line conditioners

[mikelcs]

has anone had any experience with 3 phase line conditioners. any effects, positive or negative, on the operation of HVAC equipment?if so, why?

[sabre11134]

do you mean line reactors, they are used a lot with vfd's. if you use a osscilscope on the load you will see a cleaner power signal.

[mikelcs]

not a line reactor. this is a conditioner to prevent voltage drops and spikes.it is basically a monitoring system with a capacitor bank to absord overvoltage and discharge on undervoltage.i know that this may be necessary on equipment that is sensitive to electrical "noise". i have seen many installed on roof top equipment on one job. they were later disconnected and left on the roof with several dead compressors and this is what raises my concern. i have recently seen two dual circuit chillers with a full load of 160 amps on each machine that have had line conditioners installed that were rated at 60 amps.

[onetime]

I first saw them in late 70's as part of the energy management craze, they have marginal affect and the payback took forever, they may be effective in areas with power problems. I would prefer to just use a phase monitor with voltage imbalance capabilities.