Power Saver- do they really work?

[Flathead Youngin']

I was reading over in the T8 thread. There was link to something in youtube and then, like most of us do, clicked on another video in the sidebar. Then I ran across these things. Do they really work?

I went to their website and went through all of their silly marketing to finially get a price and some more of their marketing.

I found this too:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6545511954365181850#

Is there another company? I'm still looking for myself.....

Of course, I'd like to try it....

Here's there "secret link" after you go through all of their marketing hoops:

http://plugandsave.com/exclusive-area.html

$347+shipping

 

[rsanter]

in general, no
there are a couple of things they do to get a 'power savings'
some effectively slow motors down by a little bit. problem is that you then do less work so the motor has to run longer (like refrigerators and such). so you use less electricity per hour, but run for more hours.
no thanks

there also are ones that will say they cut peak demand charges. again lots of fluf and no substance

California utilities would be all over anything that actually saves energy. ask them which California utility offers a rebate on it and you should have your answer

bob

 

[Stuart in MN]

You know the old saying...if it sounds too good to be true, it is.

It's a total scam. There are a number of similar products on the market and they all do the same thing - bilk you out of money. They claim to improve your power factor (not measured on residential meters) 'smooth' out the power to make it more efficient, or any other number of false claims.

Here are a couple explanations:
http://www.pge.com/includes/docs/pdfs/about/news/outagestatus/powerquality/black_box.pdf
http://michaelbluejay.com/electricity/powerfactor.html
http://www.mikeholt.com/mojonewsarchive/EES-HTML/HTML/TvssClaimsEnergySavings-Update~20030421.htm
http://forums.mikeholt.com/showthread.php?t=91211
http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml02/02146.html
http://www.esasafe.com/pdf/Recall_Notices/RCL02-09.pdf

 

[Flathead Youngin']

The two things that didn't make sense to me were:

1. "It stores the unused power" there are no batteries......even though capacitors would help on initial startup, there's no way they could hold that kind of charge and slowly release what a motor would require....don't they discharge in a mili-second?

2. i believe there are some conspiracies in the world but with the government working on the ban of t12 bulbs, pushing to switch to cfl's, etc. if something like this works, wouldn't "they" make us use them...."as of tomorrow, the US dept. of engergy will require all homes in the nation to be retrofitted with a box that will cut our nation's dependance on foreign engergy by 25-40%"

can you imagine the long lines?

when/if something like this comes about, i don't think you'll need to use "as seen on tv" to get the word out....

i just hadn't seen any discussion of them before and didn't want to be the last guy on the block to have one if they did work.....so they are "new to me"...

 

[Mickey O]

No.





.......

 

[JBurgess]

In general no. I have seen some units that will save electricity on an electric motor that is used at a lot less than full power, but this is not one of those.

Stuart, some residential meters measure PF. Some tariffs have a penalty or call for remedial measures if it falls below a certain level even on residential.

 

[pcmeiners]

"......even though capacitors would help on initial startup, there's no way they could hold that kind of charge and slowly release what a motor would require....don't they discharge in a mili-second?"

Was a building Engineer 15 years back, power factor correction capacitors do work on inductive loads, which are not highly power factor corrected (saves approx 15%). The issue is the sellers of these devices are buying a run capacitor for $10.00, placing them in a box, then selling them for >$300. If you have very efficient motors they will do little; or if they over-correct the power factor, it can damage the motor. Simplified, the charge the capacitor holds is only used to charge the field coils, but produces no real work
I installed extra run capacitors in my building on just about all motors and the saving was considerable. Large industrial plants have banks of capacitors, which are added or subtracted from the system as the the power factor changes (lead/lag) through out the system...very expensive. If anyone tries this, a power factor meter should be used so over PF correction does not happen.
Good chance the Plug and Save is one of those "$10 capacitor in box" scams. Never seen one of these scam artists show whats in the box.
Power factor does save even on residential, even without a PF meter. When I installed capacitors, I would take a power factor and current reading before installing. Once the capacitor was installed, I would take the readings again, current draw would drop (voltage would not vary); eg. roughly 1 amp on a two door commercial refrigerator, roughly 1 amp on a 3/4 hp motor.

 

[BioHazard]

2. i believe there are some conspiracies in the world but with the government working on the ban of t12 bulbs, pushing to switch to cfl's, etc. if something like this works, wouldn't "they" make us use them...."as of tomorrow, the US dept. of engergy will require all homes in the nation to be retrofitted with a box that will cut our nation's dependance on foreign engergy by 25-40%"

I don't know if it would be quite like that, but here in OR the government wants to pay me to install solar panels, a wind turbine, more insulation, more efficient shop lighting, lighting occupancy sensors, and on, and on, and on...

They pay TONS of cash for energy saving stuff. This ain't one of them.

 

[Falcon67]

http://powerelectronics.com/power_management/motor_power_management/power-factor-correction-0507/

 

[ddawg16]

If everyones house was full of motors......might help a 'little'....

Save your money.....

You can save a lot more by useing CFL's, unplugging chargers when not in use....etc