Power factor correction devices

Went to one of those free seminars on saving energy last night ( mainly for a great free meal ). Anyway one of the devices they had was one of those devices that correct the power and store waste in the capacitors to be used later. Now I realize these only do anything with inductive loads, and not resistive loads. They tell you tha big companies use them. After a little research It seems that big power consumers get billed for a poor power factor and residential does not. Sooooooooo, would these things ever save enough money to pay for themselves?

The company that did the presentation was soalr Tek, they talked a little about solar, but most of what they talked about was power conservation. They had info on those GE hybrid water heaters, they seem pretty neat, but not for another 5 years till the price comes down . They also talked about foil radiant barriers. This seems to be the hot ticket, my boss did this in his attic before it was becoming mainstream said it made a big differance on the heat coming in his house.

If anyone has real life experience with these power factor correction devices please share.



Thanks, Eric

I think we discussed those or something similiar a while back, I don't think it would make much difference for the items in your house, also, it takes power to keep them charged, so I don' t see any real benefit. Just do a search online...many articles pro and con it. You can buy a KILL-O-WATT meter for about $20 and plug your devices in and actually check the usage of them.

http://michaelbluejay.com/electricity/powerfactor.html

The Radiant barrier I have seen years ago, but a bigger push now a days.

I would think just good conservation and keep your house well insulated......

Yaaa, we talked about this sometime back. I have a friend that understands it.... he & I built home made ones for about $65. Gosh, it's hard to remember, bit it seems we calculated about a 15 year payback. If you bought one for $400, how long is the payback? Ya, OK, the bottom line is, save your money.

Here's a link to my previous post on the power factor correction devices. It will tell you there is no cost saving for residential use and why.

Debunking KVAR units

Yanche wrote:Here's a link to my previous post on the power factor correction devices. It will tell you there is no cost saving for residential use and why.

Debunking KVAR units

Thanks will check it out



Eric

Well yesterday the sales couple came out to the house to talk to us, part of the free dinner. They wanted $3700 to lay foil in the attic, I said I can't do that. He said you can't afford to do $46 a month. I replied not when I can get the product and do it myself for less than $400 . When the salesman and his wife found out we heat with coal, he said doesn't that make you sick , I said no. then he wondererd if fumes come in the house I said they go up the chimney like a wood stove. Some people have no idea only what they have been told by others that have no idea



Eric

C'mon, we all know heat is generated by the exhaust of the stove. You vent your DS into the living room like the rest of us.

The real question is, did you openly laugh in his face when he asked if you got sick?

As for this KVAR units I looked into them a few years back but didn't see the worth of them.

This link totally debunks Power Factor correction devices.

http://www.nist.gov/customcf/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=903669

Power factor correction devices do absolutely nothing to reduce the domestic power bill, but there are heaps of sales people promoting them as a means to cut your electricity costs.
If you have an inductive load, (motors and old flourescent lamps) then you will have inductive current flowing as well as power current (resistive).
You are metered on KWHrs only and therefore do not pay for the inductive current, but by adding a power factor correction current, you can reduce this current.
You DO NOT pay for the reactive current, so there is no advantage in adding power factor correction even though the total current flow may reduce.
In industrial installations, there is often a penalty for bad power factor and you can reduce this penalty by adding power factor correction.
Only consider this if you are paying a penalty!!
for more information, seehttp://www.power-factor.co.nz and http://www.LMPhotonics.com/pwrfact.htm
Best regards,
Mark