Power Factor for AC Pumps

[Baldy]

Originally Posted by mrhasan

Three phase is "quite" a bit harder? You must be a genius when it comes to power. Being an electrical major myself, I feel crap when it comes to stuffs regarding AC and three phase Y-Delta craps. I am more of a DC person and my undergrad is not from here so never knew about how the grid works over here.

Thanks for clearing the confusions up. Learned a lot today

Cheers to Steve for starting this thread in the first place and keeping it warm! I wish I saw your powerhead add before; I need a power head badly :P

3 phase is like single phase, which is what is at the wall outlet, only x3. the phases are each 120 degrees out of phase with each other. 3 phase motors are far more efficient, smoother and quieter than single phase motors. I cant wait until one of these manufacturers comes out with a 3 phase pump and variable frequency drive.

electrician isnt really that difficult. we only learn what pertains to our trade. I know almost nothing about power generation =)

[mark]

is your measurement equipment accurate?

[sphelps]

Originally Posted by mark

is your measurement equipment accurate?

Seems to be. Amps matches another measurement device and while I haven't verified the wattage meter portion of it, it matches other device ratings so I assume its accurate. Either way it's unlikely the wattage used is much higher and if its lower the power factor only decreases more. So unless everything is way off the accuracy isn't that important here.

[mrhasan]

This is what I got from Enmax:

Good morning Raied,

Thank you for contacting ENMAX. My name is Nancy and I appreciate the opportunity to respond to your billing inquiry.

Please accept our apologies for the delay in response. We have been experiencing higher than normal volumes which have impacted our service levels.

Raied, ENMAX meters measure wattage usage.

Should you have any further questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to reply to this email and I will be happy to assist you. Alternatively, you may contact our Customer Care Centre at 310-2010 (Toll Free in Alberta) Monday to Friday 8:00 am to 8:00 pm and Saturday 8:00 am to 4:30 pm.

Thank you for granting ENMAX the opportunity to be of service for you.

Yours truly,


Nancy C.
Customer Correspondence Team
ENMAX and City Utilities

[sphelps]

Yeah she gave me a similar response today as well...

Good afternoon Steven,

Thank you for contacting ENMAX. My name is Nancy and I appreciate the opportunity to respond to your inquiry.

Your ENMAX electric meter measures the amount of power being utilized by your residence.

I did find an article online which may be of interest to you: http://lifeislikethat.com/?p=847.

Steven, should you have any further questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to reply to this email and I will be happy to assist you. Alternatively, you may contact our Customer Care Centre at 310-2010 (Toll Free in Alberta) Monday to Friday 8:00 am to 8:00 pm and Saturday 8:00 am to 4:30 pm.

Thank you for granting ENMAX the opportunity to be of service for you.

Yours truly,


Nancy C.
Customer Correspondence Team
ENMAX and City Utilities

[lastlight]

Originally Posted by Nancy C

Raied, ENMAX meters measure wattage usage

it took her a while to track someone down who knew what the deuce you guys were nattering about.

[sphelps]

Not only that but she really didn't answer the question at all, honestly I think she has no idea what we're talking about. This is the inquiry I sent:

Hello,

As a current customer I'm investigating some techniques for energy saving in my home and I have question relating to power factors and whether a typical residential meter measures apparent power or real power.
For example if I have a load such as pump that has a power factor of 0.5 the current in the circuit will be twice that of what the actual device is using, if the measured current is 5A then the apparent power is 575W on a 115V circuit while the real power used by the device is 288W.
The question I have is does a residential meter measure and bill for real power or apparent power? Is it worth investing in new devices with higher power factors if the goal is reduce electricity cost?

Judging by the response it's pretty clear she has no idea what we're on about and relied on google to quickly find an article that somewhat discusses power factor.