POWER
FACTOR CORRECTION

Power Factor Correction - Allstate Electric Co., Inc

Allstate Electric Co., Inc. is located in Woburn, MA and provides commercial power factor correction services to businesses throughout Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine. The success that Allstate Electric experiences is due to our guiding principles:  commitment to professionalism, responsibility and our dedication needed to provide our customers with a quality installation in a timely and courteous manner. Allstate Electric has built many lasting and mutually respectful working relationships with companies, contractors and inspectors.

What is Power Factor?

Power factor is a measurement of how effectively electrical power is being used. An industrial electrical contractor should be familiar with this. A high power factor (near 1.0), indicates efficient utilization of electrical power, while a low power factor indicates poor utilization of electrical power. Many utility companies will charge a power factor penalty if your power factor falls below 0.90. Power factor is the ratio of real power (or watts) to the apparent power (or volt-amperes). Power factor is calculated by dividing the real power by the apparent power.

What Causes Low Power Factor?

One of the main causes of low power factor is inductive motor loads that are operated at less than full load. This often occurs when the motor is not under a constant, full load such as surface grinders, conveyors, air compressors, circular saws, punch presses, and plastic injection molding machines. The motors on these types of equipment are sized for the heaviest load, even though they are frequently operated at no load or less than full capacity. Examples are a lightly loaded conveyor, a saw spinning without cutting, or a surface grinder performing a shallow cut.

Why Should I Be Concerned About Low Power Factor?

In large industrial facilities with significant power consumption, utility company penalties can be significant, amounting to hundreds or thousands of dollars per month. Your utility bill can be analyzed to determine the full extent of the power factor penalty. In fact, companies can obtain the history of billing from the utility company to profile the last twelve months of consumption and associated power factor penalties. Keep in mind that not all commercial or industrial facilities are billed for poor power factor. However, do not depend on your utility company to inform you that they are including a power factor penalty on your utility bill. Utility companies billing for power factor penalty is like the proverbial fox watching the chicken coop.

In addition to eliminating utility company penalties, correcting low power factor by installing power capacitors can add capacity back into the power distribution system. Load on transformers can be reduced by the installation of power capacitors because raising the power factor on a kW load reduces kVA. By adding capacitors, you can add additional kW load to the power distribution system without altering the kVA.

To learn more about our power factor correction services contact
Allstate Electric Co., Inc. located in Woburn, MA 781-932-6600.

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