KVA to HP or KW
by Alfred G. Placido on 03/18/04 at 23:59:15

;DHow do we determine if the KVA rating of our power generator is enought to run a certain HP or KW load?

Re: KVA to HP or KW
by Robert Fogt on 03/19/04 at 01:49:57

In a DC circuit, a volt-ampere is the exact same thing as a watt.

In an AC circuit, if the current and voltage are in phase with each other, then again, a volt-ampere is the exact same thing as a watt.

If the current and voltage are out of phase, then the product of the voltage potential and the actual current, is the load, in volt-amperes.

What does all this mean, do you ask? Well if the current and voltage are out of phase, it is going to appear to draw more current than it really is, which would make the power rating (watts) higher. But if you go by the actual current, the load rating (VA) it wouldn't.

So if your power generator has a KVA rating, in theory it would run the same number in KW.

Why did I use the term "in theory"? Because in real life I do not know. If your fuses are set to blow from current, the appearance of the higher amount of current in an out of phase AC circuit, might cause them to blow, but I don't know.

Perhaps there is an electrical engineer reading this who could post with more information.

Re: KVA to HP or KW
by Robert Fogt on 03/19/04 at 10:49:59

I found a link that has the conversion on it.

[url]http://www.macgen.com/calcul.html[/url]

It appears kva to kw is a simple enough conversion. I guess I need to research it a bit more before I can grasp the concept. :)

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