Mains power voltage drop to reduce usage?

An induction motor, for instance, can draw immense power when stalled (and will blow its internal fuse link, or burn up) but induction motors with real loads will certainly stall at some diminished input. How can 'design' get rid of that motor characteristic? All the known solutions are either destructive (at least a motor rebuild is required) or complex (heaters, overcurrent relays, etc), and the nature of the energy consumption by such a motor defeats the save-power purpose of doing a brownout.

An incandescent lamp isn't going to get damaged by a voltage drop, but... that isn't an indication of good design.

A number of years ago the power company put on the television stationa a message asking people to turn off things due to a power shortage. They did and the next year the company asked to raise rates due to not enoughpower was used.

Some have devices on the water heater and AC or heat pumps that allow the power companies to shut them off. Mine has one on the heat pump and saves me a few dollars on every bill just for having it.

The heaters are often temperature controlled, and will run longer to make up for the reduced power.

There is a type of electricity contract in which you accept the provider will remotely switch off your heavy appliances to reduce power overall for some time. In exchange, you pay less.

Right, it is just a characteristic.

A LED light will probably draw more current and provide the same light, till some limit, or self destruction. It is probably in the specs: rated for 210 volts to 250 volts, for example.

Yip, the stupidest system ever. In the UK it's either on or off.

As has been explained, reducing voltage is a crap idea. You can email folk and ask them to reduce consumption at peak time though. I got refunds last December for doing this.

Eventually when we’re all on smart meters, more variable tariffs will become available that will encourage this behaviour will become the norm.

Tim

Not quick enough to adjust for peak loads.

Doh!

I only know of one person with that, but it's more extensive. He has a huge water tank heated by electricity when the power company tell it to. The central heating is radiators which pump that water round the house.

But the idea is to reduce peak load. Spreading that out for longer is exactly what they're after.

If they want to reduce annual load, they just need to turn up the cost of electricity, but the stupid UK government is now subsidising it, so we're just carrying on using as much as we like.

I have it on my heat pump.

And my purely resistive loads are controlled by thermostat, so if you lower the voltage they stay on for a longer time, so the saving effect on the network is nil.

Maybe. Maybe not. They can tell you that you submitted them to a voltage out of specs. If it burns, sue the electrical company to pay you a new device, because it is their fault.

A traditional fridge could burn out on a brown out, the motor would overheat trying to compensate.

The electricity companies know this, and will not do a brownout, but switch off completely. Or do rolling blackouts.

Is this available in the UK?

Not so accurate though. Could they get you to turn things off at a few seconds notice?

No smart meter will ever be installed in this house.

You think they’re all the same? Weird. 70W equates to around £200 a year at today’s electricity prices.

You’ve clearly got money to burn. Not every one is so lucky.

Tim

Heat pumps are not resistive! That would defeat the whole purpose.

But the reduction of peak power is good. Not enough power between 5pm and 5:15pm because everyone turns their oven on, drop the voltage and everything takes longer, spreading the load into the next 15 minutes.

Bullshit. If the voltage is out of specs, the PSU should cut out. Very easy to implement.

Very bad design. A simple thermal cutout would suffice.

Except they do.

I would ignore any such request, just as I ignore hosepipe bans. I pay them to provide a service. Build more reservoirs and power stations and give me what I pay for.

And the average annual bill in the UK is £2500.

And did you also factor in the fridge switching on and off?

I get money back for most of that usage. And most people heat their homes, which uses way more than a fridge.

If by brownout you mean a system voltage reduction < ? >

In North America, typical voltage reduction is: A 3% voltage reduction will lead to about a 1.5% reduction in total energy consumption (for a load of 20,000 MW this represents about 300 MW) A 5% voltage reduction will lead to about a 2.6% reduction (for a load of 20,000 MW, this represents about 520 MW .. see if this link below works < ? > : The paragraphs on Voltage Reductions are about half-way through.

In Spain, where every one has to have a Smart Meter, there are three different price bands.

Dave

In the UK the legislation dictates the power company should provide me with 230V +/- ***10%***

I actually get 241 to 256V, so sometimes out of limits. But they can't fix it without having someone at the other end of the street have too low a voltage. I'm next to the transformer. I use a UPS for anything fussy, which adjusts the voltage itself.