| <Snip> While we are on the subject of correcting power issues and have all the electric experts paying attention: Does anyone have any light to shed on the whole-house type of power conditioners? Units connect in to the main breaker box and absorb highs and fill in the lows like a giant capacitor or variac I imagine. They claim to increase life of your home's appliances and electrical devices (like our coffee roasters) and even trim power bill a little over time. I've been wondering if they are more hype than help, more about getting the bills out of my wallet than actually providing a service. - Kevin Homeroast mailing list Homeroasthttp://www.sweetmariascoffee.com/gallery/main.php?g2_itemIdx20">http://lists.sweetmariascoffee.com/listinfo.cgi/homeroast-sweetmariascoffee.comHomeroast community pictures -upload yours!) :http://www.sweetmariascoffee.com/gallery/main.php?g2_itemIdx20 |
| They're designed to eliminate spikes. They won't do anything to help low voltage. That said, they can provide some useful protection. On Thu, Aug 21, 2008 at 8:38 PM, kevin creason wrote: <Snip> -- "Crime does not pay ... as well as politics." --Alfred E. Newman Homeroast mailing list Homeroasthttp://www.sweetmariascoffee.com/gallery/main.php?g2_itemIdx20">http://lists.sweetmariascoffee.com/listinfo.cgi/homeroast-sweetmariascoffee.comHomeroast community pictures -upload yours!) :http://www.sweetmariascoffee.com/gallery/main.php?g2_itemIdx20 |
| We lost one household surge suppressor to a really nasty spike that fried other people's appliances and the power company paid for a replacement. They are a useful addition to the arsenal against bad power. They don't condition power, just stop spikes in the power. They don't help with surges, swells, or sags. For that, you will need other types of power protection. -- Jim in Skull Valley On Thu, Aug 21, 2008 at 6:53 PM, Michael Wascher wrote: <Snip> Homeroast mailing list Homeroasthttp://www.sweetmariascoffee.com/gallery/main.php?g2_itemIdx20">http://lists.sweetmariascoffee.com/listinfo.cgi/homeroast-sweetmariascoffee.comHomeroast community pictures -upload yours!) :http://www.sweetmariascoffee.com/gallery/main.php?g2_itemIdx20 |
| I have heard the adds from OPPD here across the river and it sounds like its a line noise filter and an inductive spike suppressor. Does nothing to even out the normal line voltage swings that are caused by system load variations. If I were interested I would call their customer service and have a chat with the marketing person and they will have all of the technical details you want, and then some. I seriously doubt that it is any form of a CVT as that would be rather large and the internal losses would run up your bill, not lower it. The filter/suppressors do work and can save you repair costs. kevin creason wrote: <Snip> Homeroast mailing list Homeroasthttp://www.sweetmariascoffee.com/gallery/main.php?g2_itemIdx20">http://lists.sweetmariascoffee.com/listinfo.cgi/homeroast-sweetmariascoffee.comHomeroast community pictures -upload yours!) :http://www.sweetmariascoffee.com/gallery/main.php?g2_itemIdx20 |
| Kevin Some background on this to help to answer that: those power conditioners, ussualy as you sad are type of giant capacitors, that theoretically should help in 2 areas (when well designed) absorb the 'spikes' and use some of that energy (hard to really save much) to fill the gaps (efficiency can really be a problem here). Another area is to correct the Cos Phy Factor , that is bassically a relationship between current and voltage on the line. The Energy company pays a lot of attention to the cos Phy factor, because, in large scale, can create a monster problem of heat losses on the power lines, for homeowners (on the countries where the cos phy measurement is not applied on homes, just industries) the cos phy doesnt really does not represents a big thing. Can we improve the reliability of our appliance fixing the cos phy? Probably yes, but in a very,very long term , and almost certainly will not pay back your investment (for regular homes). On the area 1 (fill the gaps), it will depend very much on the power conditions of your line. I some few countries where power outgages happens in an almost daily basis, forcing to have not power conditioner, but really a no-break for a normal and regular operation. Certain regions, in some other countries , (specially these at the end of low voltage transmission lines) can have some specific conditions to reccomend that, but again, with a global perspective, not knowing the details of you power line, I will not reccomend that, unless you got an extremely good bargain, where you dont expect too much payback. hope help to answer Silas Ps.:I'm assuming those power conditioners have , at least, a very good surge protection inside. |