We are frequently asked how much electricity various items use. Rather than provide those answers individually, below you can see how much you can expect certain items to use. Before showing you the list, though, a few caveats:
- Usage varies from model to model. Your model may use more or less electricity, depending on numerous factors including age, features, etc.
- Usage varies by use. This is obvious. Washing clothes in hot water will cost more than washing them in cold water, for example. Setting your thermostat higher in the summer and lower in the winter will reduce costs.
- Appliances that create heat use more electricity.
Product labels will give you estimated usage in watts. If it only gives you amps, multiply that by 120 to get wattage. If you want to be even more precise based on your usage habits,, you can buy a watt-hour meter and monitor it. Here is the table.
Heating |
|
| 26,500 watts | Elec. furnace, 2000sf, cold climate |
| 7941 watts | Elec. furnace, 1000sf, warm climate |
| 1440 watts | Electric space heater (high) |
| 900 watts | Electric space heater (medium) |
| 600 watts | Electric space heater (low) |
| 750 watts | Gas furnace (for the blower) |
| 1100 watts | Waterbed heater |
| 450 watts | Waterbed heater (avg. 10 hrs./day) |
Cooling |
|
| 3500 watts | Central Air Conditioner (2.5 tons) |
| 1440 watts | Window unit AC, huge |
| 900 watts | Window unit AC, medium |
| 500 watts | Tiny-ass window unit AC |
| 325-425 watts | Fan only for central AC (no cooling) |
More efficient cooling |
|
| 400 watts | Evaporative cooler |
| 350 watts | Whole-house fan |
| 100 watts | Floor or box fan (high speed) |
| 90 watts | 52″ ceiling fan (high speed) |
| 75 watts | 48″ ceiling fan (high speed) |
| 55 watts | 36″ ceiling fan (high speed) |
| 24 watts | 42″ ceiling fan (low speed) |
Major appliances |
|
| 4400 watts | Clothes dryer (electric) |
| see sep. page | Washing machine |
| 3800 watts | Water heater (electric) |
| 200-700 watts | Refrigerator (compressor) |
| 57-160 watts | Refrigerator (average) |
| 3600 watts | Dishwasher (washer heats water) |
| 2000 watts | Electric oven, 350°F |
| 1178 watts | Electric oven, self-cleaning mode (takes 4.5 hrs, 5.3 kWh total) |
| 1200 watts | Dishwasher (dry cycle) |
| 200 watts | Dishwasher (no water heating or drying) |
Lighting |
|
| 60 watts | 60-watt light bulb (incandescent) |
| 18 watts | CFL light bulb (60-watt equivalent) |
| 5 | Night light |
| 0.5 | LED night light |
Computers(see more about electrical use of computers) |
|
| 150-340 watts | Desktop Computer & 17″ CRT monitor |
| 1-20 watts | Desktop Computer & Monitor (in sleep mode) |
| 90 watts | 17″ CRT monitor |
| 40 watts | 17″ LCD monitor |
| 45 watts | Laptop computer |
Televisions & Videogames |
|
| 191-474 watts | 50-56″ Plasma television |
| 210-322 watts | 50-56″ LCD television |
| 150-206 watts | 50-56″ DLP television |
| 188-464 watts | 42″ Plasma television |
| 91-236 watts | 42″ LCD television |
| 98-156 watts | 32″ LCD television |
| 55-90 watts | 19″ CRT television |
| 45 watts | HD cable box (varies by model) |
| 194 watts | PS3 |
| 185 watts | Xbox 360 |
| 70 watts | Xbox |
| 30 watts | PS2 |
| 18 watts | Nintendo Wii (source) |
| Other | |
| 1440 watts | Microwave oven or 4-slot Toaster |
| 900 watts | Coffee maker |
| 800 watts | Range burner |
| 4 watts | Clock radio |
| 3 watt-hours | Total energy stored by an alkaline AA battery. This is to put batteries into perspective. If you could power your clock radio with a AA battery, it wouldn’t even last an hour. We have more on batteries on our Guide to Household Batteries. |
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