Savaplug

[Nick Finnigan]

No, you need to wrap a hydraulic magnet conitioner around the flex.

[IMM]

I'll have to run out and get one or two.

[N. Thornton]

Hi

I probably still have one somewhere that failed safety test. I always wondered what it did. Inside there's a triac and some discrete control circuitry - no ICs or anything.

My best guess based on this, and it is a total guess, is that it might supply full power at start up, then trim some off the leading edges off the waveform once the motor was upto speed. But.. its only guessing.

Centre for Alternative Technology (C.A.T.) sell them for around 20, but when I contacted them got no info back, so I was rather sceptical.

Regards, NT

[Tim Mitchell]

In article , John Rumm writes

I believe that a domestic electricity meter does not take account of power factor, only the zero phase angle current is measured. If you have lots of devices with large power factor you effectively get free electricity.

[Andrew Gabriel]

It measures real energy consumed. You don't get charged extra for low power factor (except that will result in extra energy lost in cable resistance, and you will get charged for that energy lost on your side of the electricity meter).

[Christian McArdle]

Well not really. It measures the actual power you consume, but doesn't make you pay for extracting it inefficiently through reactive loading.

Christian.

[impvan]

Yup. It's essentially a delayed-start dimmer module. The same thing is used on industrial fans which need to be speed controlled. They might be full of kitchen grease or whatever, so the speed control gives full power for a few seconds to get 'em going, then reduces the mains waveform to give the lower-than-maximum running speed. The savaplug just has a preset amount of 'dimming' compromised between working on *most* appliances, and saving electricity.

[Nick Read]

I've just had to replace the control pcb module on my 18 month old freezer, the circuit board had quite a few integrated circuits on it (and cost £53!). I assume it has some sort of control like this built in & I wondered if using something like a Savaplug would actually do more harm than good if used in conjunction with it ?

Nick

[Ina Whirl]

I use a timer plug set to go on and off every 15 minutes for 15 minutes and off for a bit longer over night. This lets the temp inside the freezer even out between compressor run cycles and has saved about 30% per week so far with no reall effect on temp in the freezer. I live alone so don't open the door much any way. I have verified the savings by using a plug that tells you how much power is being used. and a thermometer to make sure the freezer stayed okay. I think there is usually a large over run before the thermostate rcognises that the freezer is already cold enough. by cycling the power on and off you cut short a lot of these over runs.

Cost was about £5 for the timer socket. :o)

IMM wrote:

[roger]

Nick Read writes

Snap! Wasn't a Bosch by any chance?

[Nick Read]

No, mine is a Servis. The fault originally started when it was about 3 weeks out of guarantee, symptoms were the compressor running for longer than usual and it was getting far too cold - about minus 35-40 C. Initially it could be made to work as normal for a few days by repeatedly pressing the fast freeze button, but eventually it got to the stage the compressor was running continuously. I thought 53 quid for a pcb was bad so I phoned around - only one other place had them and wanted 93 for the same part.

Nick