I can not answer you question on capacitor life but I can assist in correcting the PF.
0.85 is not good if the customer is billed on KVA demand. You should try to get the PF to 0.95 to 0.99. You can check with the local
utility and see if they can tell you the max
KW and KVA demand.
Did the capacitor bank trip the chiller breakers? Are the caps connected to the chiller compressors or motors? I would think the the mfg could tell you what size to go back with. Are you considering adding additional cap to improve the PF? IF you happen to overcorrect a little nothing bad will happen. The utility will appreciate it.
See if you can get the max KW and KVA demands.
[This message has been edited by Bob (edited 06-23-2005).]
