What on earth is an “inductive” or “resistive” load?
A resistive load is, as you’d expect, purely resistive and has nothing else that affects its power requirements. For example appliances with resistive loads include; toasters, electric fires, electric ovens, kettles, conventional filament type lamps, etc. In electrical terms an “inductor” is a number of turns of wire wrapped around a core and “inductance” is the ability of this coil to store energy. It follows that an inductive load is something which contains coils, usually in the form of motors, solenoids or relays. Inductive loads usually require more power when they first start up than they do to continue running. For example, appliances with inductive loads include; power tools, washing machines, spin dryers, high powered amplifiers, arc welders, fridge/freezers and anything else likely to have lots of coils in it….
