Subject: Electric Meters

From: Dale V. Silliman <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 18 Oct 1996 08:00:14 EDT

I didn't know where to post this. If it is the wrong place please
direct me to the correct newsgroup.

We have a bad switch which controls my neighborhood.  We have
power bumps/brownouts about once to twice a week.  Could these
bumps cause the meter to spin faster than normal causing a higher
electric bill?  My usage goes way up when we have many bumps in
the month.
Thanks,
Dale

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From: "Duane C. Johnson" <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 20 Oct 1996 15:02:16 -0700

> electric bill?  My usage goes way up when we have many bumps in

Let me take a stab at this. 
First the question about making the meter run faster than normal.
I dought that the meter has any significant additional error in 
recording power disipated in your house other than the initial
calibration error. The reason is that it basically responds only
to true disipated power.

The second part is are you actually disipating more power during
a brown out. 

Most equipment such as TVs and other electronics don't care much 
what the voltage is. 

Some things such as your toaster or electric stove, resistive 
devices, actually use less power in a brown out and more in a bump 
or surge. Although this is fair as you are being sharged exactly
the right amount for the power you are using.

Now for the complicated one. If the load is an electric motor the
power you paid for should be converted to turning a shaft. 
Unfortunatly all motors are somewhat inefficient. The inefficiency
is something you can't avoid, you can only limit it.

During a brownout or a surge the motor is less efficient than when
the grid is normal. It is this extra loss in efficiency that you may
observe that costs you money. 

If you have a lot of electric motors running during one of these
events then you could complain to your power company.

-- 
CUL8ER

Stupid is Forever
Ignorance can be Fixed

Duane C. Johnson
Ziggy
WA0VBE
Red Rock Energy
1825 Florence St.
White Bear Lake, MN, USA 55110-3364
(612)635-5065 w
(612)426-4766 h
[email-masked]
[email-masked]
http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/3027/