Simple,cheap,working,legal device to reduce electric bill(power factor optim.)

[fuzzytomcat]

you would think an iron ring would know. me i'm just an EET who spent years in school learning about electronics. what part did i get wrong? that PF only costs the utility money or that the meter is acurate? as for correcting power facter, every load you use in you house changes the PF for your service. as long as your equipment is approved why would anyone care?

A watt hour meter the utility company has been around forever a device with clock gears to operate the dials the more amperage from from coil a or b it takes the higher of the to, there is no fancy switches or electronics inside its mechanical, the power company has made two changes in 70 years to home or residential WH meters -

1) went from 120 volt to 240 volt meters
2) went from 4 dial to 5 dial for KW readings (or spedo type)

The power company looses money with PFC ....  but in a home or residence lights, appliances, electronics exactly what is the benefit to the cost of such devices to a home owner unless you have a well or some 1HP motor somewhere in the residence. The only "real" savings is to commercial company's or business that have induction motors or similar devices, these do make a considerable savings to the consumer and can pay for the PFC installation costs itself sometimes in a year.

The power company has many restrictions and if you connect devices on a "shared" transformer and effect other paying customers connected negatively, the power company cares and can have you remove the equipment. I think if you look at residential transformers many supply up to 6 homes why do you think when enlarging a service from 100 amps to 200 amps the power company is always involved ...... so the transformer will not be overloaded "effecting" the other customers on the transformer with "voltage drops" and possible damage to all electrical equipment connected.

[vonwolf]

The power company looses money with PFC ....  but in a home or residence lights, appliances, electronics exactly what is the benefit to the cost of such devices to a home owner unless you have a well or some 1HP motor somewhere in the residence. The only "real" savings is to commercial company's or business that have induction motors or similar devices, these do make a considerable savings to the consumer and can pay for the PFC installation costs itself sometimes in a year.

Hi fuzzytomcat;
    I/m not familiar  with PFC's but I do have a 1hp well, a septic with a lift station, a 2hp pool pump and a A/C that works overtime here in Fla. Do you think I might benefit from a PFC and do I need one for each device?
    Thanks Pete

[Creativity]

@fuzzytomcat
now,yes if ur devices will put a negative influence i agree,but to correct PF is essencially a desired state from both sides.Device working on low PF will require higher amperage amplitudes to deliver the same work.It means the energy supplier must forsee substations able to handle this=> expensive.

It is said quite compactly here on:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_factor

Actaully it is a nice summary of what i read in different papers i could find in our univ librarry.

Ok it works best when in the picture....here u have the uncorrected PF applet:

http://www.falstad.com/circuit/e-powerfactor1.html

And here when the situation with the correction on it.

http://www.falstad.com/circuit/e-powerfactor2.html

Simple measurements, by one of our forum mates, showed quite low PF's on most non resistive equipement in the house.Showing some space for improvements.

[fuzzytomcat]

    Hi fuzzytomcat;
    I/m not familiar  with PFC's but I do have a 1hp well, a septic with a lift station, a 2hp pool pump and a A/C that works overtime here in Fla. Do you think I might benefit from a PFC and do I need one for each device?
    Thanks Pete

Hey vonwolf, What you have is a prime candidate for PF correction especially with a 2 hp motor for a pool that runs all the time and the well also. I would get one for each of your motors and you may have a savings each month from 15 to 20 dollars forever, not to mention the other stuff you have working better because the inrush current to start these screw up other things because of the voltage drop. Do your incandescent lights sometimes dim just a little some times for a real short period when the well motor starts, thats a good indication, and the PFC would stop it with the proper equipment. If your utility transformer is shared with a neighbor or two and have the same things of sorts, and you all got PFC equipment, you all could really benefit from this improvement.

[fuzzytomcat]

that sounds very interesting as an electric company i would charge for 120Amps and not from one leg  r u sure it is true?

About the permissions i have no idea,but every cooling agregate at my shop has cap's on it providing some PFC.If this is allowed that adding extra cap here and there should not be of a much problem.I may be wrong.

Hi Creativity, yes its true abut the wh meters there has been many people complaining about this for years .... but you could image the cost to change every meter in the United States. So the power company talk about "SMART" meters and adding electronics to get a average but are against it because the loose more money ..... but then they want to be able to offset the cost with meters that can be read by the meter reader inside his truck not having to read the little dials. My meter is in the back yard thats fenced to keep the "pit bull" in so the meter reader can't read the meter and guesses sometime cause the dogs out ....common problem for them.

The Shop you work at is more than likely a commercial business... totally different .... anything you can stick a PFC device on especially 3-phase devices is a win win situation and the utility has not to much to say ..... unless the next door neighbor HID lighting goes off because of a voltage drop you caused or blow something up of there's.