K

Kill Th
hat Wa
att
In oour last issuee, we discusssed watt caalculations and
a how yo
ou can makee practical use
u
of thhem. So forr kilowatts, is it the sam
me thing exccept the units are 1,0000 times largeer?
For the purposee of calculaating kilowaatts, mostly the answer is yes. To ccalculate waatts,
mulltiply volts times
t
amps. To get kiloowatts, diviide that num
mber by 1,0000; note thaat
extrra steps mayy be involveed because w
we use kilowatts differrently from the way wee use
wattts.
Gennerally, we use
u watts to
o determine the amountt of power used
u
by a paarticular sm
mall
loadd or by a combination of
o small loaads in a bran
nch circuit. For this reaason, we do not
incllude power factor in thee calculatioon.

Vikktorus/iStockk/Thinkstocck
We typically usse kilowattss to determiine the amou
unts of pow
wer used by inductive lo
oads
n the lamps (light bulbss) for which
h we
suchh as motors. These are much largeer loads than
mayy be using watts.
w
And because
b
theyy are inducttive, we include powerr factor in th
he
calcculation; wee multiply voltage
v
timees current tim
mes power factor.
Theeres yet anoother wrinklle with kiloowatts. The types
t
of loaads for whicch we calculate
kiloowatts are offten (unlikee lights) twoo-phase or th
hree-phase loads. This means we also
a
have to introduuce a phase multiplier.
For two-phase loads, the multiplier
m
iss two. So yo
our kilowatt number is:
(E x I x PF x 2)) 1,000
For three-phasee loads, the multiplier iisnt three. In
I fact, its a bit less thhan 2. Its th
he
squaare root of three.
t
Indusstry practicee is to go ou
ut two decim
mal places, m
making thatt
mulltiplier 1.73. The formu
ula looks likke this:
(E x I x PF x 1.73) 1,000
0
Theese two form
mulas produ
uce almost thhe same ressult. But forr three-phasse, its a littlle
smaaller kilowattt value.