Those of us who have been in the industry for a while have seen these devices and claims recycle about every 10 years. The first thing that you should remember is that Utility meters measure kW hours, not kVA hours. In essence they are measuring the usable energy consumed in the system. This has been mentioned many times in the comments that appeared in previous discussions on Mike's website, particularly by John McComb who is a utlitiy representative in South Florida who specializes in power factor correction and standby power sources.
As a Contractor many years ago, I did install power factor correction devices in a commercial application. It was at a shopping mall known as the Falls Mall in South Florida that had dozens of circulation pumps and fountain pumps, These devices were installed at each pump motor controller location, sized according to the motor that they served and were connected directly to the motor circuit, so that they only operated when the pumps were actually running. This may have been one of the few applications where the customer could actually calculate the savings because some of the pump motors had special meters attached for the purpose of measuring the efficiency and consumption before and after the PFC devices were attached.
In any event, this was a very specific application and there was no magic device added at the service point that offered overall power factor correction.
Perhaps the most revealing evidence to these claims should be that all third party media investigations have always been to challenge the manufacturers and sales reps of these products to show us the empirical testing that will support their claims. Not once have we seen an independent Nationally Recognized Testing Laboratory report that can substantiate the energy savings claims made in the ads, flyers and on the websites. John Travers
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