Cutting electricity costs
Discussion
First off, I am purely raising the subject for discussion. I have nothing at all to do with any company which may be offering this service.
A mate of mine is a business consultant and he was telling me that one of the companies that he deals with can cut electricity bills by 13-15%. The way they do it is by controlling the incoming voltage. Bills from electricity suppliers are calculated on KVA used and by managing the voltage at the fusebox, any fluctuations in voltage can be ironed out with the consequence being savings. I have no reason to disbelieve my mate, so what do you reckon?
A mate of mine is a business consultant and he was telling me that one of the companies that he deals with can cut electricity bills by 13-15%. The way they do it is by controlling the incoming voltage. Bills from electricity suppliers are calculated on KVA used and by managing the voltage at the fusebox, any fluctuations in voltage can be ironed out with the consequence being savings. I have no reason to disbelieve my mate, so what do you reckon?
We got the hard-sell from a Solar installer earlier in the year on voltage optimisers - the consensus of those who know more about the concept was that it only works on an industrial level, not a domestic scale.
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
(we've still not gone ahead with the solar install - double garage and en-suite is taking priority!)
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
(we've still not gone ahead with the solar install - double garage and en-suite is taking priority!)
Hmm. Interesting. The other 'product' they sell is based on storing solar power from your panels (including possibly using 'used' electric vehicle batteries as they're no longer suitable for charging to their fullest potential for the road). You can then sell your energy back to the National Grid when you like - ie when the price is favourable - rather than feeding it straight back in.
Now, I'm not an electrician, but if something is designed to use x volts, if the supply is less than x volts, surely it won't work properly? It sounds to me like saying we can cut your water bill by putting a restriction in the line.
So a related note, I normally put my washing machine on when when I go to bed so's it's not on at peak time. It may not save any, but makes me feel better that it's using power off peak to make a more efficient use of the grid.
So a related note, I normally put my washing machine on when when I go to bed so's it's not on at peak time. It may not save any, but makes me feel better that it's using power off peak to make a more efficient use of the grid.
ks I've ever heard to be quite honest. Unless he's just selling something that interferes with the meter then I can't believe it works.Simpo Two said:
I thought UK mains has already dropped from the 'proper' 240V to 220-230V.
245v in Newport Pagnell right now. They changed the tolerance to be 10% i think, so 10% of 230 would be 253, making our 'wrong' ~240v in tolerance. So they didn't change the voltage, just the acceptable range.
Talks about the tolerance and also some explanation of voltage optimisation here:
http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/etc/guide-voltageoptim...
maccboy said:
First off, I am purely raising the subject for discussion. I have nothing at all to do with any company which may be offering this service.
A mate of mine is a business consultant and he was telling me that one of the companies that he deals with can cut electricity bills by 13-15%. The way they do it is by controlling the incoming voltage. Bills from electricity suppliers are calculated on KVA used and by managing the voltage at the fusebox, any fluctuations in voltage can be ironed out with the consequence being savings. I have no reason to disbelieve my mate, so what do you reckon?
Had that voltage reducing device fitted when the solar was fitted.A mate of mine is a business consultant and he was telling me that one of the companies that he deals with can cut electricity bills by 13-15%. The way they do it is by controlling the incoming voltage. Bills from electricity suppliers are calculated on KVA used and by managing the voltage at the fusebox, any fluctuations in voltage can be ironed out with the consequence being savings. I have no reason to disbelieve my mate, so what do you reckon?
The solar was great, the voltage reducing device was crap.
Say good bye to your toaster, as it will never make a decent round of toast again.
All you get is a dried out piece of bread.
It takes so long to toast, because of the reduced voltage, it was s disaster.
Stay away from it.
R1
crmcatee said:
So it's Power Factor correction capacitors they're installing ?
No, It is a duel transform set up.
Electronically controlled.
Drops your user voltage to 200 volts.
This is the play, that it saves 15%.
Is standard voltage is circa 230
Reduced to circa 200
The thing is, appliance's just take longer to do some thing.
So taking longer, actually uses note electric than if they had left the damn things alone.
R1
eliot said:
Simpo Two said:
I thought UK mains has already dropped from the 'proper' 240V to 220-230V.
245v in Newport Pagnell right now. They changed the tolerance to be 10% i think, so 10% of 230 would be 253, making our 'wrong' ~240v in tolerance. So they didn't change the voltage, just the acceptable range.
There was a firm near me making these units and there's quite a bit on the internet about them - Google vphase .
Sheepshanks said:
I have a UPS and whenever I look it's almost always showing the supply voltage at 252V. I thought it must be wrong but checked it with a multi-meter and it was the same. Kettle boils fast!
There was a firm near me making these units and there's quite a bit on the internet about them - Google vphase .
Could just be phase inbalance - with one phase heavily loaded, the other phases rise. There was a firm near me making these units and there's quite a bit on the internet about them - Google vphase .
Sheepshanks said:
I have a UPS and whenever I look it's almost always showing the supply voltage at 252V. I thought it must be wrong but checked it with a multi-meter and it was the same. Kettle boils fast!
There was a firm near me making these units and there's quite a bit on the internet about them - Google vphase .
Yeah, There was a firm near me making these units and there's quite a bit on the internet about them - Google vphase .
That's the make of them.
Load of crap.
Kettles take forever to boil, and often fail to switch off automatically.
Same with the toaster I mentioned earlier.
Utter waste of money.
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