Any Tips For Saving Energy?

Hello Amigos, well I have been doing some research (couple days ago) in regars how can I save on my electric bill when it comes to saving some $$ on my monthly bill, regular bill with out my grow room is around 350 from nov-Feb) on a let's say 2000 sqft house.

Most I have payed is almost $1,000 a month in the hottest months (July,August)

Where I live I rent so solar panels I might be able to get away with something like putting in on top of here (see picture attached) not the roof. I need something discret because I been renting here for 5 Years. So far the city hasnt check me why im spending to much electricity lol... Now in about a month I will be replacing all my bulbs to LED. And a few other things to bring down at least 30 % of the monthly cost. And thats using the A/C for my entire house less. Keeping it at 82 always with fans on before alwayz I used to have my house nice and cool at 72-74 all the time even on spring lool. But since I upgraded my grow room I need to balance shit out lol.


Any pointers amigos on how can I save a bit more. My goal is not to pay more than $700 max trhu the summer Months.

-Jugz

solar panels for 1000 dollar electric bill?

please post in newb forum, or search

- Jiji

jijiandfarmgang said:

solar panels for 1000 dollar electric bill?

please post in newb forum, or search

- Jiji

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lol i know, but is all about staying under the same level as ur next door neighbors so they wont be like wtf!!!.... but o well thanks for ur input *well known member*... (gotta love em lol) there i liekd ur comment so u can achieve admin status =)

-Jugz

Paint your roof white. Caulk your baseboards, windows, every crack. Insulate any windows you do not use with foam board(still having appearance of normal blinds from outside). Weather stripping around door cracks and thresholds that seal well. Hooking your water heater to an outlet with a timer to turn off during the hours your not using it. The LED lights will make a huge difference. Less ventallation will be needed too. Replacing all the bulbs in your house with LED bulbs also. There's a million little things that all combined will help. a few solar panels would help but they also attract the eye. I always catch myself looking at them of their on houses. Idk. But really as long as you pay your bill it should not matter unless there are other signs of a grow. Like a tip off, or smell, or glowing lights coming from windows ext. Good luck

id like to ad running your lights at night instead of during the day. Especially during the summer, the ac won't have to run as hard to keep temps down

Mr.Goodtimes said:

id like to ad running your lights at night instead of during the day. Especially during the summer, the ac won't have to run as hard to keep temps down

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Yea I run my lights at night it really helps. Thick curtains that block out all light hung close to wall over windows will block out so much dam heat.

jiji right man. Not to mention you electric is cheap. A grand???? Fuckkkkkkkkk......

Beezcheeze said:

Paint your roof white. Caulk your baseboards, windows, every crack. Insulate any windows you do not use with foam board(still having appearance of normal blinds from outside). Weather stripping around door cracks and thresholds that seal well. Hooking your water heater to an outlet with a timer to turn off during the hours your not using it. The LED lights will make a huge difference. Less ventallation will be needed too. Replacing all the bulbs in your house with LED bulbs also. There's a million little things that all combined will help. a few solar panels would help but they also attract the eye. I always catch myself looking at them of their on houses. Idk. But really as long as you pay your bill it should not matter unless there are other signs of a grow. Like a tip off, or smell, or glowing lights coming from windows ext. Good luck

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Yea i was looking at some videos on how to save energy, and I am looking in replacing all bulbs to LED. And my lights turn on at 9:30 and go off at 9am. Like I said I been growing indoors for almost 2 years and this year i added more to my room so im trying to bring cost down not because i cant afford it just to blend it so i dont mind spending a bit extra just to bring down my bill so i can blend in it is all.. but yet again people come QUICK bashing my comments, mostly *well known members*......BTW My IQ drop thanks to jiji. smh!

-Jugz

Assuming you're running hps and thinking of LED's. While that could save you some energy you're going to have to fork out a small fortune to obtain decent efficiency and yields. Another option which I've been running for about 9 months are the Philips 315w Elite Agro CMH bulbs. if you run them @240v they draw <350w at the wall and you can get the output of somewhere between 400-600 hps, a lot less heat (further savings in cooling/fans). They're priced pretty well in the middle of hps and high end LED's and I can vouch that they work well. See my sig for some examples of what they can do.

I'll just reccoemend Area 51 LED lights of your shopping around check them out.

If you're switching to full LED you could check out (http://advancedledlights.com/3w-led-grow-lights/new-diamond-series-xml-10w-cree-xml/)

I have a small panel from them, and it does well for vegging. Hell, I pulled my first plant through her entire life with it and the quality was pretty good. Im thinking about buying one of the new XML 650's when I have the cash, they claim it beats out a 1000W HPS/HID system guaranteed. I tend to believe them from the quality of the light I have, and the constant good reviews they get.

Thats the only brand I have direct experience with though, I have heard people on this forum tout Area 51 as one of the best!

Theres a very interesting article in this months skunk mag about running way shorter light periods that i would love to try.
Apparently 6 hrs of light with 18 hours of dark gives fatter buds than 12/12

Rentaldog said:

If you're switching to full LED you could check out (http://advancedledlights.com/3w-led-grow-lights/new-diamond-series-xml-10w-cree-xml/)

I have a small panel from them, and it does well for vegging. Hell, I pulled my first plant through her entire life with it and the quality was pretty good. Im thinking about buying one of the new XML 650's when I have the cash, they claim it beats out a 1000W HPS/HID system guaranteed. I tend to believe them from the quality of the light I have, and the constant good reviews they get.

Thats the only brand I have direct experience with though, I have heard people on this forum tout Area 51 as one of the best!

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@jugz those lights above are exactly the type of LED's you should stay away from. Been there, done that with 3 different Chinese over-hyped LED's which are either sitting idle or being used for veg. Those light couldn't reach.5 gpw in a perfect environment. They can typically veg well, but for flowering they are as good as the poor grammar in their over-hyped marketing/ads.

If you're considering LED's I'd recommend you stick to A51, Apache, or DIY with Cree or Vero COBs. There are a lot of reference grows in the LED section with these technologies, and proven results. As much time as I spent following grows with these Chinese branded/re-branded lights, I've yet to see a regular member here post consistent or even ANY results with them. Caveat Emptor (buyer beware).

GroErr said:

@jugz those lights above are exactly the type of LED's you should stay away from. Been there, done that with 3 different Chinese over-hyped LED's which are either sitting idle or being used for veg. Those light couldn't reach.5 gpw in a perfect environment. They can typically veg well, but for flowering they are as good as the poor grammar in their over-hyped marketing/ads.

If you're considering LED's I'd recommend you stick to A51, Apache, or DIY with Cree or Vero COBs. There are a lot of reference grows in the LED section with these technologies, and proven results. As much time as I spent following grows with these Chinese branded/re-branded lights, I've yet to see a regular member here post consistent or even ANY results with them. Caveat Emptor (buyer beware).

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Where did you find that these are rebranded? Everything i've read seems to point to Advanced being a decent company

More to the point (http://advancedledlights.com/why-buy-from-us/). Have you found a place that proves otherwise? Serious question, im thinking about buying another panel from them.

Rentaldog said:

Where did you find that these are rebranded? Everything i've read seems to point to Advanced being a decent company

More to the point (http://advancedledlights.com/why-buy-from-us/). Have you found a place that proves otherwise? Serious question, im thinking about buying another panel from them.

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Wasn't saying them specifically, many are, they may actually make them. Point was, I and others have tried these low end panels and they tend to suck. In my experience none of them flowered anywhere near the rate hps would, even watt for watt. Looking at their pricing, if I were going to spend that kind of money on LED's, I'd go A51, not much of a price difference for the same wattage, proven product in the real world (not some ad with wild claims), better support and warranty.

So many cheap Chinese lights. A51 has good guts inside heir lihhts. And they will tell you exactly what they consist of. Most companies either make a false statement about heir lights draw or output or they just don't tell you any of what their lights are built with. I will say from personal experience that KIND led ligts fall into the cheap Chinese light category.

GroErr said:

Wasn't saying them specifically, many are, they may actually make them. Point was, I and others have tried these low end panels and they tend to suck. In my experience none of them flowered anywhere near the rate hps would, even watt for watt. Looking at their pricing, if I were going to spend that kind of money on LED's, I'd go A51, not much of a price difference for the same wattage, proven product in the real world (not some ad with wild claims), better support and warranty.

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Ahh alright, you had me scared there for a minute I was under the impression this was a made in America company like they claim. Like I said, I have one of their smaller panels I got right off the bat. It works well, and I have had no problems with them so far. From the looks of it, these XML lights are much improved. I intend to buy that larger light next, unless I come across a DIY that has more bang for my buck.

Rentaldog said:

Ahh alright, you had me scared there for a minute I was under the impression this was a made in America company like they claim. Like I said, I have one of their smaller panels I got right off the bat. It works well, and I have had no problems with them so far. From the looks of it, these XML lights are much improved. I intend to buy that larger light next, unless I come across a DIY that has more bang for my buck.

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Right now, DIY COBs seem to be the most efficient but unless you build it or know someone, A51's are good panels. The main difference in panels or COBs for that matter are the components used. It's not about watts, it's about efficient watts that give the plants the spectrum they need/use. Many of the lower end panels are copies of each other, use lower quality components and don't provide the most efficient flowering spectrum. I have some Chinese LED's and they're great for vegging, but for flowering they produce good quality but fluffy buds, no weight. When I switched to CMH I tripled the weight I was getting with those Chinese LED's in the same environment/grow methods. The Elite Agro CMH bulbs are as efficient as higher end LED's, at ~1/2 the cost per watt. I just pulled somewhere between 12-13 oz. from a 315w bulb, 3 plants/3 different strains, that's what efficiency offers. I'm doing a Blue Dream run right now with 4x 5gal and reaching for 1lb. off that 315w, idk if it'll pull that much but based on 3x 5gal mixed strains I just ran it should hit pretty close.

A51 grown bud. More dense than anything I've biught in a long time
Strain 710 cheese

torontoke said:

Theres a very interesting article in this months skunk mag about running way shorter light periods that i would love to try.
Apparently 6 hrs of light with 18 hours of dark gives fatter buds than 12/12

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Really, i have to research as this could potentially help alot...

-Jugz