Methods to Reduce High Electricity Bills

I was wondering if anyone knows of any 'Tips, Techniques or Procedures' (legal please) that one can use to lower the high electricity bills that come with our hobby . One I have already thought of is that since I am running my lights 24/7 is to of course change it to 18/7 and let the 6 hours save electricity as well as wear and tear on the equipment.

1- The only question is since I am on day 59 of my Vegging phase, if I move to 18 hour days will this put serious undue shock to my plants?

2- Is there anything else I can or should do to help the electricity problem?

Thanks a lot you guys for the help, you have been so much help, much better than any book that anyone could pick up anywhere!

Replace all lights in home with cfl's.

Btrja said:

Replace all lights in home with cfl's.

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Great idea, will do, thanks.

get some solar panels for your house. a small wind generator...

Btrja said:

Replace all lights in home with cfl's.

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damn! you beat me to it, lol. It's a great idea, i completely offset my whole grows electricity useage just by switching all my old halogens to cfls, best part was i got them for super cheap when they had that whole save energy by using cfls push and they were giving out rebates for almost all of the cost of the cfls.

Don´t watch TV, don´t use computers, cook with gas, buy candles and go to bed to save on heating.

my electricity is cheaper to run at night so look into how much your paying during the day and at night..

Is this an issue or cost with regard to well, cost to you, or is it an issue about suspiciously high bills?

What I did on my 1st grow was charge up a 2nd and a 3rd car battery off of my cars battery an alternated with the 2 I parrallel charged and ran a 240V converter to a 3-pin plug (female) and plug in an extension lead and powered the entire grow that way for hmm....The cost of driving my car to and from work each day. So for free lol cos I would of had to drive to and from work anyway lol, I was running a 250W CFL 2 CPU Fan's and an Air Pump.

Ive also been thinking about the possibilities of using solar panels for a dedicated solar-grow, I still need to research the power stability and how long I can get a designated battery to hold a charge for amoung alot of other thing to take into consideration.... But I can't for the moment see why its not at all possible, ...Even if you end up just running the 1 lamp off them thats still gotta save you between 150W and I would presume 600W of power (money) I would think running a 1000W would be pushing your luck but Never say Never

I like the idea of replacing all house bulbs for tiny low watt CFL lamps thats a good amount of watt saving right there... in our house we run nearly 600W in just house bulbs alone.....we could easily switch to mini CFLs for a cost of no more than 25 Quid, and then only run 133W thats a saving of 467W right there....The Plasma Tv still rinses alot but apart from that we do our clothes washing etc at night or weekends and that just leaves the fridge/freezer which theres no way around.

But there's a couple of money saving techniques, hope that helps - STELTHY

I have been shutting off the breaker to my Water Heater for years.Saves all kinds of money especially in the Winter.CFL's and a trick with timing my MH and Hps so it replicates the Sun.When I switch to flower I hammer em though.Try the Water Heater trick it will shave a third off the bill.Peace

hydrotech364 said:

I have been shutting off the breaker to my Water Heater for years.Saves all kinds of money especially in the Winter.CFL's and a trick with timing my MH and Hps so it replicates the Sun.When I switch to flower I hammer em though.Try the Water Heater trick it will shave a third off the bill.Peace

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This is true...However we are lucky enough to live in a well old house and when we turn off the hot water enersion? heater, we can still heat our water by having a coal fire and that heats all our water for free...Or the cost of a comforting coal fire and of course makes a great saving on bills too...If you live in a well old house to..Check n see if you can do the same trick you could get HOT WATER & CHEAPER BILLs - STELTHY

hydrotech364 said:

I have been shutting off the breaker to my Water Heater for years.

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My water heater is on a timer - comes on only when I need it.

Yeah and I have a Ben Franklin Stove also.I live in the fuckin Jungle.I can cook on it and in it.No 220V Stove usage that way.

Day 59 of veg? ... how about switching to flowering

Grumpy Old Dreamer said:

Day 59 of veg? ... how about switching to flowering

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...lol...I just flipped a batch into 12/12 after having them jammed up in veg for 8wks...these things are outa control now..lol

i found that running my lights at night saved alittle...but then I couldnt' work in the grow room during the day...so it was no good for me
some good ideas here though, I've been replacing all my house lights with cfls...good luck

i changed my 250w mh to a t5 for half the energy usage

Set the theromostats in your freezer fridge as high as possible. Don't set around with lights on you don,t need .I,ve been anal about keeping lights off since I started growing .

kingofqueen said:

Set the theromostats in your freezer fridge as high as possible. Don't set around with lights on you don,t need .I,ve been anal about keeping lights off since I started growing .

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Can we use T5's for flowering? If so would 4 bulbs high end be enough or would I need another 8 set?

Solar power system is a great help for you. It does help you to cut down all your electricity expenses. The key reason that most households convert their power source to solar is to cut down their electrical bill because the electrical usage generated from the sun is free.

get your hotpoints rewired to run BEHIND the meter, got a sparky mate?