I know this is a little off topic but considering that our home heating is now 100% electrical instead of a combination of fossil and electrical I was wondering if anyone had any experience with power conditioning systems. Supposedly they can save you 25% or more on your electric bills.

I've seen the website and always wondered if it was just snake oil that was being peddled to naive homeowners. The electric rate caps in PA are about to expire and while I don't regret the switch to an electric based heating system I was interested to find out if these systems have any merit. The switch to geo was done for the long term cost saving benefits, if there's another product out there that can save me more money, then I'm all for it.

All the reports and testimonials I've seen are off the retailers websites. I've never seen any independent corroboration of the claims that these companies make. Does any one here have one of these systems and do they really work?

No they have no effect on your bill with the exception of decreasing line loss
which in theroy could represent at most 5% of you bill
but if wires where sized right chances are this number is less then 1%
but it doesnt improve eff. of anything basicly it will decrease amp draw but will not effect kw

the answer is maybe it depends on what kind of electrical metter you have

are there digital numbers?

then it reduces the peak thus lowering the bills

If not it will help the unit start but no savings

all they are is big capacitors but they will on all systems do lightning protection

From what I know about power conditioners, I thought they were more for computer equipment. They even out the power so it's always a nice 120v, without  fluctuations like when heavy equipment powers on, which cause brownouts or uneven power. I would really like to know how they expect it to save power, since it's installed after the meter. 

Although I would agree it extends the life of expensive electronic equipment, they would have to be seperately isolated on a circuit to be of any benifit, any kind of motor on the circuit would defeat the entire purpose of a power conditioner.   

 

on digital meters they record peaks or spikes in the draw

 

when there is a draw the capictor discharges lowering the peak so lower bill but most meters are not digital

 

We did a laundry near us and they saved alot and paid for the unit in 3 months but lots of motors lots of peaks and larger unit

For residential electricity customers these things rank right up there with all the swirl gimmicks for cars.

I've yet to hear of residential charges for lagging power factor, about all these could fix.

Type of meter is immaterial.

Demand billing is possible, even likely, as the Smart Grid is rolled out, but the ability of a cap to shave a few amps off a surge for a few milliseconds will be immaterial to that as well. I don't even think these would do that as they would not act as equipment start caps. Demand billing is computed via 15 minute averaging, so start surges don't matter.

If installed, caps will incur some line and internal losses in the form of heat - that WILL show up as additional kwh.

In short, snake oil.

Bill,

Did that laundry have lagging PF for which they paid a penalty?

I still don't understand what your talking about here. the meter always measures the amount of power being drawn in, reguardless if there are brownout or spikes. Even if the capictor discharges to even out the load, it still have to drawn in power to charge it again. There no magic at work there.  

For peak/offpeak billing, it may be possible to charge a bank of batteries on off peak hours and discharge it during the peak, but it would require a massive number of batteries. This idea was already suggested on the solar forum, the cost of the batteries and the life span of the batteries just wouldnt make it feasiable. 
 

recharges after and if more than one is starting at a time it doesn't work it has to be under the right conditions

we also do work for a machine shop they have them too and they say it's about 10% big shop there bill is over $30,00 a month

in a house they work better as lightning arrestor and you do that way cheaper

they just changed all the meters in my area and they didn't go to digital

I not sure about penality but the ones who have them and they work love them but again under right conditions and notice is motor loads

I would put lighning arrestor in my house power conditioner,no

we care them but I'm not much interested in selling them

Lightning arrestor? Nothing, I mean nothing can protect a house's electrical system from a direct hit from a lightning strike. When I used to work as an electrician helper, I recall this one house with a flat roof. A metal pipe was used from the meter box to where the overhead lines connected. A lighting strike hit it directly, the energy was channeled down the pipe, thru the meter and into the electrical breaker box. Everything plugged in, inside the house was instantly fried even the copper wires in the walls were brittle and crumbled upon touching them. The entire house had to be rewired. Nothing is designed to protect against that kind of surge, not a surge suppessor, power conditionor or backup power supply. It's worse then an EMP pulse.  

Engineer hit the nail on the head , They reduce KVA on induction motors
do not effect KWH with the very small not even worth mentioning( but I was once on the other side of this conversation
and Ill hold on to this fact ) or reducing line loss , this is more then countered by the caps " recharge/resistance "

save your money

So do power shampooers work then?

Depends on the kind of dirt in the carpet  ;)