Trouble reading today's article? Click
here: Issue #270 - Sunday, June 18, 2017 Dear Fellow Grower,
In today's issue... - Learn how to figure out the cost of electricity for your cannabis grow and even get estimates for common growing equipment!
- Learn how to check your circuit breaker box to determine how many watts your outlets can handle! Keep your home NOT burned down!
- Some great pics from an impressive,
high-tech DWC setup!
Nebula Haze & Sirius Fourside (founders of GrowWeedEasy.com) "Electricity is really just organized lightning."
~George Carlin
Figuring Out Your Cost of Electricity! by Nebula Haze |
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What Will My Electricity Bill Look Like?
How much electricity does it take to grow cannabis indoors from
seed to harvest, and how much will you actually be paying for electricity each month?
When growing marijuana indoors, the cost of electricity is important, however, it can be confusing trying to predict how much it's going to end up costing you!
Luckily, it's relatively straightforward to figure your costs in
electricity once you have the right information!
Figuring Out the Cost of Electricity
This guide will teach you how to determine how much electricity you'll be using each month for your garden. Once you know how much electricity you're using, you can easily figure out the cost. I'll also share a few estimates for the electricity cost of grow lights, fans, ACs, and more, so you'll have a ballpark figure even if you're not sure exactly how much you pay for
electricity.
You need this information: - Cost of electricity where you live - this should be on your electricity bill, and is usually measured in kWh
- Wattage of light/fan/pump - If you're not sure, the wattage information is usually on the box. For example, it might say 35W, 150W or 600W.
- Number of hours the appliance will be running - For example if it's on 18 hours a day and you want to know how much it will cost each month, then you'd calculate 18 hours multiplied by
about 30 days or approximately 540 hours/month.
Here's the formula which can be used not only to figure out the cost of electricity for the marijuana grow, but also the cost per month:
Cost of Electricity x Number of Hours x
(Watts / 1000) = Total Cost
Note: You need to divide the watts (W) by 1000 to plug it into the cost formula; this is to convert your number to kW so it plays nice with the kWh measurement you get from the electricity company. I'll explain below with a few examples.
Real-Life Example with 250W HPS Light
($161 in electricity for the light during the grow)
- Cost
Electricity: $0.37/kWh (this is what we get charged for electricity, but it's more than twice the average cost nationwide so you'd probably pay far less than this!)
- Wattage/1000: I used a 250W HPS light. So, if I divide that by 1000 I get 0.250 kW for the formula.
- Number Hours:
1,746 light hours (total hours with 250W HPS turned on)
- Veg: 41 days of 18/6 = 738 hours
- Flower: 84 days of 12/12 = 1,008 hours
Cost Electricity x Number of Hours x (Watts
/ 1000) = Total Cost
$0.37 kWh x 1,746 hours x 0.250 kW = $161
However, one thing that's very important to remember when doing any estimations is that although your grow light may
account for a lot of your electricity bill, fans and pumps and other things in your grow room also take electricity. It can really start to add up if you don't pay attention, giving you a much higher-than-expected electricity bill!
Remember to Calculate Energy Cost for Everything That
Uses Electricity, Not Just Your Grow Light!
Continuing the above example, in that same grow I also used an exhaust fan, two circulating fans, and for my hydroponic tub I also used a water pump and an air pump. Although they seem like pretty small
items, they can start to add up over the length of the grow.
Cost of Electricity for Other Items
(Additional $117 Over the Grow)
- Water pump - $6.12
- Air pump - $3.33
- Exhaust fan - $41.07
- 2 Oscillating Fans - $66.60
You can view the full breakdown here. But you can see that these other items cost 3/4 as much electricity as the grow light at $161!
Here are more examples to give you an idea of possible cost projections if your electricity cost $0.25/kWh. This is higher than most people's electricity rate so hopefully your amounts will be much lower than these! Estimated Cost-Per-Month for
Common Grow Room
Items
MH/HPS Grow Lights - $20-135 per month
Popular LED Grow Light Examples - $12-$50 per month
Exhaust Fans & Oscillating Fans - $3-23 per month
Hydroponic Pumps and Accessories - 60¢-$35 per month
Air Conditioners - $61-$120 per
month (for 12 hours/day) Figuring Out Cost (Per Grow)
If it's your first grow, when it comes to figuring out an estimated per-grow cost I recommend planning on it
taking 5 months to get to harvest time (even though the average grow is usually about 3-4 months). Although you will hopefully get to harvest sooner, it's better to estimate for too much money and have it cost less than the other way around!
Five months gives you
plenty of time to mess up in the vegetative stage and use a long-flowering strain but still be ready to harvest. After you get some experience you'll have a much better idea of how long it usually takes to get to harvest using your style and preferred strains. One other thing to remember is you'll use less energy in the flowering stage because your lights will only be on 12 hours a day. You can figure that time out separately if you want, but I'm just going to pretend the lights are on 18/6 to
make things simpler.
So now that you've begun to figure out your per-month prices, you can multiply them by 5 to get an estimate of how much a whole grow will cost you for each item!
Example Setup ($0.25/kWh)
Remember to look up your local electricity cost because it's probably much lower! - 400W
Grow Light - $54/month
- 2 x 6" Clip-on fans - 13W - $3/month x 2 = $6/month
- 10" Tabletop fan - 35W - $7/month
- 6-Inch Exhaust Fan - 125W - $23/month
Monthly Electricity Cost: $90
Electricity Cost for 5 Months:
$450
That's a total of $90/month in electricity, so if you multiply that by 5 months you get $450 cost of electricity for the whole grow.
Once you've had a grow or two under your belt it's a good idea to start looking at cost and reward to make sure you're growing what you
need for the price you want.
Let's say you spend $450 on electricity in the grow, but produce 5 ounces of buds, that means you're paying $90/ounce for electricity (plus the cost of setup and supplies). If that's a good price for you then you can celebrate a good harvest, but if you're not getting the right prices in your grow, it's a good idea to evaluate and figure out what you need to change to
get the results you're looking for!
For example, in the same previous grow I spent about $280 in electricity throughout the grow (if you add everything together). I harvested a little over 6 ounces which means I spent a little under $50/ounce in electricity. Considering it costs around $350 for a high-quality ounce in my area, that's some pretty significant savings!
Another thing to consider when trying to estimate costs is how long a
specific cannabis plant needs to be in the flowering stage before it's ready to harvest. Some plants need up to 3 months in the flowering stage, so when determining cost it's a good idea to factor in that extra time. Sometimes it's worth it to pay more for better buds, but you should know that's what you're getting into!
Now that you've got a handle on figuring out your costs, let's take a brief moment
to talk a little bit about electrical safety...
Keep Your Home Safe! Get to Know Your Circuit Breakers! |
If you're getting set up with a new grow room, or just getting started growing in a space for the first time, there's a few things you need to do before you ever plug anything in! In addition to standard electrical safety precautions inside the grow room, you want to make sure your grow space can actually support the amount of power you need.
Once you know which plugs you're going to use for your grow, you need to calculate how much energy your grow lights and fans will need (as explained in today's article). Armed with that
knowledge, you can make sure your outlets can support that much energy usage.
All electrical outlets in your house are on a circuit, and each electrical outlet in your grow room belongs to a circuit. One circuit usually supports multiple outlets and often the circuit breaker box has labels for which outlets in the house are on each circuit, but sometimes you need to figure it out yourself.
Once you know which circuits your outlets are on, the next step is to open your circuit breaker box and see what number is listed on the circuit breaker for the circuit(s) you plan to use.
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Let's say you're using 120V outlets like most standard American outlets. If the circuit breaker is labeled for 15 Amps that means that circuit can handle 1800W worth of appliances (15A x 120V = 1800W). If it's labeled with a 20 it
means that the circuit can handle 2400 watts (20A x 120V = 2400W). For 30 Amps it's 3600W.
If your appliances on a circuit combined equals more than those total watt numbers, you're going to trip the circuit breaker at some point and everything on that circuit will shut off as a safety precaution.
Important: With all this in mind, it's crucial to note that the limit of how much load a circuit can take is 20% lower for "continuous loads". A "continuous load" is something that needs power for 3+ hours, so pretty much ALL of the power you will be using is a continuous load. This means you'll want to split your power usage between circuits (not just outlets) when needed, and stay below the following wattages: - 1444W on 15A circuit breakers
- 1920W on 20A circuit breakers
- 2880W on 30A circuit breakers
I have examples of different wattages listed in the main article, but consider that a 1000W light + 10,000 BTU air conditioner is already enough to go well beyond the 1444W safety
limit if you have a 15A circuit breaker and even surpasses the 1800W maximum load limit which will trip the breakers!
Because of this we once had to power an AC with an extension cord that went to another room so it wasn't using the same circuit as the lights and fans! Believe it not or, this is actually safer than putting extra load on an already overburdened
circuit.
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"I just want to tell you thank you for this website and all your effort and time that goes into it. I've tremendously learned so much from it. I'm literally on here daily and for over a year and half now reading articles and tutorials over and over. I've done outdoor before and tomorrow I will be doing my very first indoor grow. I definitely feel like I have all the right
tools, skills and confidence to succeed thanks to you. I appreciate it all, again thank you!."
~Steven |
Trophy Pictures of the Week! |
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"1st DWC crop- Wize's 600w / 643g budget crop -Cookies Kush
This was my first attempt at a hydro crop based on Sirius' brilliant tutorial. My DIY TF/DWC build is virtually the same though I did decide to run my pump externally in an attempt to maintain as cool rez temps as possible."
G.H Nutes, hydroguard, & Botanicare cal-mag (RO water). 4x4 tent w/ 600w I-power kit (cheap, but got me started)." |
"**I learned the hard way that HST requires a much gentler touch once you go hydro, as the ability to time training to watering cycle is negated. I learned, they recovered, and life is good!
BIG thanks to Nebula and
Sirius!!"
`Wize We encourage you to forward this email to a friend in need!
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Who Runs This
Newsletter? |
Nebula Haze:
I'll be honest with you, when I first started growing, I struggled. Now, it is my mission to
make it easier for new growers to get started as well as help advanced growers get bigger, better yields with less time and money. We are updating and adding articles every single week and our goal is to eventually build a comprehensive growing resource so anyone and everyone can grow if they want to! If we all share the knowledge there's more buds in the world for everyone :) |
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Learn which seed sources are personally recommended by Nebula Haze |
Sirius Fourside:
Sirius Fourside is a hobbyist grower who has gained the bulk of his experience growing in water as a medium (deep water culture, bubbleponics).
"Growing cannabis can be a relaxing hobby in and of itself, but it also saves you money and keeps you from having to deal with shady characters. Cannabis is much easier to grow than people give it credit for, and growing in water
doesn't increase the difficulty much, if any. But whether you want to grow in water, coco, or a different medium, we'll show you how easy it can be!"
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