During a club meeting on Saturday, the conversation turned to electric bills and possible savings. Several of the members talked about a little box that plugs into an outlet and is supposed to save energy. Ostensibly, it uses a capacitor to smooth the flow, making the house more efficient.
Color me skeptical, but before I knew what had happened, Belle found a four-pack at Amazon and ordered some. They were in the mail box this morning, and I plugged them in.
I'm still skeptical, but the four-pack was under $25.00 and I don't tell Belle how to spend her money.
It has a light to show when it is operating, so it uses energy. Whether or not it will save any money is subject to claim. We will see, I guess.
6 comments:
I suppose any savings on your electricity bill would be dependent upon whether your utility gives you credit for improving "power factor'.
Resistance loads have a power-factor of one, the voltage is perfectly in synch with the current flow. All of the electricity that is pushed through the wires is used for the load.
Most homes are heavy in inductive loads (electric motors) and the current lags the voltage. What happens is that transmission losses are higher relative to what you use and the power company "eats" those transmission losses. In those cases the power-factor is less than one because not all of the current pushed through the wires is efficiently applied to "load" in your house.
Adding capacitors into the circuit(s) counterbalances the inductive loads and brings the power factor closer to one.
No. Sorry it’s a con.
As an electrician who dabbled in circuit design for school- I'm going to bet that if there is any savings, you won't even notice it on your electric bill.
But I'll wait and see your results.
What Eaton Joe said.
"Yes...No....Maybe..."
Unless you can get your loads to a 1:1 power factor.....Meh...
We offshore dudes deal with this stuff all the times, because we make our own electricity.
Smart man. Don't tell Belle how to spend money.
yep, a con.
Unless, and until, you have active capacitor switching and inly, as ERJ pointed out, that you get credit for the power factor, it is likely just a pretty light show.
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