SMART METER...is it safe?

[crazycanadian]

i want to do a grow...i have a 1000 watt HID digital dimable ballast a 6 inch inline fan/filter combo and a very cool room (cold central AC piped into the vents) and before i buy either a 3x3 or 5x5 tent i wanna know if i should run the light at half power ie- 500 watts or the full thousand...id buy the tent size to fit the proper light...heres my question tho...i live in a duplex....i have one side the neighbor has the other...he is a total pothead i know for a fact...my side is 3 bdrooms and the whole place that is mine is about 1100 sq ft. my question is ...i have a SMART METER...its been here since i moved in one year ago...i have heard a lot of people say that unless you are running a big grow something the size i wanna do is nothing to worry as long as you pay your bill on time...also....i live in TEXAS...in the southern part of the state...i have a good job and a legit life style..i have a landlord who never comes buy and is not nosy at all...and my home is "lived in" i would plan to run the lights during the day so it looks for normal...id really like to do the 1000 watts but im really afraid not so much at the amt...but at the spikes and this looking a lot more unexplainably high the say 500 watts which could be an AC unit....just wondering what everyones thoughts are....i wanna do a vertical sog setup either way so there would very minimal lighting aside from the HID thanks!

 

[spunion]

First of all, you won't want to run a 1000w bulb vertically in a tent. I'm speaking from experience when I say the tent will get too hot. You'll want to use a hood/reflector and use your fan/filter to suck the hot air out of the hood.

You also might be better off turning off your central air, and using a window AC to keep the tent cool. People build a box to fit around the AC and cut holes to fit venting which goes straight into the tent. For the rest of your house, you could get a portable swamp cooler or a bunch of window units. Might help keep your electricity bill roughly the same. You also should be fine with a 600w. I personally feel like the extra 400 watts aren't worth it unless you don't at all how much electricity is being used.

As long as you're paying your own electricity bill, and its just for your half of the duplex, you shouldn't have to worry about what type of meter system it is.

 

[AssSlinger]

You can run it vertically in a cool tube without a reflector, not that I'm a fan of vertical growing altogether.

The problem with the computerized electricity meters is that they tag your consumption every few seconds and not only when the meter is read. It will show that you use the same spike in the same time and you turn it off at the same time.
The best solution for the paranoid mind would be 2 tents, in your case with a 400 and a 600 in each. During flowering you just make one run at the day and the other at night, that way your spikes are way flatter.
However, 1000W is not close to what a simple fan heater consumes. It shouldn't at all flag any red flags, unless someone is looking up on you specifically for growing weed, and they would need some knowledge in order to look that way to begin with.