electricity savy people - Can a "Power-Save" unit really reduce electricity costs?
http://www.power-save.com/
I apologize if this question has been asked before.
Are these units legit? Any reefers using them? A friend of mine has had one for a billing cycle at his buisness and saw a 10% decrease in his bill. He is so excited that he wants to be a distributor (his electric bill is pretty high so 10% is real $). This is not proof, but enough to peak my interest.
There are other units that make similar claims, but this is the one I am familiar with. The explanations provided by the manufacturers of these products are generally cryptic (and infomercial-like) which leads me to be skeptical.
However, I guess it is possible that the general public's lack of knowledge (myself included) in this area leads them to oversimplify. I am not a total dummy, but IEEE is not my area. Without too much abuse (please), someone knowledgeable (BeanAnimal!!) should correct me if the following is wrong.
My basic understanding is as follows: These units are just fancy capacitors that provide power factor correction so that your total power factor for your house approaches 1 and therefore your current draw is minimized. In a nutshell, you want your total power factor = 1 to draw the least amount of current and have the lowest electricity bill. A little EE I remember: Power factor = cosine difference between load phase angle and voltage phase angle.
Resistive loads are in-phase with the voltage so they already have a partial power factor = 1 (phase angle between resistive current and voltage = 0 degrees). An aquarium heater is a resistive load.
Inductive loads are out of phase with the voltage by a quarter cycle (-90 degrees) so the partial power factor = 0. Aquarium pumps are inductive loads.
Capacitive loads are out of phase by a quarter cycle in the opposite direction (+90 degrees) so the partial power factor = 0. I think these Power-Save units are capacitive loads as are rechargeable batteries.
As far as I can tell, these Power-Save type units are just capacitors (capacitive loads). Somehow they make the capacitive load magnitude match the instantaneous induction load magnitude from your house. The result is that the power save capacitor load (+90) is equal and opposite the inductive load (-90). By balancing these loads their sum = 0 degrees and your power factor = 1.
I guess these capacitors act like a temporary energy storage then feeds energy out to the house.
These companies claim to save you “up to 25%â€Â. It seems to me that if I knew my houses power factor I could calculate my potential savings. Is there any way to easily measure your power factor? Do I have any of this stuff right??
sorry for the long post.
http://www.power-save.com/
I apologize if this question has been asked before.
Are these units legit? Any reefers using them? A friend of mine has had one for a billing cycle at his buisness and saw a 10% decrease in his bill. He is so excited that he wants to be a distributor (his electric bill is pretty high so 10% is real $). This is not proof, but enough to peak my interest.
There are other units that make similar claims, but this is the one I am familiar with. The explanations provided by the manufacturers of these products are generally cryptic (and infomercial-like) which leads me to be skeptical.
However, I guess it is possible that the general public's lack of knowledge (myself included) in this area leads them to oversimplify. I am not a total dummy, but IEEE is not my area. Without too much abuse (please), someone knowledgeable (BeanAnimal!!) should correct me if the following is wrong.
My basic understanding is as follows: These units are just fancy capacitors that provide power factor correction so that your total power factor for your house approaches 1 and therefore your current draw is minimized. In a nutshell, you want your total power factor = 1 to draw the least amount of current and have the lowest electricity bill. A little EE I remember: Power factor = cosine difference between load phase angle and voltage phase angle.
Resistive loads are in-phase with the voltage so they already have a partial power factor = 1 (phase angle between resistive current and voltage = 0 degrees). An aquarium heater is a resistive load.
Inductive loads are out of phase with the voltage by a quarter cycle (-90 degrees) so the partial power factor = 0. Aquarium pumps are inductive loads.
Capacitive loads are out of phase by a quarter cycle in the opposite direction (+90 degrees) so the partial power factor = 0. I think these Power-Save units are capacitive loads as are rechargeable batteries.
As far as I can tell, these Power-Save type units are just capacitors (capacitive loads). Somehow they make the capacitive load magnitude match the instantaneous induction load magnitude from your house. The result is that the power save capacitor load (+90) is equal and opposite the inductive load (-90). By balancing these loads their sum = 0 degrees and your power factor = 1.
I guess these capacitors act like a temporary energy storage then feeds energy out to the house.
These companies claim to save you “up to 25%â€Â. It seems to me that if I knew my houses power factor I could calculate my potential savings. Is there any way to easily measure your power factor? Do I have any of this stuff right??
sorry for the long post.
