Kvar

Been meaning to ask you all this for a while now, but just now getting around to it. I ran across the KVAR unit online and did a lot of reading up on it... but to be honest, I don't understand it one damn bit at all. It's like reading Chinese, and I can't read Chinese. I understand watts and volts and current, but what the hell is a power factor and how the heck does it affect my power bill? Anyway, rant over. So seriously, from what I understand it only affects motor driven appliances when they first start up, right? So how much effect could that possibly have on a residential power bill?

Re: Kvar

By the way, in case you're not familiar with KVAR, it appears to be just a large bank of capacitors, you can google it fairly easily, though there's some other brands like PD1200... they all appear to be basically the same thing, and they tout that they offer "power factor correction"... whatever that means.

Re: Kvar

what is it suppose to correct?

Re: Kvar

Many electric motors cause a phase shift between the applied voltage and the actual current flow. This is because of reactance in the inductive motor windings and capacitors use for starting.

When the voltage and current are not exactly in phase the calculated power used is more than the actual power used. The ratio between them is called the Power Factor (PF). If the power factor is less than 1 it means you are paying for more power than you are actually using.

I don't know what KVAR is an acronym for, but it must be a reactive device to correct a reactive phase shift and save the user bux.

Unless you have a very reactive load a lot of the time. . .lots of big motors. . . it isn't a concern.

Re: Kvar

The ratio between them is called the Power Factor (PF). If the power factor is less than 1 it means you are paying for more power than you are actually using.

Click to expand...

Actually it is the opposite. You meter only measures WATTS. when the PF is not 1 you are using more power then you are paying for.
Since the power company doesn't bill residential customers for poor PF it is to your advantage to have poor PF.

Here is an article.

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

Re: Kvar

Thanks joed. This is what I got from that: "Utilities typically charge additional costs to customers who have a power factor below some limit, which is typically 0.9 to 0.95. Engineers are often interested in the power factor of a load as one of the factors that affect the efficiency of power transmission."

So it could be very useful, if you're being charged extra for below normal PF... however, it's unlikely that residences are going to be below those limits, and therefore it's useless for most residences.

Re: Kvar

NO residence I have seen has any type of PF measurement. It is only in commercial or industrial where this is measured.

Re: Kvar

VAR stands for volt-amperes-reactive. The "k" just stands for kilo-(thousand). As already stated residential customers are not charged for it. Inductors (usually motors) and capacitors cause a phase shift. Most residential consumers are considered mostly resistive.