Most guys IMO are not understanding the capablility of IR cameras.
They only see surface heat, they cannot "peer into" and x-ray vision your whole house.
For example, they couldn't tell if I was for some reason sleeping in my attic at night.
What they see, is the difference in heat between different parts of the house.
If you have one room that is say, on the corner of your house, and it is constantly at 80 degs inside temp, and perhaps you have your ballasts sitting right next to an external wall, that part of the house from an EXTERNAL VIEW would look "whiter" in an IR camera.
Even then, LEO doesn't go around looking for warm rooms in houses, but if they say, get a tip that you might be growing or selling weed, or someone smells weed around your house and they get a search warrant and see that hot room, then that would be probable cause for a search of your house.
I like a previous poster's idea of the air conditioned "shell" but that is really only necessary if you are utilizing a whole room of a house for growing.
I have a dresser with a 400MH inside it, and it does get warm andexhausts quite a bit of warm air, but since it is not near any external walls and my house has good air circulation, this warm air is evenly distributed throughout the house, which leaves me with no paranoia whatsoever. Also helps with the heat bill in cold times!
Be smart, and you'll be fine.
EDIT: If you must exhaust air externally, a good tip I've seen is to hook your exhaust up to a dryer exhaust vent. Nobody would question a warm dryer exhaust.
Good Luck!
