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So I've never really been into indoor growing, until recently at least. Anyway a bio professor of mine told me that, in New Jersey, the state catches people growing bud because of their electricity bills from the lighting.

That sounds logical but is it unheard of? Or not in your area at least.

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It is a very strong possibility. I know they do it here in Florida. Florida Power & Light reports abnormal usage to the cops, the cops fly over with a heat camera, and then DEA breaks down your door.

Dylan

you can almost hear everyones heart rate increase after reading this..lol

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DEA breaking doors in is not an image I enjoy haha

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that can totally happen. it happened in palmdale to this dude he'd been growing underground for years but his electric bill gave him away.

i think if you are only growing a couple plants its okay, its just when you get to growing alot that you might have a problem.

I think it's a strong possibility but like qtbatutie220 said, it's really only an issue if you're growing a whole lot of it. What they're looking for is sudden giant spikes in your power bill, or usage that would be totally excessive even for a wasteful household. If you live in a normal house and your power bill is $2000 a month, then yeah... they're gonna think something is up. However, a few plants and bulbs in your closet won't raise any alarms.

agreed

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Let us burn one from end to end, and pass it over to me my friend.

Anything above 5000 kilowatts being used in an hours time raises suspicions as thats the normal range for regular house hold appliances. If you have everything plugged in and going such as tv computer fridge washer dryer etc, then add 2 or more 1000w lights, your door will be busted. 1000w=1 kilowatt. so you aleady running around 4 or 5 thousand for average everyday shit just 2 lights will raise it to above their comfort zone. although if you are smart you dont have all this stuff on at the same time, and it evens out. thats why i always time my grows to start at night. everyone knows im an insomniac, if cops got suspicious and saw im using 5000 kilowatts at night they would also see me walking around in my boxers and going back and forth to the fridge. during day i have very little appliances on.

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you gotta being doing ALOT to get caught from yer elec. bill.. and.. you would have to purdy much start all at once... what i mean is, if you go from nothing to 10-1000 watt lights ,etc... you will most likely set off a red flag sumwhere.. you gotta think, lil' elec. heaters are 1500 watts and we use 2 off and on in the winter.. they dunno if its 2 heaters or 3-1000 watt lights.. you have alot of play..
you could easily do sum 3x3 flood tables with 600 watt sodium lights over each one for budding and use cheap lights for veg. and never get caught (unless yer unlucky or a dumb ass or both)
same in summer with our central air..bill varies quite a bit (or can) depending on whats used in the house and how much its used.
if you hook up 10-1000 watt'ers, you better build a welding shop in the garage as a front..lol

you dont have to be doing a lot to get the attention of law enforcement.

first of all it cant be the sole reason to raid your house and second the cops cant use flir the imaging that picks up heat as a soul source for the warrant either. doesnt mean they will follow the rules but thats what they are says the supreme court.

the cops in my case AFTER they were tipped off and were suspicious and already investigating checked into my power use, so it does happen and they told me it happens all the time in marijuana investigations.

the bottom line is you do not want to put yourself into a situation with someone you cant trust or dont know. the power bill can be used along with thermal imaging and another trusted informants word,

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Make sure when you put extra stress on circuits you have the right AWG running back to the main box! At least upgrade your breakers to 60+ amps. The amount of electricity you can draw from a regular box is astounding (300-600+amps). If your house's electrical setup is uncompatable with your mission then look into building or getting sum1 to build you a sub-panel. Pay your bill on time! Do your homework. I have a family member who is a serious electrician, and he says the chances are very slim for gettin busted by electrical consumption.

This makes sense to me as it seems to do with others...that's why I'm an out doors kind of guy. But then I live so far out in the country, the sun sets between my house and town...lol

no HID bulb can duplicate the natural sun's spectrum! thats coming from a Hortilux guy2!

whoa whoa whoa, are you trying to get people to burn down their houses? At least upgrade your breakers to 60+ amps? You can't just go around putting in bigger breakers, you're gonna melt wires, fuck. Are you talking 60 amp branch circuit breakers? You want people to run 6 AWG copper for their branch circuits, is that what you're saying? Do you want them to run it in EMT or should they just leave 60 amps of pant-shitting current hanging in the breeze?

The bus inside of a panel may be able to handle large amounts of sustained current, but if you put 600 amps of sustained current on your #2 AWG SE cable you're gonna have a flaming pile of wire in your yard, WTF kind of advice are you giving?

You have a family member who is a "serious" electrician? Well, if he's serious about it he should be serious enough to tell you not to give people advice on something you obviously know nothing about. You're one of those guys who know's enough about electrical just to be dangerous.



The real worry is what mazarxnl said, large wattage draws over a period of time. Even the 5000 watts he suggested is high for an average home. Put a watt meter on the line side of your main breaker and you'll get only a couple thousand watts with most of the major appliances running in your home. Motors only draw peak durring startup and then they settle into much lower wattage uses once they're running. Heating elements are the big draw and are purely resistive. Hell most new furnace blowers are DC run through a rectifier and they can draw as little as 1 amp in many cases.

A small grow op with a couple 600 watt lights and a couple fans isn't going to set off any alarms. Let me put it into perspective, your TV probably uses about 200 watts, same with your PC. Your fridge, depending on age, is around 800w running and 1200w or so when the compressor kicks on. Dishwasher, up to 1500w maybe more.

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Thanks for the info guys. I'm really only interested in small time growing, so I'm relieved now. No El Dorado in my basement

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If I could be
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