your fan down. This could have been achieved by using a basic 15minute segmental timer if you had no way of controlling your fan.

number 2 you could have tried exhausting into the lung room and allowing the recirculating air to keep getting warmer.

electric heaters EAT ££’s.

My boiler broke down before Xmas. I had to run electric space heaters to keep my home warm almost 24/7 for around 10 days. It was costing me around £30 a day for electricity based on my KWH usage/cost.

Now you’ve got the shit storm of 54% energy price rises to contend with while you still haven’t reduced your electricity usage.


Take the advice that almost every single person has given you ffs please!!!!!

Yes I have taken the advice and swapped to a 600 watt HPS dimmed down to 400 watts. And within an hour and they are looking much better and all the leaves are pointing up instead of drooping. And now I don't need a 500watt heater anymore so I am saving electric and getting free warmth for the plants. LED has been a nightmare for me and I have now gone back to my oldschool ways of using HPS bulbs where I don't have any problems. I always find that HPS bulbs have a power of healing plants, so I'm just going to sit back now and let me HPS bulb heal them

 

[harrychilds]

Mate I'm in the uk have a 600w hps running in the shed and it doesn't cost me no where near that no heater either even though I've got two in the shed for the birds if needed through winter my plants are still smallish clones but that's because they were started on 250wcfl and there not bad for where they are at the minute with the hps plus the hps puts out a hell of a lot of heat so no need for the heater I run through the night so lights off at 8am back on at 2pm

I never had any problems until I switched to LED mate, I have now switched back to my HPS bulb

 

[waterproof808]

We pay around $0.44/kwh in Hawaii.

 

[jondamon]

I never had any problems until I switched to LED mate, I have now switched back to my HPS bulb

This is my 2nd grow with an LED after switching from 400w HPS.

I use a 300w LED
80w tubular heater
2 circulation fans
450m3/h Extraction fan on a temp controller and filter.
U.K. grower and during winter i Intake my air from inside my home.
During summer I use screened external intakes.

Day 27 of 12/12.

 

[ChongMaBong]

This thread helped me not to choose led for now especially having to heat and the cost of electricity & gas here in UK is just a total piss take tbh im kind of gutted for you @harrychilds cause I know you was looking forward to this led grow bud.

 

[harrychilds]

This thread helped me not to choose led for now especially having to heat and the cost of electricity & gas here in UK is just a total piss take tbh im kind of gutted for you @harrychilds cause I know you was looking forward to this led grow bud.

Yeah man, I wouldn't buy an LED light if I were you. Especially with the fact you need an electric heater right now due to the fact it's pretty cold outside. It really does burn the electric away. And I am gutted as well dude. I spent £700 on that Lumatek Zeus pro LED. I am going to veg them under HPS and heal them. And come flowering time I might switch back to my LED light a few weeks into flower at 100%

 

[harrychilds]

This LED light has really made me feel like a newbie. But the strange thing is that I have been growing under HPS bulbs for 10 years and never experience any major problems like this

 

[ChongMaBong]

Yeah man, I wouldn't buy an LED light if I were you. Especially with the fact you need an electric heater right now due to the fact it's pretty cold outside. It really does burn the electric away. And I am gutted as well dude. I spent £700 on that Lumatek Zeus pro LED. I am going to veg them under HPS and heal them. And come flowering time I might switch back to my LED light a few weeks into flower at 100%

I'm sure they will bounce back glad to see you taking the advice I was only going to say same things as others back to hps lol hopefully you get a belter of a summer and get a nice stash for winter bud

 

[ChongMaBong]

This LED light has really made me feel like a newbie. But the strange thing is that I have been growing under HPS bulbs for 10 years and never experience any major problems like this

Your are a noob in the fact Its a total different setup thats why I'm reluctant im happy with what I do and get out of it. Dinosaur lol

 

[harrychilds]

I'm sure they will bounce back glad to see you taking the advice I was only going to say same things as others back to hps lol hopefully you get a belter of a summer and get a nice stash for winter bud

I really hope so man. I'm fed up of paying £100 every week for 14 grams of weed to smoke for my personal. It's costing me too much money all the time. And half of these weed dealers on the street are always ripping me off with those £10 a gram baggies.

 

[harrychilds]

Your are a noob in the fact Its a total different setup thats why I'm reluctant im happy with what I do and get out of it. Dinosaur lol

Yeah for sure lol, We are definitely old school growers. All this new technology is confusing me lol

 

[ChongMaBong]

I really hope so man. I'm fed up of paying £100 every week for 14 grams of weed to smoke for my personal. It's costing me too much money all the time. And half of these weed dealers on the street are always ripping me off with those £10 a gram baggies.

Aint bought green for over a decade i wouldn't give the twatts the cash over priced guff and shit weed

 

[coreywebster]

This is why I veg under a 315cmh.

But I wouldn't go back to bulbs for flowering.
My setup work great by using my veg tent as a slight heater for the flower tent.

 

[ChongMaBong]

This is why I veg under a 315cmh.

But I wouldn't go back to bulbs for flowering.
My setup work great by using my veg tent as a slight heater for the flower tent.

Nice how you finding the airflow

 

[coreywebster]

Nice how you finding the airflow

Yeah its all good.
My fans are silent low cfm so sucks straight out the top of veg tent and into the bottom of the flower tent a foot away. It's not like a wind tunnel or anything

 

[ChongMaBong]

Yeah its all good.
My fans are silent low cfm so sucks straight out the top of veg tent and into the bottom of the flower tent a foot away. It's not like a wind tunnel or anything

Simple sometimes the best option