Running 10,000Watts ... Questions

[animosity2k1]

Alright, I have came across a lucky option and have somewhere where I believe I'll have the ability to use 10,000watts.

Firstly I have a few questions as far as security goes, 10,000 watts is a lot of electricity to be pulling, how suspicious is that in a 4 bedroom place?

Can helicopters do flyovers and sense the heat as a means of searching for grows if it was in the basement?

The electrical in the house, I'd have to redo it all most deffinately wouldn't I? The main idea would be to use the basement, and 1 or two rooms.

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On to another series of questions, what kind of equipment would everyone use? I was going to go w/ remote 600watt ballast setups w/ 600w hortilux lighhts. All would have hoods.

I havn't decided to go w/ a hydro setup, or just go soil and grow huge trees?... Whats everyones recommendation as far as that goes. I have 0 experience w/ hydro grows.

How many fans would I need to properly vent out a basement through an attic or an upper level?

What sort of co2 setup would you guys recommend going w/?

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Lastly, I know your all saying what is my area like, what are the dimensions, I havn't found a place yet, I'm still looking as far as that goes, thats another reason as to why I posted this, I wanted to know what size of a basement and or / rooms I would need to run about 10,000Watts. Possibly more... and would a generator be a smart idea and how much does it cost to run a 8k watt generator for grow cycle?

 

[Jam Master Jaco]

That's a big grow setup you're looking at getting yourself into.


The only good advice I can give you is this: I think you should start off small. Start in one bedroom with a couple 600 watters and maybe a 1k watter or two. You'll pull some big harvests out of that and then you can keep adding rooms as you gain more experience.

Be safe.

 

[darrinjefferson]

that was pretty much the post i was going to do earlier...but left it.
10k is HUGE. not saying its not possible. but its a big risk if you're not legal to do it.

good luck

 

[animosity2k1]

My own place, no one else involved, just me, and I've decided to switch it to like 4,800watts first run through, anyone care to throw me out some answers to the questions I have asked?

 

[Sauce]

I'm no expert and I only run a 250w but I'll try my best to answer these:

Firstly I have a few questions as far as security goes, 10,000 watts is a lot of electricity to be pulling, how suspicious is that in a 4 bedroom place?

--I've heard of 1-2kw / bedroom as a rule of thumb. 10k is possible but it's on the high side. It depends on how well you can sleep at night with that kind of setup. 4800w sounds better to me. You also need to consider AC and venting plus other equipment. AC for example uses a lot of AC, so that number could easily rise several kw.

Can helicopters do flyovers and sense the heat as a means of searching for grows if it was in the basement?

--Yes they can even in the basement. With that much wattage it would glow bright as hell on the infrared scanners that they use. Not only will the lights light up, but anything that absorbs heat like beams to hold up the house or parts of the foundation can glow as well. If you feel a basement wall it is pretty cool all year round, now consider the same with a bunch of lights in there. It will stand out when comparing to other parts of the house. If you want to be safe get the IR blocking stuff. It's pretty pricey but could save your ass. Also I'm almost positive a warrant is needed for a flyover so you need to have something suspicious for a flyover. An extremely large energy bill might get a warrant.

The electrical in the house, I'd have to redo it all most deffinately wouldn't I? The main idea would be to use the basement, and 1 or two rooms.

--It depends how the electric setup is. Once you get into the house check out the circuit breaker and how many amps are supplied to each circuit. Then add up everything you will use (in amps) and overestimate a little to be safe. You most likely will need to upgrade wires but it's not a guarantee.

On to another series of questions, what kind of equipment would everyone use? I was going to go w/ remote 600watt ballast setups w/ 600w hortilux lighhts. All would have hoods.

--Good idea. Air cooled hoods/cool tubes are a must in that kind of setup size. 600w is the most efficient light (more so than 1kw even) so 600w lights is the way to go. Use insulated ducting too. It's pricey but will help.

I havn't decided to go w/ a hydro setup, or just go soil and grow huge trees?... Whats everyones recommendation as far as that goes. I have 0 experience w/ hydro grows.

--Lots of different setups you could go with. It really depends on what type of setup you are looking to do, what you're comfortable with, and what you know how to do (not sure if you know how to maintain a hydro setup). My advice is to take a look around the site for ideas of similar sized grows. Flood/drain is probably the easiest on that scale but there are many other great systems like bio buckets or Freedom buckets (kind of same thing) that take care of themselves pretty well.

How many fans would I need to properly vent out a basement through an attic or an upper level?

--No idea, but at least 2000cfm+. It depends on the size of the room too and what the intake temps are. In winter this number will go down a lot. Look into attic fans and large vent setups. Bghydro.com has some huge fans that would fit your setup, however look to pay some $ for a fan that large. Look at some other large setups and see what they use. There's a guy on gardenscure named rockclimber with a 8kw grow.

What sort of co2 setup would you guys recommend going w/?

--Automatic solenoid valve + tank. Pretty standard. You just need a tank and then buy the valve and meter setup somewhere. Make sure the room is somewhat sealed when using co2 so that it stays in the room.

Lastly, I know your all saying what is my area like, what are the dimensions, I havn't found a place yet, I'm still looking as far as that goes, thats another reason as to why I posted this, I wanted to know what size of a basement and or / rooms I would need to run about 10,000Watts. Possibly more... and would a generator be a smart idea and how much does it cost to run a 8k watt generator for grow cycle?

--Well many questions can't be properly answered without knowing specifics. I'll leave that up to you to figure out based on each house. Basically any 4 bedroom house will have enough room for 4800w. I would say you need about 20x20+. That is an underestimate but basically any house the size you're looking at should have plenty of room. Generators are a good idea so that you stay off the electricity grid and no one raises an eyebrow over your bill. However I don't know much about generators so I'll let another person answer that one.

Hope this helps, good luck with such a huge setup.

 

[animosity2k1]

THANKS, thats the exact help I was looking for, I think I'm going to purchase the 48 bucket ebb and flow from BGhydro, it's like $1,000 or so and comes w/ everything. As far as lights... I may switch my idea from 600s to 1ks STRICTLY due to costs.

I have someone local whos offering me (3) 1k watt lights w/ cooltubes, (2) 750 CFM fans, (1) HUGE canfan, and a 400watt switchable MH/HPS light. Along w/ all the ducting and some beans for only $950... can't pass that up....

 

[Sauce]

Wow that's an awesome deal! Good luck with the setup.

 

[The Dopest]

start small, seriously if youve never had a 5kw grow you dont need to think about a 10k. now i see you have changed your mind to 4800w. if would just get the kit your local guy has and start with that, you will answer most of your own questions by yourself. not to mention get experience for when/if you do get 4800-10k watts. even jumping from 3k to 4800 would take alot.

basically dont try to overgrow your learning curve. do you think any of the guys on here with 4k and up started with that much wattage? look around at all the grow threads boasting big watts and do some footwork, it takes more than money and a house to do it in.

gl and peace

 

[Guest]

a lot more
taking care of a 10 k grow would require full time attention imo ,so if u gotta job forget it,,remember little acorns grow into big trees

 

[animosity2k1]

No job, I have the time, and another family member would be helping. I've helped friends manage 3k watt grows before and wanted to start myself now, I don't feel at all that this is to much to handle. I've been a lurker w/ them for a long time now that I have the option to do it myself I've became a member.

Anyways, I appreciate all the comments and criticism as it's always a good reminder as to howmuch dedication something of this size takes.

 

[kushedout]

You could run (6) 600 watt lights in each bedroom for a total of about 3600 watts. You could do 2 sets of (3) 600 watt lights over 8 ft. trays filled with about 20-30 cubes, for a total of about 40-60 plants depending on how big you want them to finish. (1) 1000w light in another room for vegging to get yourself a continous harvest going. Takes a lot of work and a lot of cuttings but is well worth it. Since you'll be running 2 trays you could have it so that you harvest every 30 days.

Here's how I would do it. Get about 30 cuttings. Veg them out for a few days and select about 5 to become moms to use for cuttings and continue to veg these. Put the remaining 25 into flowering. Let's say the strain was a 60 day strain. Take cuttings as soon as the mom plants show a good amount of shoots, which should be in about a week or so. A minimum 6 cuttings are needed from each to give you 30 plants for the next round. In about 7-10 days roots should show and you can then transplant into larger cubes and put under the 1000w for vegging. At this point you'll be at Day 1 for Veg and at about Day 17 for flowering. Veg for another 13 days and place into the 2nd tray and fire up the other (3) 600w's. You'll be at Day 30 flowering on tray 1 and Day 1 flowering on tray 2. Harvesting every 30 days.

Repeat the process to keep it going and get some experience doing so. It's a whole lot of work. Not as easy as some people think it is. With these plans you'll be running 4600w in just lighting. You have to consider other things that will cause electricity to go up. Fans, blowers, carbon scrubbers, anything that you plug in will be using energy so keep all that in mind. You'll still have 2 bedrooms open so when you are ready to expand, you can. But unless you have experience doing such a large scale grow I'de stick to under 5K for now.

 

[animosity2k1]

I've decided to go bio buckets, instead of the trays, would you like to give me a reason opposing this? I just was going to order the complete kits of buckets, pumps, resevoirs and all from bghydro it was like 1,100 for a 48 bucket setup...

Also I'm going to stick w/ the lights I have right now as I'm getting them for almost pennies....

And what do you think about my other thread and that generator, could I use that to take say 2k watts off the grid? Howmuch fuel would a cycle on that be?

 

[ethereal]

generator is out of the question. lol come on now...

Only two rules (one of which you have broken already) is do it alone and dont steal juice.

that said, do yer homework lol this thread so ballsy yer gonna need em tho!

imhtgo, 10kw is silly in a semi-long-term dwelling. even 7,8 is crazy...u need to be quick....

godspeed

​

 

[ethereal]

btw after u do yer HW
dont listen to those guys
go big start here

 

[animosity2k1]

I don't think 4800 wats is unreal?

 

[ethereal]

ooooo, ok sorry :| thought u were usin 10k

*note to self read past post #1 next time*

 

[animosity2k1]

Not a problem, the extra criticism is still a good idea, it'll drill into my head NOT to attempt 10k first! However, I really do believe I can manage 4800 Watts, security was my only worry.

 

[BlindDate]

Use a flip box and split the rooms at 5000 watts each 12/12.

 

[CaNNiBisPaTienT]

Alright, I have came across a lucky option and have somewhere where I believe I'll have the ability to use 10,000watts.

Firstly I have a few questions as far as security goes, 10,000 watts is a lot of electricity to be pulling, how suspicious is that in a 4 bedroom place?

Can helicopters do flyovers and sense the heat as a means of searching for grows if it was in the basement?

The electrical in the house, I'd have to redo it all most deffinately wouldn't I? The main idea would be to use the basement, and 1 or two rooms.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

On to another series of questions, what kind of equipment would everyone use? I was going to go w/ remote 600watt ballast setups w/ 600w hortilux lighhts. All would have hoods.

I havn't decided to go w/ a hydro setup, or just go soil and grow huge trees?... Whats everyones recommendation as far as that goes. I have 0 experience w/ hydro grows.

How many fans would I need to properly vent out a basement through an attic or an upper level?

What sort of co2 setup would you guys recommend going w/?

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Lastly, I know your all saying what is my area like, what are the dimensions, I havn't found a place yet, I'm still looking as far as that goes, thats another reason as to why I posted this, I wanted to know what size of a basement and or / rooms I would need to run about 10,000Watts. Possibly more... and would a generator be a smart idea and how much does it cost to run a 8k watt generator for grow cycle?

as far as 10k watts running...its not proof that can be used to say your growing.....but if ever on the phone with them or discussing your bill..they may say something....with only 5k watts worth of lights running in a 2600 sq. 5 bedroom spot...when i was in paying my bill the lady even said "thats alot of power your using, whats going on there?" very akward situation...i would highly suggest 220v wiring to the room.....and your gonna need an addition breaker box....to safely run it w/o popping other breakers all day long...

helicopters cannot just randomly fly over your house, they need a search warrant...you can also get flexi paper or whatever its called to outline your room, which will keep heat away and wont show up on the helicopter scans as bad(if they have a search warrant remember) but fireman nowadays have tools they can use to point at houses..and it will tell them how much heat is being pushed through the house..they use this to detect unsafe houses or even fires in buildings....

10k is gonna be fun for you to try and keep cool...atleast if in all room...i ran 36,000BTU's in one room and had heating problems..even with exhaust fans galore..and 10k watts of light(though they were just reflectors..not air cooled)

if you havent had experience with hydro..i wouldnt recommend it with 10k watt system...i assume your doing a good amount of tomatoes so it would really suck to mess up such a large scale...ya know? i'd keep it safe!!

i had a total of 12 fans in the 10k watt room....you basically just want to make sure every part of the plants are being touched by moving air...helps keep them cool and also keeps mold and mildew away...just dont have them on the plants pushing too strong of air....

 

[Guest]

My advise would be to start with a few lights and get your feet wet (pun intended) with your grow method, strain, getting the room sorted, etc., then expand from that. It's almost inevitable with limited experience you're gonna run into issues in the first couple runs. It'll be far less painfull to deal with teething probs on 2k watts than 5k watts. How painful is it to loose a 2k watt grow... sucks. How painful to loose a 5k grow...you get the picture.

Why are you in a hurry? Why do the first few runs have to be so big? Two smaller runs will take about 5 months or so and if you take your time you will look back and be happy you did.... only my opinion of course.