Consumer Power Factor Correction Scams

System

The Internet is being inundated with power factor and other energy-saving scams.

open4energy and scamraiders are working together to educate consumers on the real facts about power factor correction.

Unlike a DIY plan, which is nasty, power factor correction products can cost up to $2500. With this amount at stake scammers are setting themselves up as energy auditors. This gives them access to the home owners physical property, where using an energy meter they demonstrate the reduction in amps as the result of power factor correction. This is a true fact, the amps to drop, but the power factor rises and there is no change in the kilowatts used in the home.

The device is then connected to the home's distribution panel by a qualified electrician. It is a brave homeowner indeed we will open the box and see just how little they have received for their money.

Is equally difficult to prove that there is no energy being saved. The energy used in a home fluctuates, the energy conscientious homeowner may in fact make savings. They usually have little to do the power factor correction.

In fairness to the professional suppliers of power factor correction units, their are rare home situations where high load electrical motors might warrant investigation.

We also want to clarify that this issue applies only to residential power factor. Commercial and industrial motors can require power factor correction, and there are many professional companies, with qualified electrical engineers to work on this.

We have written an article on power facto thanks to some help from David of Splat controls.



We have posted a directory all known energy saving scams at.



scamraiders is hosting user discussions, and although we do not wish to detract from the discussions here, may we ask users to visit http://scamraiders.com as they have relationships with the legal community, and the resources to follow up with the appropriate authorities.

This situation is being further harmed by the gross abuse of Google adSense. Most small energy publishers serve adverts from Google. You can imagine our dismay when we found (open4energy) that the banners we were displaying on our pages, were themselves scam adverts. We have built a register of advertising domains, approximately 140 of them, and use the Google adSense filter to block them from serving on our pages.

We offer access to this list to any publisher is concerned about promoting energy saving scams on their website. For obvious reasons, the list is secured and we need to verify who it is being made available to. If you are a publisher, and are concerned about this, please e-mail me using the contact us form at open4energy.

Windsun

Re: Consumer Power Factor Correction Scams

Salt River Project here in AZ has specifically stated that power factor correction for homes is "of little or no value" and will not save money.

Frxddy

Re: Consumer Power Factor Correction Scams

Power factor correction can work, does work, BUT.... let me put it this way... for fun & hobby I built a home made power factor correction device. It cost $67 to build. I calculated a 17 year payback, but I admit, it might take much longer. I hope not much longer.... I suspect the capacitors will need replacing every 20 years.

blackswan555

Re: Consumer Power Factor Correction Scams

Not sure if you are the same that side of the pond ? But we are metered & billed in KWH, PF makes no difference to the bill at all

Tim

They are still trying to sell it though :grr

Cariboocoot

Re: Consumer Power Factor Correction Scams

Frxddy wrote: »

Power factor correction can work, does work ...

Not on a "whole house" basis.
Since each poor power factor device in the house has a different power factor, each must be corrected according to its PF.

As blackswan555 said, since houses are metered by kW hour you won't see a difference in your bill.

It can help if you're off-grid and trying to run motors from an inverter or even a gen, as it brings the "load power curve" more in synch with the "production power curve".

The whole-house PF devices are 100% scam. Yet people will still say they work. :roll:

System2

Re: Consumer Power Factor Correction Scams

I would like to correct a technical statement made by an earlier post in which it is said that Watts = Volts x Amps

This is what is taught in elementary school for measuring the use of an electric light bulb. In this case it is true for an incandescent light bulb has a power factor of 100%

The correct formula for Watts is:

Volts x Amps x Power factor

I do hope that anyone considering power factor correction will Google the product name they are considering plus the word scam - to find the correct information!

niel

Re: Consumer Power Factor Correction Scams

it really does not matter as utilities do not consider the power factor for residential customers and they are not billed for it as such, only the volts and amps, (aka standard watts) you say is taught in elementary school. businesses are billed for power factor and i would not recommend one large capacitor bank for the entire business as it should be for only the individual loads that throw the power factor off or you would wind up overcompensating when that particular load shuts off.

GreenerPower

Re: Consumer Power Factor Correction Scams

In general, most "consumer" PFC devices don't work since those are "passive" i.e. capacitor-based mostly for inductive loads. With increasing home "digital appliances", the distortion is highly non-linear, not just current phase shift as with inductive loads. There are "active PFC" technologies now that can correct non-linear PFC, but these are probably too expensive for home environment, more likely for big industrial environment.

Power Co. don't charge for bad PF but there would be legislation/standards to require digital consumer devices (CFLs, computers, flat panels...) to meet some minimum PF requirement.

GP

techntrek

Re: Consumer Power Factor Correction Scams

neil, I think you are completely incorrect about open4energy. I read his posts above differently than you did, they are a warning about PF correction devices. I also checked out their web site and they are not selling anything. Its a listing of good & bad devices along with a discussion forum. They aren't trying to circumvent anything but asking users to Google stuff.

techntrek

Re: Consumer Power Factor Correction Scams

neil & greenerpower, there are active PF correcting devices available for residential and commercial use, which do a good job. Instantly changing the capacitance when loads change. Unfortunately the ones the scammers sell are passive devices only set to fix a predetermined imbalance.

niel

Re: Consumer Power Factor Correction Scams

i thought one of his past links led to selling and i will give him the benefit of the doubt on this and reinstate him.

mtjag

Re: Consumer Power Factor Correction Scams

Cariboocoot wrote: »

Not on a "whole house" basis.
Since each poor power factor device in the house has a different power factor, each must be corrected according to its PF.

As blackswan555 said, since houses are metered by kW hour you won't see a difference in your bill.

It can help if you're off-grid and trying to run motors from an inverter or even a gen, as it brings the "load power curve" more in synch with the "production power curve".

The whole-house PF devices are 100% scam. Yet people will still say they work. :roll:

I am off grid with a refridgerator that has a .60 power factor and want to know if there is anything I can do to mitigate this. How do I go about getting this done based on your quote above?
Any help would be appreciated.

inetdog

Re: Consumer Power Factor Correction Scams

mtjag wrote: »

I am off grid with a refridgerator that has a .60 power factor and want to know if there is anything I can do to mitigate this. How do I go about getting this done based on your quote above?
Any help would be appreciated.

You can calculate the exact size capacitor that needs to be wired in parallel with the compressor to bring the combination to a unity power factor. Then install it on the compressor side of the thermostatic control relay so that the capacitor is not sitting on the inverter output causing its own PF problems when the compressor is not running.

(Even when using capacitors for individual loads instead of whole house capacitors, the key is to wire them on the load side of any switches or disconnects!)