Home Appliances & the Wattage They Use
Something in our home is drawing energy all the time and often when we aren't even using it. To best manage an energy budget or to select an emergency generator, it pays to get armed with a clear knowledge of the wattage our home appliances use and how that converts to dollars and cents. Does this Spark an idea?
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Energy Distribution
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Almost half of the average household's energy usage goes to heating or air conditioning. A 12,000 BTU air conditioner is using about 1,500 watts an hour and that number jumps to 4,500 for a 36,000 BTU unit. Portable heaters use 750 to1500 watts an hour. Heating water accounts for 14 percent of your home's energy use, a 40 gallon water tank uses 5,000 watts an hour. The balance is made up of lighting and household appliances.
Major Appliances
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Wattages for household appliances vary with age and brand. On average a frost-free refrigerator/freezer uses 450 watts an hour. The washer uses 512 and the average clothes dryer sucks up 5,000 watts an hour. That extra freezer you keep in the garage is most likely using 450 watts of energy an hour. A flat screen television hooked up to a satellite dish is using about 560 watts of power an hour.
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Small Appliances
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If you heat water for your coffee or tea in the microwave you may be using 2,500 watts of power versus using the coffee machine at 1,050 watts an hour. The vacuum, your hair dryer and the dishwasher are all using over 1,200 watts an hour. Appliances like your blender or food processor also have a reactive load, extra watts they use working up to full power. Most appliances have "phantom usage", energy they use just being plugged into the wall.
Calculating Wattage
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To more accurately calculate what your appliances are using, look for the wattage information on the name plate or by the registration number of your items. If the manufacturer lists the energy information as amps instead of watts multiply the amps by the voltage needed to operate -- usually 120 or 240 for appliances like the oven-- and this will give you the approximate watts.
Estimating Costs
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To estimate the monthly costs of operating your household appliances multiply the wattage of the item by the number of hours per month that you use it. Your power company may track your energy consumption and apply its charges using kilowatts. Divide your total wattage by one thousand to find the kilowatts.
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References
- Consumer Reports.org: Power Play
- Ask The Builder; Common Wattage of Household Appliances; Tim Carter; 2011
- U.S. Department of Energy.gov: Estimating Appliance and Home Electronic Energy Use
- Mr. Solar Energy: Estimating Appliance Energy Use
- Cornhusker Public Power District: Where Does all that Electricity Go?
- Mother Earth News; "Yikes My Hair Dryer Uses How Much Energy?"; Megan Phelps; 2008
- Photo Credit electricity image by Mirek Hejnicki from Fotolia.com
