saving electricity on the farm

[Texasmark]

It is a known ploy for "influencers" to create posts that generate interest.

Looks like they are not selling but they are in the long run.

There are a lot of them out there, deliberately asking a question most folks never thought to ask trying to arouse your curiosity. If I want to know something I post the question on my www search engine and review the comments.

I read the other day that the annual expenditure in the USA for advertising is.......hang on......$330 "B"illion.....that's Billion with a B, not M.

I started clocking ads on "free" TV and some have the same time line for commercials as for story content. Watching football games is a real jerk when not only do they cram commercials into any break they get, buy sometimes run over and block out plays that you may have wanted to see if they haven't posted the required number of revenue dollars.

I used to have satellite TV and cancelled it......decided I wasn't going to pay $150/month to watch TV commercials. So I bought a long range UHF antenna which was less than a hundred bucks, great gain, and can watch about 20 digital UHF channels from Dallas. Was surprised that channels that used to be VHF are now UHF. I don't know if that was part of the switch from analog to digital TV or not because I got on satellite about the time that changeover took place years ago.

 

[bc]

IF it were true we would have perpetual motion machines. Just more unicorn farts.

I've got a few of those machines for sale for 5 grand apiece. Bagging unicorn farts is more expensive so those are a measly 10 grand apiece. Wire the money to my Cayman Islands account.

 

[stdsch40]

If you use the electricity to run a heat pump it quite easily could be cheaper than gas but it all depends on local utility rates. A person can't really make abolute statements when there are so many variables involved.

Sure, lots of variables. Suppose the heat pump had a COP of 4, but electricity cost went up 3X? You loose. Plus the fact that the capital cost is so very high for heat pumps and they are so poorly built in China. Natural gas is made in the earth for free, piping is not very expensive (much lower capital cost and operating cost for nat gas). Just think how many high priced electrical engineers,techs, electricians it takes to run an electrical utility. Electricity will always cost more than natural gas. So electricity should not really be used to produce heat only. If you doubt this do you have any proof?

 

[Watthour]

I'm an engineer and a master electrician--the formulas for power usage haven't changed in hundreds of years. Those ads are a joke.

I encounter this frequently in my day job. I remind those who are less experienced that it wasn't called "Ohm's Suggestion" or "Ohm's Postulation" instead of what it is. The same applies to physical and chemical constants, and it's entertaining to remind people that Boyle, Charles, and Lussac don't have notions, concepts, opinions, or sentiments, but laws named for them.

 

[JOCCO]

I think looking at efficiency example an electric motor that uses 1/2 the electricity as an old one. Same for fridge, hot water, lights etc. #2 convert to Amish your electricity bill will drop!

 

[Watthour]

For residential service any such device is a scam. Only with commercial service with peak metering is there some potential to save money without "turning things off", by improving the power factor of larger loads. The devices to do that will also be relatively large, not some little plug-in brick.

That is mostly true. Power factor correction can be beneficial, but going in blindly with capacitance is a BIG mistake in most instances. Without measurement of phase lag, you could easily make things worse. The recent slide of many loads from inductive to resistive will also affect the choice of appropriate correction schemes.

Moreover, the "payback" period for any such correction could exceed the life of the structure, let alone the occupants' lives. Worse yet, if utilization decreases, power distributors will simply attempt to raise rates through their approved channels. Public dollars are already being used to relieve them of infrastructure costs, and distributors (not generators) will stand there with their hands out as long as necessary to scare up more government aid funds.

 

[bc]

I encounter this frequently in my day job. I remind those who are less experienced that it wasn't called "Ohm's Suggestion" or "Ohm's Postulation" instead of what it is. The same applies to physical and chemical constants, and it's entertaining to remind people that Boyle, Charles, and Lussac don't have notions, concepts, opinions, or sentiments, but laws named for them.

Yep. And in some states it's a hanging offense to violate them.

 

[stdsch40]

I encounter this frequently in my day job. I remind those who are less experienced that it wasn't called "Ohm's Suggestion" or "Ohm's Postulation" instead of what it is. The same applies to physical and chemical constants, and it's entertaining to remind people that Boyle, Charles, and Lussac don't have notions, concepts, opinions, or sentiments, but laws named for them.

"The real world independent of our senses; the laws of nature were not invented by man, but forced on him by the natural world. They are expression of a natural world order." Max Planck
Ohm's law isn't really a law of nature plus it has limited scope and certainly doesn't hold up with alternating current, the higher the frequency of the AC, the more it deviates for any such 'Ohm's law'.

 

[Phil T]

Just wire around the meter!

I knew someone that did that, but the power company saw that the light bill suddenly took a huge drop and investigated. They sent him a bill and told him to pay it or face prosecution. Needless to say he paid it. They just checked what his bill had been before and that's what he had to pay back.

 

[Phil T]

The Amish use gas engines around here. Something tells me electricity would be cheaper. Here is an example of their thinking, They use a baler driven by a gas engine and pull it around with a team of horses, but they can't use a gas tractor.

 

[timcasbolt]

Just wire around the meter!

A guy around here did that about 20 years ago. He'll be coming up for parole soon.

 

[buickanddeere]

If the electrical loads have a low lagging power factor and the utility charges for inductive current . Then yes a large enough magic box of power factor correction capacitors can push the PF closer to unity .

 

[Brian G. NY]

And I wonder how many folks immediately search "Leyden jar"?

Probably no one who took H.S. Chemistry. LOL

 

[stdsch40]

Funny thing is: you would need a bunch of batteries or capacitors to 'save electricity on the farm' otherwise you can't actually save it but just don't use it.

 

[John T]

As a retired electrical power engineer it’s my professional opinion they are a scam However at a facility where I worked we did save considerable by installing power factor correction capacitors to reduce our penalty charges for poor power factors

John T. BSEE, JD

 

[wore out]

As a retired electrical power engineer it’s my professional opinion they are a scam However at a facility where I worked we did save considerable by installing power factor correction capacitors to reduce our penalty charges for poor power factors

John T. BSEE, JD

WELCOME back, John T!

 

[stdsch40]

As a retired electrical power engineer it’s my professional opinion they are a scam However at a facility where I worked we did save considerable by installing power factor correction capacitors to reduce our penalty charges for poor power factors

John T. BSEE, JD

Hey John if you are retired from the profession how can you still have a professional opinion? I'm a retired mechanical engineer and it is against the law for me to have a professional opinion anymore, since I don't pay my PE (PEng) dues. Weird. I still maintain you can not 'save electricity on the farm' without batteries or capacitors. All you can do is use less or power factor correct, but thats not saved on the farm.

 

[John T]

WELCOME back, John T!

Thanks my sparky friend always like to hear and learn from your electrical comments as well as humor

John T

 

[John T]

Easy peasey I’m also an attorney lol. I’m retired from any 9 to 5 job but still in the trade once an ee always an ee

Nice chatting with you best wishes

John T. BSEE, JD

 

[stdsch40]

Easy peasey I’m also an attorney lol. I’m retired from any 9 to 5 job but still in the trade once an ee always an ee

Nice chatting with you best wishes

John T. BSEE, JD

Oh gee wiz an engineer that became a lawyer. I cant imagine the conflicts in your peace of mind. My sympathies to you.