Hello and thank you for taking the time to read and respond to my post.
First of all you should know that I do not know squat about electrical theory which is also what brings my here. I have read over the years that spikes in electrical current draw cause one to be overcharged for electricity. I have read about devices that you connect up to an electrical panel can save on your power bill. I made an assumption that these devices just contained arrays of large capacitors to compensate for the startup of appliances with electric motors. So I did some searching on eBay and found a new in the box capacitor array for a 3 phase APC power supply. I figured this would do the trick. The capacitor array has 5 large capacitors in series connected to a lug. Each capacitor reads "70uf 370v 50/60hz 50c".
Although my house is not 3 phase I figured I could either not use the third bank or split them up on the other 2 phases. I purchased an 18x18x8 pull box to house the unit and my thought was to connect up the array to my electrical panel with #8 wire and land it to a double pole 30 amp breaker. My electrical panel would be no more than 5 feet away from the capacitors. So after doing all this (nothing hooked up to panel thus far) I have done some more reading on the subject which led me to this forum. I have read on this forum that the expense for residential power correction does not justify the cost. I have already spent the money which was minimal so I would like to move forward on my project. I have read about all the complex calculations required to determine capacitor size (complex to me). What I am wondering is if I am completely wasting my time (consider it would take me under an hour to connect to my panel and make any adjustments to the capacitor array as to the number of capacitors were on each leg). Could I hurt anything by doing so?
If I use to many capacitors or too little is that a problem? Could an educated guess be made on the capacitance needed? If this helps I have a 200AMP service 240 volts in the U.S. I have two refrigerators, one has to condensors, one for the refer the other for the freezer. I have to 4 ton air conditioners and a 5 h.p. Compressor which is used almost daily. Many of the lights in my home are Low voltage so they contain a coil in ranch to step down the voltage to 12v from 120. If I need more info please ask. Thanks for your help
First of all you should know that I do not know squat about electrical theory which is also what brings my here. I have read over the years that spikes in electrical current draw cause one to be overcharged for electricity. I have read about devices that you connect up to an electrical panel can save on your power bill. I made an assumption that these devices just contained arrays of large capacitors to compensate for the startup of appliances with electric motors. So I did some searching on eBay and found a new in the box capacitor array for a 3 phase APC power supply. I figured this would do the trick. The capacitor array has 5 large capacitors in series connected to a lug. Each capacitor reads "70uf 370v 50/60hz 50c".
Although my house is not 3 phase I figured I could either not use the third bank or split them up on the other 2 phases. I purchased an 18x18x8 pull box to house the unit and my thought was to connect up the array to my electrical panel with #8 wire and land it to a double pole 30 amp breaker. My electrical panel would be no more than 5 feet away from the capacitors. So after doing all this (nothing hooked up to panel thus far) I have done some more reading on the subject which led me to this forum. I have read on this forum that the expense for residential power correction does not justify the cost. I have already spent the money which was minimal so I would like to move forward on my project. I have read about all the complex calculations required to determine capacitor size (complex to me). What I am wondering is if I am completely wasting my time (consider it would take me under an hour to connect to my panel and make any adjustments to the capacitor array as to the number of capacitors were on each leg). Could I hurt anything by doing so?
If I use to many capacitors or too little is that a problem? Could an educated guess be made on the capacitance needed? If this helps I have a 200AMP service 240 volts in the U.S. I have two refrigerators, one has to condensors, one for the refer the other for the freezer. I have to 4 ton air conditioners and a 5 h.p. Compressor which is used almost daily. Many of the lights in my home are Low voltage so they contain a coil in ranch to step down the voltage to 12v from 120. If I need more info please ask. Thanks for your help