Don Foreman wrote:
Power factor should not affect your electric bill. KWH meters ignore
reactive current.

True for now Don, talking residential that is. But probably not forever
here in the USA. New Zealand already charges residential customers for
KVARs, and I recall seeing some outfits already selling "whole house"
power factor correction boxes here, which IMO are a sham because they
don't automatically track the requirement and correct for it. Capacitors
of the right size at each load are the easiest solution and also reduce
the I^2*R losses in the house's wiring, giving a tiny additional savings
there.

BTW, there was some work done by some Navy guy a while back showing how
much power could be saved by adding a running capacitor to exixting dumb
old split phase induction motors. IIRC it increased the efficiency of
the average motor by about 10%.

Just my .02,

Jeff

--
Jeffry Wisnia

(W1BSV + Brass Rat '57 EE)

"As long as there are final exams, there will be prayer in public
schools"