by David Mulvaney, President V-Blox
The answer might surprise you. How many of you when asked by your parents, where you were going, told them you were going to the library to study? What you failed to tell them was that your sweetheart was also at the library and studying wasn’t the only thing on your mind. Many times in life we don’t get the whole story.
For all intents and purposes surge suppression does not save any measurable amount of energy, in and of itself. This is confirmed by asking any Electrical Engineer. But that is not the whole story. The real question should be “Do surges (transients) cause equipment to malfunction?” The answer is, of course, yes. According to Webster’s dictionary, “malfunction” simply means: to fail to function as designed.
Nearly every single publication ever written on surges all say that surges cause equipment to malfunction. In many cases it causes equipment to fail suddenly. In nearly every case transients shorten equipment life. If the motor in your car is misfiring, does your mileage go down? Would that misfiring engine require more repair and service over the same amount of miles as a well-tuned engine? If your computer is confused, can it retrieve and use data properly? The equipment in your home or business is no different. When your equipment malfunctions because of surges, it will run hotter. The hotter it becomes the less efficient it will become. This is confirmed by asking any Mechanical Engineer. This excess heat will shorten its life. Malfunctioning equipment will always use more energy than it needs.
Malfunctioning equipment can affect the power supplied to all the other equipment in your building much like a virus. Every surge generated in your building will contaminate your other equipment. This contamination is CUMLATIVE. This contamination creates a kind of “electronic rust”. Surges (transients) are absolutely catastrophic on computers and microchip processors. Do you own anything that doesn’t have some kind of microprocessor in it? Computer chips require clean power! ALL equipment prefers clean power.
How many surges are there in a home or business? That would depend on how you measure them. Many devices on the market such as a Fluke 43 or some machines made by Dranetz BMI register surges and transients very effectively. The closer you get to the incoming voltage (sine wave) the more surges there are present. In a home, 900 or more surges occur per hour. Large facilities, such as office buildings, often times will generate hundreds of thousands per hour. It is measurable with the proper equipment. What is the right type of surge suppression to buy? Always insist on UL1449 Second edition certification.
Besides that, there are three main things to look for, reaction time, recovery time and clamping voltage. Reaction time is simply how fast a device will recognize the existence of a surge. Less than one nanosecond (billionth) is always recommended, especially in Florida or lightning prone areas. Recovery time should be as fast as the reaction time.
The clamping voltage is the point at which a suppressor recognizes the existence of a surge and then suppresses it. Most surge protection products on the market today clamp at a fairly high level. They usually clamp at 200 – 900% over the rated voltage of the device that they are supposed to be protecting. This is too high to protect you from the bulk of the surges. Any device that does NOT clamp close to the incoming rated voltage (i.e. 120, 240 or 480 Volts) won’t be able to greatly increase efficiency, thus won’t save any measurable amount of energy.
However surge suppressors that do clamp very close to the incoming voltage on all service panels can greatly increase the efficiency of equipment and extend its life. Because when the ENTIRE building is protected (100%) there is NO cross contamination (electronic rust). This not only equates to dollars saved on maintenance costs, but also dollars saved on energy costs as well. This means if your profit margin is 10%, $1,000.00 saved by reducing maintenance and energy costs increases your profits as much as a $10,000.00 increase in sales. This is “passive” profit. It is earned without increasing sales, manpower, inventory, or advertising. When you factor in for downtime related to equipment inefficiency from poor power quality the dollar figures become STAGGERING. Complete protection is a prudent investment.
I find it amusing that those who profit the most off your waste are usually the last to tell you how to do anything about it.
| 
| 
| 
| 
| 
| 
Posted by Administrator @ 11:29 am
Tags: electrical surges, save energy, Surge Protection, surge suppression
