Modern day living is highly reliant on the use of electricity and the different appliances, equipment and fixtures it powers. Industries are even more reliant on electricity and their profitability is closely knit with how seamlessly their systems operate. They rely on electricity to such an extent that they rarely give it a second thought; well, at least not until something goes wrong such as:

Most of these problems can be attributed to poor power factor. Let’s understand a little more about what that is.

Power factor is essentially a measure of how effectively the incoming power is being used by the electrical equipment on your premises. It is expressed in terms of a numerical value in the range of 0-1. A higher power factor indicates that the electrical equipment is being used more effectively.

For instance, if the power factor is 0.8, it indicates that 80% of the power supply to the equipment is being utilised effectively and that 20% is being wasted. Regardless of what this ratio of effective usage Vs wastage is, the latter is an unnecessary expense. Typically, your power factor should be closer to 1; it indicates that your site is using energy in an efficient manner.

A number of businesses are currently being charged a kVA tariff and not a kilowatt tariff. This means, your service provider is probably charging you for the power they supply to you, rather than that you actually use. Simply put, you are paying for power that is being supplied to you, but which is being wasted. If your business has a low power factor, it means you pay even more for this waste. There is another aspect you should keep in view. As mentioned at the start, poor power factor has the potential to cause power drops and power losses; in turn, these lead to motor failure and overheating and failure of other equipment too.

Installation of Power Factor Correction equipment might just help avoid prohibitively expensive infrastructure upgrades; it does this by reducing the current electrical demand on your system & improving the efficiency stability. Based on which tariff you are on, power correction might just prove to be an excellent way for your business to deescalate its electricity costs.

The power factor can be improved by installing Capacitor Banks. These are PFC (Power Factor Correction) equipment and help correct the inefficiencies in the energy supply. Apart from this, they also reduce the peak demand on the power network. This is an effective and cost-effective solution to reduce your power bill as it helps lower the monthly demand and the capacity charges. Generally, the payback periods for PFC are between 1 and 3 years. Taking the life span of the PFC equipment into consideration & the potential savings, this investment can prove to be very worthwhile for you.

If you feel that you are paying too much for electricity, we at Allround Electrical can conduct a survey of the equipment used on your site and map their electrical consumption against the power your plant is using and is being charged for. We will then provide you a report of what your power factor is; and if it is low, how it can be corrected. For more information, call us at 1300 169 263. You can also drop us a line via email.

Thanks for reading,1300 169 263

You may think that, because your air conditioner has not been in use for some time, you don’t need routine maintenance prior to the cooling season. This is why so many homeowners are caught off-guard when they find that their AC systems are not in prime working condition when summer rolls around, though. By allowing a qualified technician to thoroughly inspect and meticulously tune up your AC system prior to the onset of summer, you ensure that you will receive the quality cooling performance that you both desire and deserve.

That new electric car will surely save you money on gas and make you feel good about doing something good for the environment, but there are some things you must consider. Before you start planning that trip to Paris with all the money you save on gas, you need to figure out how you will keep the car charged. Without a charge, you will need to rely on gas, thus defeating the purpose of your electric car. This is why you need an electrician. Burbank electric car owners can call The Electric Connection for help.

When you purchased your car of if you are in the research phase and trying to figure out what car to buy, you probably heard about the charging stations. There are two main types. The slower charging stations are much less expensive while the others are faster and more expensive. Obviously, the less expensive station has a major benefit and it can be plugged in virtually anywhere. This makes it convenient to charge the car. However, the downside is the time it takes to give the car a full charge.

On the other hand, you have the initial investment of the faster charging system. But, in this case, the car will charge in about 8 hours versus the 16 to 24 hours it takes for the slower system. Because it is a much more powerful electric car charging station, you will need an electrician. Burbank residents will need a dedicated 240-volt outlet to plug the station into. An electrician will need to check the electric panel to make sure there is enough space to support the additional electrical needs. If you would like to learn more about the different electric car charging stations, give The Electric Connection a call. If you have already made the decision to purchase a fast charging station, we can install it for you.