Determining The Electrical Power Factor & Output Of Electrical Products

In order to understand the impact and influence some of the devices in a typical

household have on energy expense, it is necessary to know the basics of how electricity is delivered to your house, what electrical load is and how it is put to use.

Essentially, electrical loads are of two kinds - resistive and inductive. The resistive loads are from sources that provide light and heat and do not consume much electricity. The inductive loads are from sources that run on motors that do not have an inbuilt capacitor. If you can estimate the kind of inductive load that you are required to use on a daily basis through various household tasks, you can arrive at the actual electrical consumption that they influence or bring about and get to understand the electrical power factor you need to address in order to make a significant difference to your energy expenses.

Typically those devices with inductive load do not use the supplied power efficiently leading to wastage and higher cost of power to you. Moreover, due to any fluctuation in the supply of electric power, these devices would suffer and their durability would also be compromised. Low power factor figures that are the result of a lot of inductive load usage without capacitors thus do not bode well from an efficiency point of view. They not only cause wastage but do little for the health of the devices.

Of course, many electrical appliances manufacturing companies have been adding capacitors to the devices to make them more efficient and if you happen to own many such devices that have the energy star rating on them, then the savings due to any power factor correction device you install may not be very much. The capacitors have the capability of storing any excess electric supply not required by the device at that point in time and of releasing it when needed thereby leading to better utilisation of the supplied energy.

Nevertheless, it would be useful to consider the electrical power factor brought about by the various devices in your household and think of installing appropriate power factor correction devices so that you get the benefit of better efficiency and increased durability of these devices. It is however important to not get swayed by rather exaggerated claims of companies supplying these devices and have realistic expectations of the savings that would accrue. Since weather conditions and other factors do influence the usage of power every month in a house, it would be difficult to immediately estimate the positive influence in terms of any savings they have brought about. However, over time, you would get a fair idea of their effectiveness.

Another method to monitor electrical usage would be to make use of a good electrical power monitor. This is a cheaper device and will let you know the consumption of the various devices so that you are able to take necessary corrective action. The increased awareness of what is causing your energy expenses to shoot up can result in less wasteful consumption of some of these devices and bring about the savings you always wanted.

by: Lawrence White

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