How Much Power Is It Safe To Run In The UK

[zemcimill]

Hi im a uk grower and im just about to set up my new grow room and i have quite alot of space but its a residential propert and im also living there. I wanted to run around 3-4000w do you think this will attrack unwanted attention from the authoritys.. Is that to much power to run? How much are peeps running out there? If theres any cash cropers out there who are running more and getting away with it then your advice would be apretiated..
cheers ziggy

[dude0]

Well, a typical household....
TV = 100-500W
HIFI = 50W-800W
PC = 250W-400W
Washing Machine = 800W-1200W (per wash)
Microwave = 600W-1000W

You get the idea, the electrical company cannot see the appliances, they can only see the power consumption, with my growroom, im using 250W a hour on the light, thats running 18hrs a day, my extractor fan takes about 25w a hour, thats on for 6hours.

You got nothing to worry about unless you got about 20 600W hps lights running, then they will know something is going on.
Hope this helps,
Dude0

[zemcimill]

Thanks man i had some problems with police before so i just wanna be extra carefull this time... take every thing into consideration so im set up for a good few years in buisness hastle free..

[dude0]

Yeh, take a reading from the meter, its probably outside in a box, or look around your house & estimate the power consumption your using & try to even it out, switch off light... saves 50w-75w a hour, switching off tv when you aint watching it... 100-500w a hour.... By doing those simple 2 things just saves you 6000W in 24hrs, think logical & remember a loner never gets caught.
happy growing & GL.

[newgroweroldsmoker]

a computer never uses it's max potential....i think it uses around 50% of the max output
adjust the monitor to shut down 5 mins of inactivity
buy low watts new generation lamps that consume as little as 15 watts and put out 5 times light.....
from what you say, i see that you're after to grow an entire room at least 12sqmeters....around 100 plants or so.....buy if you can and a couple electric heaters, not for use, just having them around just in any case.....i have to agree with the previous statement....a loner never gets caught...one last thing to do and maybe the most important so as to be almost 100% safe is to try and find out how many kilowatts your household can consume every hour...if it's around 4 kw/h then you can't really have 4x1000watt HID running as the power would go down the moment the lights came on.....connect the lights and try to see in the power meter how fast the wheel goes round....figure out a schedule in which no one will see it running.....i do that....9 in the morning lights are off....to get an idea of what i am talking about....the wheel goes round and round....in 680 complete circles=1 kilowatt....if you have 3-4000 watts imagine how fast it is going to turn around... :)

[newgroweroldsmoker]

try to find out how much a kilowatt of power costs.....keep all costs within reason and you'll be fine

[zemcimill]

Thats some good ideas there guys thanks for the input. I think im gona go for 3 1000w HPS lamps over 4 64 plant tables which should round it out to about 4000w with the extractors and fluros and what not. Any good ideas on what strain i should go with. I need something that clones easerly as its gona be a SOG style grow and a nice early finisher. I have always grown WW but i was gona branch out with something a bit more exotic this time.
Peace ziggy

[zemcimill]

Hey you know that is so true as well. The loner never gets caught... Wise words!!

[anyhandle]

This might be a myth but i have been told in the U.K cops fly over houses with infrared cameras looking for such operations. Might be worth adding reflective material to the roof. Just a thought man, just because your paranoid doesnt mean thier not out to get to you!!! My toaster tells me Im paranoid all the time!!! (fuck i need a smoke, 8 months in south korea and not a sniff of bud, can you tell?)

[dude0]

I heard that too... helicopters with the heat sensor gadget thing. I dont think they will care though if it is just 1-5 lights... if you got a warehouse with 50 lights going on then that would make me paranoid.

[anyhandle]

i wouldnt be suprised if they were interested in busting 1-5 lights, remember these cunts get paid to do just that and fuck up your life. its a small scale operation and should slide under the radar but, the boys in blue are interested all the same.

[Zandor]

If you are that worried then find some led drywall. It's used in the medical field around x-ray equipment. The standard is 2 pound's of led to every sheet of drywall and led tape to cover the joints. Led is the ONLY way to grow and not been seen by inferred equipment. You do need to hide the exhaust too.

This is very expensive like in the US it's 135.00 a sheet but 2000 USD now is better then 10-25 years for growing & another 25,000 for the lawyer bill. Just to put the cost in perspective with the charges you could face. Where you live I don't think they are going after the home grower anymore I thought the law was easing up in the UK?


Good luck to you.

[Marlboroman]

Well, Ive never heard of the lead drywall before.... and as far as i know lead has no thermal blocking abilities. i could be wrong tho...... i have 3/4 styrofoam from a home improvement store. They sell it in 4x8 sheets. Used to insulate a concrete foundation from the dirt side, its very sturdy and installs easy. use silicone to the walls and on all joints.....

not sure this will keep you safe from the infra red but its better than nothing, not long ago here in the states they ruled it a violation of our rights to use those heat sensors on us.

Was a case where they busted the guy and he got off based on the scan being an illegal search of his home.

[zemcimill]

Hey thats a good point i have never realy considerd the heat patterns before but i always thought it was only realy an issue if you were growing in a roof conversion or something my grow room is at the bottom of 2 floors so i think they would have a hard time seeing it. As for the laws regarding cultivation in the UK its very much dependant on if they can prove your selling it or your just growing it for personal use. Its unlikely you would do jail time for anything less than a trully major operation and even then only if they can prove you are selling it. If they can link money that your not supposed to have to your weed thats when they start to get serious and the max penalty is still 15 years in the UK..

[FatBud]

Hmmmmmm....

Just got thinking, How does anyone know if loners don't get caught? if they are loners no one knows them, in order to know if they get caught or not!!

Maybe I'm just toooo stoned!! :confused:

[zemcimill]

LOL Yeah thats a very good point:)

[Zandor]

Leo has FLIR installed in most all of their choppers. They fly around looking for heat sources then call in an anonymous tip of a possible grow opp. Yes led drywall is available and will block all radar types. Itâ??s used in the medical field to block X-Ray and to hold radioactive material safe for storage.

[the happy chappie]

hi zemcimil
if your in the uk mate as i am , and by the sounds of it your in a old victorian house then cant you exhaust up a chimney, i do, any body flying over looking for heat are only gonna see heat coming out of a chimney, just where its supposed to come from lol, i also find that air extraction is a piece of cake this way and very very effieciant, as for burning 4000 watts, yes it is a lot, be safe mate burn your lights when the household is most active, if your burning all your power when most people are sleeping then that may atract unwanted attension, yes its still iligal here in the uk, i think you would be hard prest to convince a jury that around 250 plants are for personal use eh !!!, be carefull mate and peace to you