power company meter reads ?
- Thread starter michael1
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jumper
Senior Member
- Location
- 3 Hr 2 Min from Winged Horses
Sorta, watts are watts, but the meter reads kwh and the cycle rate is a factor.
- Location
- San Francisco Bay Area, CA, USA
- Occupation
- Electrical Engineer
Not sure what you mean by "cycle rate". Are you thinking that a 240V 1500W heater comes on less often than a 120V 1500W heater to heat up the same amount of room air space? If so, it's still irrelevant. Heater watts relate directly to BTUs of heat into the space. On and off time relates to the thermostat being satisfied, which is going to be based on BTUs. it's all the same.
mivey
Senior Member
In general:yes. But not exactly the same. A lot of POCO meters use 240 volts for metering with the assumption that both 120 volt legs are exactly the same. If you have a supply voltage imbalance, you will actually get two different readings if you were to test the 120 volt heater in outlets on different legs of the supply.
jumper
Senior Member
- Location
- 3 Hr 2 Min from Winged Horses
Sorry, I should have been more clear. I was only trying to say that since the heaters cycle on and off, the power is not a steady draw.
IOW I was saying to the OP not to confuse kW with kWH since he was talking about a POCO meter.
ELECTRIC ACE
Member
Yes, The 1500 w 120v Plus 1500 w 240v = 3 kw If on for 1 Hr. steady you will be billed 3 kwh
mivey
Senior Member
If using a 2-current, single-voltage meter to read single-phase loads (what is mostly used):
For the resistive load scenario with unbalanced voltages (and assuming the resistance is constant over the small voltage difference), the % reading error for the single phase load is about the same as the % voltage unbalance.
One leg will read high, the other leg will read low. The 240 volt load will be accurately metered.
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