Question: Does a four-tube fluorescent fitting consume less power if three of the tubes are removed?
Answer: No....
The place where I moved into was full of the office type fluorescent fittings (the type that go into suspended ceilings). They are made by Fitzgerald.There were both 2 foot and 4 foot types.
With so many units burning away, I decided to remove three tubes from each, to keep the electricity bill down. We are only doing building work, so that was fine.
After a few months, we got our first electricity bill of £969.00. I thought that it was a little high, so I questioned it. A check revealed that the meter was accurate, so I decided to find the problem.
I fitted a Gossen Merawat A2000 energy meter/logger to record our usage. It was whilst experimenting with the readings on the PC in the office when I turned on the lights (two of the 4 foot units with only one tube in each). I was shocked to see an increase in current on the blue phase of over 2 amps.
I thought that I would try adding more tubes and with each tube added, the current decreased until when they were all in, there was a reading of 1.2 amps.
I then tried it with the lights in the foyer area (12 of the 2 foot units). With just four tubes on (two in one unit and two in another), just over 2.1 Amps. With all tubes in (48 in all) and a reading of 2.6 Amps.
I can only put this down to the PF capacitors being calculated for all four tubes.
Any thoughts?
Answer: No....
The place where I moved into was full of the office type fluorescent fittings (the type that go into suspended ceilings). They are made by Fitzgerald.There were both 2 foot and 4 foot types.
With so many units burning away, I decided to remove three tubes from each, to keep the electricity bill down. We are only doing building work, so that was fine.
After a few months, we got our first electricity bill of £969.00. I thought that it was a little high, so I questioned it. A check revealed that the meter was accurate, so I decided to find the problem.
I fitted a Gossen Merawat A2000 energy meter/logger to record our usage. It was whilst experimenting with the readings on the PC in the office when I turned on the lights (two of the 4 foot units with only one tube in each). I was shocked to see an increase in current on the blue phase of over 2 amps.
I thought that I would try adding more tubes and with each tube added, the current decreased until when they were all in, there was a reading of 1.2 amps.
I then tried it with the lights in the foyer area (12 of the 2 foot units). With just four tubes on (two in one unit and two in another), just over 2.1 Amps. With all tubes in (48 in all) and a reading of 2.6 Amps.
I can only put this down to the PF capacitors being calculated for all four tubes.
Any thoughts?