Vphase - Does It Work?

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Okay I have been sent an offer to have a Vphase unit installed for £299 with claims I can save up to £80 a year on my electrical bill. Has anyone had one of these fitted and if so did you notice a difference and does it ever cause your fuses to pop?

If like me you had never heard of Vphase before today http://www.vphase.co.uk/
 
I can't see how it works :confused:

So they drop the incoming voltage to 220v, surely then any appliance (to make sure it receives the same power - P=IV) will just draw more current?

Same power (kW/h) drawn through my meter, means the same amount of £££?

Where does my GCSE science fall down?
 
Isn't the uk at 220v already??

EDIT

Voltage tolerance of 230 V +10%/−6% (216.2 V to 253 V), widened to 230 V ±10% (207 V to 253 V) in 2008
 
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This reeks like the 'mileage booster' crap you find in Halfords.

I was thinking that; and the reason some people do indeed see mpg gains from fitting some silly add-on, or using a miracle additive, is that they drive more economically as a result of being conscious of fuel economy. And perhaps the desire to justify their purchase makes them drive more carefully to prove it works.

And this device might 'work' by people thinking more about electricity usage and switching lights off etc.
 
Short answer: They don't really work to well.


Long answer.....

Which? magazine reviewed them and concluded that in some cases they increase consumption, but i have my doubts over the quality of the review tbh.

First thing to do is measure what voltage you are getting into your house, you may, if your lucky already be getting a low voltage, approx 220v, then it would be even more pointless having one installed.

Problems with these units include:

Only rated for 8A continuous draw, over this they can't cool themselves and begin to overheat and shutdown, 16A max peak i believe and it instantly shuts down.

As Paddy above said, they do not work for resistive loads or anything controlled by thermostats, its just takes longer to heat up for example, same total energy used (assuming ideal closed system), so this rules out any savings from immersion heaters etc.

Also to have one installed you would need the rest of your house brought upto current standards, e.g. bonding to water and gas, rcd protection, these v phase units are normally sold as an add on to having the fuse box upgraded, so the rest of the work is already being done.

Also they are a pain to fit, need to reorganise the fuse box to take a 50A mcb to supply the v phase unit, then split circuits in the board into mains supply and v phase supply, anything high powered, resistive or thermostat controlled goes on the mains so no saving there.

Main savings are running lights AFAIK, sockets are ok until you plug in something high powered then the unit switches off.

If the savings are as bad as i imagine, say £300 to install (will be more), it could take say 5-10 years until you are in profit, you could maybe save more just changing to energy saving bulbs etc.
 
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Top up your loft insulation, usually cheaper to do yourself than with your gas/electric supplier subsidy.
Get cavity wall insulation installed through your gas / electricity company.
Swap regular lightbulbs for energy saving / LED bulbs where you can
Get your boiler serviced regularly and turn your heating down slightly.
Get an energy monitor - educated me very quickly about leave stuff on.

Actual, practical stuff that is proven to work.
 
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