Does Power Savers really work?

     Power Savers or Electricity Bill Reducers have been around for quite some time now. They have been advertised on tv and in various media. The prices for home versions started high but have decreased somewhat throughout the years. No matter what price, the point is do they really reduce electric bills?

     If these Power Savers can really cut down on monthly electric bills, then a good deal of money can be saved every year. I made informal surveys since 2009 during our Energy Conservation Courses normally held weekly in our company as part of new seafarers induction. In every class only about 5 percent purchased a power saver unit from the mall or hardware. The results were mixed, with some saying the it had no effect but the majority reported a reduction in their electric bills.

     I researched further to satisfy my own curiousity. I visited a number of various electricity related forums and also physically attended the demonstrations at malls and harware stores selling various models of power savers. They ususally measured watts or amperes using watt meters, digital meters or clamp meters. During demonstrations the lowering of amperes is about 30 percent.

     I tried this at home using a power saver and a clamp meter. I got about 29 percent reduction when plugged close to my refrigerator, a no-frost 2 door unit. I also measured the amperes on two 20 watt flourescent lamps.  The amperes went down by about 35 percent. On the other hand, when I tried it when using a flat iron the reading went up by about 30 percent. it also went up when I used it measured it on a water heater.

     What's going on here? Upon further research I came up with the term "power factor correction". According to the sources power savers work for appliances with induction circuits. In other words those with motors like refrigerators, airconditioners, and washing machines. Power savers increase bills when using appliances with resistive circuits like flat irons, bread toasters, and electric ovens.

     Therefore in order to reduce your electric bills simply keep your power saver plugged in when using your refrigerators and airconditioners. Unplug your power saver temporarily when ironing your clothes. This is applicable for plug-in types of power savers or energy savings devices.

     Newer designs of energy saving devices are the in-line type and switchable types. To know more about in-line power savers see http://inlinepowersavers.blogspot.com/