household electric's

[lozz]

How'dy folks.

Anyone know what this fing is for?

Its suppos'ed to reduce's electrical waste? Hmm idoubt it
Mind.. So iwas told.
Thinking of having it removed as its over a door way.. & looks pikey

[lozz]

^

[steve_earwig]

Feck knows mate, I've Googled it and read the blurb but I'm still none the wiser

[lozz]

Thanks Steve.
Idid look it up on Google..
Igave up..
What ever it is its stuck on 'Standby'.
Even with everything switched on..

It wouldn't be bad if the builders and 'electricians had stuck it in a 'cupboard or something
Out of sight..

[steve_earwig]

Just paint it the same colour as the wall, you'll soon forget it's there

[lozz]

Good idea .

That's summat id do.. but the 'Mrs has banned me from decorating /bodge'in.
Going to ask an electrician to have a look & see if it can be moved with minimum work.
Or find out 'what the thing does..& if it's not paying its keep it can be binned.

[benczuk]

It is basically a 'smart' transformer that reduces the voltage of the AC coming out of your sockets to 220 to 230V. The UK grid apparently runs at an average of 242V and by "Optimising" this to 230V (or the lowest it can get away with) you save money

The higher the voltage the higher the power consumption in the case of a pure resistance load. A reduction in voltage does not affect the energy used by the domestic appliances which use resistive loads except in devices such as kettles and toasters which will take longer to do their job due to atmospheric losses. The main commercial benefit when installing VO units, is on inductive loads, like motors which run pumps, fans and the like. In the home, the potential energy saving can be up to 12% on electricity bills. A VO device will lower the voltage to the most efficient level to maximise the savings on electricity consumption, so you may notice certain things taking a little longer, such as a kettle may take a little longer to boil

Sounds like a waste of time to me.

[Bailes1992]

What Ben said.

Basically it's another waste of money.
To boil a kettle you may require X watts. By reducing the voltage you have less output so the kettle boils for longer. Because the kettle boils for longer you get more heat losses from the kattle so therefore it has to boil for even longer.
Lights will run dimmer too!

[Welly]

And if you're watching Coronation Street Eva's ......ermm......personality, won't be as clear to enjoy at 220volts

[PeterN]

Iv'e never seen one either but there sounds to be some logic to it. As Bailes says any resistive load i.e things that produce heat will run at reduced efficiency because the power input (Volts X Amps) will be less but I'm not really sure about inductive loads i.e your fridge motor because with increased voltage you will have increased reactance which will reduce the input. Most electronic equipment TVs etc has a switched mode power supply which automatically regulates the power required so if the voltage drops much the current (Amps) will increase.

My conclusion is that although it may make some difference it won't be anything as much as they claim.

Peter

[steve_earwig]

Ah, more snake oil I reckon the only savings will be on light bulbs, which will be slightly dimmer but not noticeably so. That is, if you didn't already replace them with LED's.

And if you're watching Coronation Street...

There's one facet of English "culture" I haven't missed...

[lozz]

Check these sockets out lol.
This is just a basic size box room..

I think they had a lot of spare phone sockets.. Man from BT said they ain't wired in.

[Welly]

Check out the cutting* in* by the painter

[lozz]

Yeah the painter needs to get a new job.

I've spent hours cleaning paint off fittings

My wife says I'm getting old & grumpy.. But if it was a brand-new car with over spray on everything shed moan then

[PeterN]

Its a lot easier to unscrew them from the wall and paint behind them.

Peter