Bitcoin Forum

Random thought that just hit me: considering the amount of electricity miners gobble up in a domestic environment, has anyone ever been under suspicion of running a grow-op in their home?

I've heard only rumors thereof. It might've occurred on occasion, however.

Brings on a whole new meaning to the word "megahash". ;D

My rigs are powered by hash oil.

The way some yeehaw cowboy law enforcement officers are, I wouldn't be surprised if they saw any indication of "crypto currency" and tried to classify you as a terrorist, jihadist, who funds god only knows what groups. Glad to know our(at least us Americans) constitutional freedoms have been un-guaranteed by all the post 9/11 legislation.

http://blogs.computerworld.com/18335/bitcoin_miners_busted_police_confuse_bitcoin_power_usage_for_pot_farm

I have read about someone that had a mining operation and had the cops show up because they thought it was a grow op. I mean there is so many other things that can contribute to a high power bill and IMO shouldn't give cops the right to automatically come and search thinking something illegal is going on....

As long as they have a warrant, they are coming in!!! As far as Post 9/11 thing, all they have to do is look at the internet useage and they should be able to tell whats going on. Its not like they cant see and read EVERY email/message/txt/pic that you send thru the internet now. Would laugh my ass off at the Po-Po if they came thru my door. If you break it, you bought it. and every second the servers are down, they will get a bill for whatever was lost in revenues from them coming thru the door and acting all bad ass like a grow op is going on. Remember they are not allowed to TOUCH you, unless they are arresting you, its called assault, but do not provoke them! Be nice and ask them what they are looking for and any damage they do take a picture and send it to an email address, oh yeah lock your phone after doing that, and you do not have to give them the password to any computer/phone/ipad or anything. no matter what they say. All you need to say is I need to let me see the search warrant, and if they dont have one, look them straight in the face and say FUK OFF, you do not have my permission to enter this residence and close the door. Now if you do happen to be running a grow op and miners, your an IDIOT!!!!!

In my line of work, I have seen first hand that the local police department has a username/password login for the local electric company's system.  When this was demonstrated for me, I saw that it allows the police to see how much electricity is being used by each customer.  

They can come in without a warrant, or one they obtained by perjuring the affidavit. Don't own a dog unless you want it shot for being "threatening". Also, you may want to buy a pair of handcuffs, just so you can cuff yourself prior to "dynamic entry" and stretch your arms above your head to have less chance at getting shot.

America is effectively a police state when there are no _real_ repercussions for criminals with badges, and civil rights laws such as the ones in the Constitution and USC are printed on .gov toilet paper. "Qualified immunity" is a brown stain all over the thin blue line, which I wanted to join before I learned that using "officer's discretion" to favor civil rights and spite facially unconstitutional laws, can result in sanctions or termination, only empowering tyrants in the ranks.

If they come in without a warrant, I feel sorry for them!

Ive also heard "rumors" of people being suspected of growing due to the mass amounts of power being drawn. I donno though... Seems a bit over the top to me. But who knows..

Hehe if you're exhausting tons of computer heat through an attic vent or something it would also look suspicious from infrared air surveys as well. I wonder if people with electric cars also get flagged for drawing so much current.

Not really, because an electric car would be a sudden increase in electric usage, but then remain somewhat stable at that higher usage. BTC can mimick a grow-op by it's steady growth curves in electric usage. Going from 600kWh a month to 900, 1200, 1500, 1900, 2500, etc would be suspicious, and would prolly get you a knock at the door if you lived in the right (wrong?) neighborhood.

The new Smart meters give the power company a very accurate reading of how you use your power.


Marijuana grows you will see massive spikes every 18 to 12hrs as your lights go on and off.. Mining operation would be a constant use of power.


Unless the grower is rather large and using a flip/flop style grow with 1 set of ballasts running 2 rooms, having the ballasts running 24/7

Exactly.  i called my power company and told them I was running servers in my garage.  They said no problem and that they look for spikes in power usage for growers.  If you were a smart grower you would just hook up a battery charger to a large battery bank and then use the power when you need it.  This way you are always constantly drawing the same amount of power.  Or just use a natural gas generator.

Or run 2 bloom rooms off of 1 set of ballasts :) It's easy to split 1 big room in half.

That would be a shitload cheaper than using batteries and inverters and battery chargers, etc.

All you need to do is make sure the power level is consistent.

You build a switch box with relays.

Serious growers have their own electric generators to not being suspicious.

Most of the serious grower in my area steal electricity thus bypassing the meter.  :o

The new smart meters... New to me anyway make it a lot easier to find out where people are stealing electricity.


You can have a rather decent sized grow using only about 5-8kw including lights/cooling...


Generators are pretty costly to run with todays gas prices.


Natural gas would be the only way to go :)

Smart meters are not common in Quebec... yet!

They plan to replace all meters for 2018 but it's possible to opt-out.

Someone here is going around sabotaging the new meters.

That sucks.

Their not cheap...