Quick answer: Most household loads run between 2 W and 1,800 W, with electric heating the exception at 4,000 W and up. Only motor-driven loads surge when they start, and only those need extra headroom. A certified top-freezer refrigerator averages just 34–51 W, not the 600–700 W most charts claim.
Every backup power decision starts here. Before you size a generator, a battery or a portable power station, you need two numbers for each load you want to keep alive. What it draws while it runs, and what it demands for the instant it starts. Those numbers are different, and the gap between them is where most sizing goes wrong. We put a price on that mistake in what the difference costs you when buying backup power.
The chart below covers 60 household loads. Running watts for refrigeration, cooling, laundry and electronics are calculated from the ENERGY STAR certified product database. The figures come from the models actually certified and on sale, not from a number copied off another chart. Where no reliable source exists, the row says so instead of guessing. Our method is published in full.
Running watts and starting watts are not the same number
Running watts is what a load draws once it is working normally. Starting watts, also called surge or inrush, is the brief spike when a motor begins to turn. It lasts a fraction of a second, but your generator or inverter has to supply it or the appliance stalls and the breaker trips.
The rule that actually matters is simpler than the charts suggest: resistive loads do not surge at all. A space heater, a kettle, a toaster, an iron. These are just wire that gets hot. Switch one on and it draws its full rated watts immediately, then keeps drawing exactly that until you switch it off. The nameplate number is the whole story.
Motors are different. An induction motor at the instant of switch-on is, electrically, close to a short circuit. Manufacturers publish that worst case as locked rotor amps (LRA). Franklin Electric rates its 1/2 HP, 230 V submersible well motor at 5.0 A and 670 W at full load, with a locked rotor rating of 32.2 A. Compare like with like and that is 32.2 A against 5.0 A running: more than six times the current, from the same motor, in the same second. Expressed as apparent power it is roughly 7,400 VA, which is the figure a generator has to be able to deliver.
There is a third category that most charts have not caught up with. Inverter-driven appliances ramp up instead of slamming on. A brushless DC compressor varies its own drive frequency at startup, so the surge largely disappears. Industry figures put a conventional reciprocating compressor near 12 A at startup against roughly 4.5 A for a BLDC inverter equivalent. If your fridge, heat pump or air conditioner says “inverter” on the badge, the surge column below is pessimistic for you.
The chart: 60 household loads, running and starting watts
Read the Basis column before you use a row. It tells you how much weight the number can carry.
- Certified data. Calculated by us from the ENERGY STAR certified product database, from hundreds or thousands of models. Model counts are in the method section. This is the strongest tier.
- Motor data. Running and locked-rotor figures published by the motor manufacturer for a named model.
- Nameplate class. The appliance is resistive or fixed-draw, so its rated watts are its running watts and it has no startup surge. The range reflects the product classes on sale.
- Typical range. Cross-checked across several product listings and trade sources, but not from a certified dataset or a manufacturer spec sheet. Treat these as indicative and check your own label.
- Varies by model. We could not source it honestly. Read the label on your unit; we would rather leave a gap than fill it with a plausible number.
Refrigeration
| Load | Running W | Starting W | Cost/hour US | Cost/hour UK | Basis |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Refrigerator, top freezer (average draw) | 34–51 | 500–1,500 | $0.006–0.009 | £0.009–0.013 | Certified data |
| Refrigerator, bottom freezer (average draw) | 46–82 | 600–1,600 | $0.008–0.015 | £0.012–0.021 | Certified data |
| Refrigerator, side-by-side (average draw) | 53–87 | 700–1,800 | $0.010–0.016 | £0.014–0.023 | Certified data |
| Refrigerator, freezerless / single door | 26–38 | 400–1,200 | $0.005–0.007 | £0.007–0.010 | Certified data |
| Beverage cooler | 15–27 | 300–900 | $0.003–0.005 | £0.004–0.007 | Certified data |
| Upright freezer (average draw) | 43–60 | 500–1,200 | $0.008–0.011 | £0.011–0.016 | Certified data |
| Chest freezer | varies by model — check the appliance label. Only nine chest freezers hold current ENERGY STAR certification, too few to publish a range. | ||||
Cooling and air
| Load | Running W | Starting W | Cost/hour US | Cost/hour UK | Basis |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Window AC, 5,000–6,000 BTU | 347–438 | 1,000–1,400 | $0.064–0.080 | £0.091–0.114 | Certified data |
| Window AC, 8,000–9,000 BTU | 500–567 | 1,400–1,800 | $0.092–0.104 | £0.131–0.148 | Certified data |
| Window AC, 10,000–12,000 BTU | 625–833 | 1,800–2,500 | $0.115–0.153 | £0.163–0.218 | Certified data |
| Window AC, 14,000–15,000 BTU | 875–1,042 | 2,500–3,200 | $0.160–0.191 | £0.229–0.272 | Certified data |
| Dehumidifier (average draw) | 21–60 | 600–1,500 | $0.004–0.011 | £0.005–0.016 | Certified data |
| Ceiling fan | varies by model — check the appliance label. Draw depends almost entirely on motor type and speed setting. | ||||
Heating and hot water
| Load | Running W | Starting W | Cost/hour US | Cost/hour UK | Basis |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Furnace blower, PSC motor | 400–900 | 1,200–2,700 | $0.073–0.165 | £0.104–0.235 | Motor data |
| Furnace blower, ECM motor | 75–400 | 75–400 | $0.014–0.073 | £0.020–0.104 | Motor data |
| Space heater, low setting | 750 | 750 | $0.138 | £0.196 | Nameplate class |
| Space heater, high setting | 1,500 | 1,500 | $0.275 | £0.392 | Nameplate class |
| Electric water heater, single element | 3,800–5,500 | 3,800–5,500 | $0.697–1.009 | £0.992–1.436 | Nameplate class |
| Electric blanket | 50–200 | 50–200 | $0.009–0.037 | £0.013–0.052 | Nameplate class |
Water pumps
| Load | Running W | Starting W | Cost/hour US | Cost/hour UK | Basis |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sump pump, 1/3 HP | 600–700 | 1,800–3,000 | $0.110–0.128 | £0.157–0.183 | Motor data |
| Sump pump, 1/2 HP | 800–1,050 | 2,200–4,000 | $0.147–0.193 | £0.209–0.274 | Typical range |
| Well pump, 1/2 HP submersible | 670–960 | up to 7,400 | $0.123–0.176 | £0.175–0.251 | Motor data |
| Well pump, 1 HP submersible | 1,210–1,600 | up to 11,200 | $0.222–0.293 | £0.316–0.418 | Motor data |
| Well pump, 3/4 HP submersible | varies by model — check the motor nameplate. Published locked-rotor figures for this size vary too widely between makers to give a useful range. | ||||
Kitchen
| Load | Running W | Starting W | Cost/hour US | Cost/hour UK | Basis |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Microwave, 700 W cooking class | 1,000–1,100 | 1,000–1,100 | $0.183–0.202 | £0.261–0.287 | Nameplate class |
| Microwave, 1,000 W cooking class | 1,400–1,500 | 1,400–1,500 | $0.257–0.275 | £0.366–0.392 | Nameplate class |
| Microwave, 1,200 W cooking class | 1,650–1,750 | 1,650–1,750 | $0.303–0.321 | £0.431–0.457 | Nameplate class |
| Dishwasher (per cycle, not per hour) | 1.02–1.12 kWh/cycle | — | $0.19–0.21/cycle | £0.27–0.29/cycle | Certified data |
| Electric kettle | 1,200–1,500 | 1,200–1,500 | $0.220–0.275 | £0.313–0.392 | Nameplate class |
| Coffee maker, drip | 900–1,500 | 900–1,500 | $0.165–0.275 | £0.235–0.392 | Nameplate class |
| Toaster | 800–1,500 | 800–1,500 | $0.147–0.275 | £0.209–0.392 | Nameplate class |
| Air fryer | 1,200–1,800 | 1,200–1,800 | $0.220–0.330 | £0.313–0.470 | Nameplate class |
| Electric oven | 2,000–5,000 | 2,000–5,000 | $0.367–0.917 | £0.522–1.306 | Nameplate class |
| Slow cooker | 150–300 | 150–300 | $0.028–0.055 | £0.039–0.078 | Nameplate class |
| Garbage disposal | varies by model — check the appliance label. Motor sizes run from 1/3 HP to 1 HP with very different surge. | ||||
Laundry
| Load | Running W | Starting W | Cost/hour US | Cost/hour UK | Basis |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clothes washer | 80–175 kWh/year | 600–1,400 | $0.003–0.004 | £0.004–0.005 | Certified data |
| Clothes dryer, electric (heating) | 4,000–6,000 | 4,000–6,000 | $0.734–1.100 | £1.044–1.567 | Nameplate class |
| Clothes dryer, gas (electrical only) | 200–600 | 600–1,200 | $0.037–0.110 | £0.052–0.157 | Typical range |
| Clothes dryer, heat pump | 573–1,977 | 800–2,400 | $0.105–0.363 | £0.150–0.516 | Certified data |
| Clothes iron | 1,000–1,800 | 1,000–1,800 | $0.183–0.330 | £0.261–0.470 | Nameplate class |
Electronics and lighting
| Load | Running W | Starting W | Cost/hour US | Cost/hour UK | Basis |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TV, 32–43 in | 33–75 | 33–75 | $0.006–0.014 | £0.009–0.020 | Certified data |
| TV, 50–55 in | 66–112 | 66–112 | $0.012–0.021 | £0.017–0.029 | Certified data |
| TV, 65–75 in | 94–150 | 94–150 | $0.017–0.028 | £0.025–0.039 | Certified data |
| Laptop, idle | 3.4–7.0 | — | under $0.01 | under £0.01 | Certified data |
| Laptop, charging under load | 45–100 | 45–100 | $0.008–0.018 | £0.012–0.026 | Nameplate class |
| Desktop computer, idle | 4.7–25.5 | — | under $0.01 | under £0.01 | Certified data |
| Workstation, idle | 16.5–165 | — | $0.003–0.030 | £0.004–0.043 | Certified data |
| Tablet, idle | 1.7–5.0 | — | under $0.01 | under £0.01 | Certified data |
| Wi-Fi router and modem | 5–20 | 5–20 | under $0.01 | under £0.01 | Typical range |
| LED bulb, 60 W equivalent | 8–10 | 8–10 | under $0.01 | under £0.01 | Nameplate class |
| Incandescent bulb, 60 W | 60 | 60 | $0.011 | £0.016 | Nameplate class |
| Games console | varies by model — check the power supply rating. Draw swings enormously between menu, streaming and full 3D load. | ||||
Personal care, medical and garage
| Load | Running W | Starting W | Cost/hour US | Cost/hour UK | Basis |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CPAP, no humidifier | 22–56 | 22–56 | $0.004–0.010 | £0.006–0.015 | Typical range |
| CPAP, heated humidifier on | 56–90 | 56–90 | $0.010–0.017 | £0.015–0.024 | Typical range |
| Hair dryer | 1,250–1,800 | 1,250–1,800 | $0.229–0.330 | £0.326–0.470 | Nameplate class |
| Vacuum cleaner | 1,000–1,440 | 1,400–2,200 | $0.183–0.264 | £0.261–0.376 | Typical range |
| EV charger, Level 1 (120 V) | 1,440 | 1,440 | $0.264 | £0.376 | Nameplate class |
| Garage door opener | 300–750 | 900–2,200 | $0.055–0.138 | £0.078–0.196 | Typical range |
| Air compressor, portable | varies by model — check the motor nameplate. Surge depends on tank pressure at the moment the motor restarts. | ||||
| Phone charger | 5–30 | 5–30 | under $0.01 | under £0.01 | Typical range |
Why the refrigerator figure on most charts is wrong
Search for a wattage chart and you will repeatedly find a refrigerator listed at 600 to 700 running watts, surging to 1,800 or 2,200. Those numbers are roughly ten times too high for the average draw of a modern unit, and they are not harmless.
We calculated the real figures from the ENERGY STAR certified product database on 1 September 2026, covering 2,935 non-compact refrigerator models currently certified. The median top-freezer model is certified at 362 kWh per year. Spread across 8,760 hours, that is 41 W of average draw. Even the thirstiest tenth of side-by-side models sits near 87 W.
There are two honest reasons a chart might show a bigger number. The first is that a compressor does not run continuously. It cycles, typically between a third and half of the time. So while the compressor is actually turning, the draw is roughly two to three times the annual average. That puts a real top-freezer fridge near 80 to 150 W with the compressor on. Still nowhere near 600 W. We break the refrigerator down on its own in the appliance power section.
The second is age. A 25-year-old fridge genuinely does draw far more. But most charts do not say which they mean. The figure has been copied from chart to chart for years, without anyone re-checking it against the appliances people own now.
The practical cost of the inflated number is real money. Size a system to keep a fridge and a freezer alive using 700 W each and you conclude you need several kilowatts of continuous capacity. Size it from certified data and the same job needs a few hundred watts continuous, with headroom for the compressor surge. That is the difference between a mid-range portable power station and a standby generator.
The four loads that decide your sizing
Sixty loads are useful for looking things up. For sizing, only a handful matter, because the total is dominated by whichever motor happens to start first.
- The well pump. If your water comes from a well, this is almost always your largest single surge. A 1 HP submersible has a published locked-rotor rating that works out near 11 kVA. Nothing else in an ordinary house comes close.
- The furnace blower. Not the furnace itself, which usually burns gas or oil, but the fan that moves the air. Whether it is a PSC or an ECM motor changes your requirement by a factor of five, and you cannot tell by looking at the furnace from outside.
- The sump pump. Small running draw, awkward surge, and it runs precisely when the weather is bad enough to have taken your power out.
- The refrigerator and freezer together. Individually trivial. The problem is that two compressors can restart within a second of each other after the power returns, and their surges add.
Everything else on the chart is either small enough to ignore or something you can simply choose not to run during an outage. You do not need to iron a shirt during a power cut. Once you know your own totals, the buying guides start from a household situation rather than a product category.
What a realistic outage load budget looks like
Add the running watts of everything you want on at once. Then add the single largest starting surge on top, not all of them. Two motors starting in the same instant is unlikely, and designing for it is expensive.
| Scenario | What is running | Running total | Peak demand |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fridge only | Top-freezer refrigerator, compressor running | 80–150 W | ~1,500 W |
| Food and comms | Fridge, upright freezer, router, phone charging, LED lighting | 160–310 W | ~1,800 W |
| Winter essentials | Above plus a PSC furnace blower | 560–1,180 W | ~3,900 W |
| Well water added | Above plus a 1/2 HP submersible well pump | 1,230–2,140 W | ~9,500 W |
| Summer, no well | Fridge, freezer, 10–12k BTU window AC, router, lighting | 780–1,110 W | ~3,600 W |
The jump in that fourth row is the whole argument for looking at surge separately. Adding one well pump barely doubles the running total but nearly triples the peak. If you are comparing a battery against a generator, that peak is usually what decides it, and we work through that comparison in the home batteries section. If you plan to recharge from panels rather than fuel, the arithmetic changes again, and that is covered under solar backup.
How we calculated this
Every figure above is traceable, and not all of them are equally strong. Of the 60 loads in the chart, 21 come from certified data, 5 from published motor specifications, 20 are nameplate class, 8 are a cross-checked typical range, and 6 we refused to publish at all. Here is what each of those means and what we assumed.
- Certified data rows. Calculated on 1 September 2026 from the ENERGY STAR certified product database: 2,935 non-compact refrigerators, 496 upright freezers, 485 room air conditioners, 753 dishwashers, 659 clothes dryers, 551 dehumidifiers, 401 clothes washers, 180 televisions and 1,780 computers. We publish the 10th and 90th percentile of certified models, not an average, so the range reflects what is genuinely on sale.
- Average draw versus running draw. For always-on appliances we divide certified annual kWh by 8,760 hours. That is the honest average. While the compressor is actually running, expect two to three times that figure, because compressors cycle.
- Room air conditioners. Running watts are derived, not copied: cooling capacity in BTU per hour divided by the certified Combined Energy Efficiency Ratio for each model.
- Televisions. The certified annual figure assumes five hours on and nineteen hours in standby per day, so we converted back to on-mode watts on that basis.
- Nameplate class rows. These are resistive or fixed-draw appliances where rated watts equal running watts. Ranges reflect the product classes on sale. In the United States a plug-in appliance on a standard 15 A, 120 V branch circuit cannot exceed 1,800 W. That ceiling is why so many of these cluster just below it.
- Typical range rows. Cross-checked across several product listings and trade sources, but not traceable to a certified dataset or a single manufacturer spec sheet. Routers, CPAP machines, vacuum cleaners, garage door openers and gas dryers sit here. They are good enough to plan with and not good enough to design around.
- Motor data rows. Where the manufacturer publishes a locked-rotor rating we use it. The Franklin Electric 1/2 HP submersible well motor is rated 5.0 A and 670 W at full load, against 32.2 A locked rotor. Locked rotor is a worst case, not a typical measurement, so those rows read “up to”. Running watts for these motors are the published watt figures, not amps multiplied by volts, which would overstate them by ignoring power factor.
- Where a starting figure is estimated, we say so. Some motor appliances have no published locked-rotor value. For those we give the conventional two to three times running draw used in motor sizing, shown as a range. It is an engineering convention, not a measurement, and it is the least certain column in this article.
- US costs. 18.34 cents per kWh, the US average residential price in the EIA Electric Power Monthly, Table 5.6.A, June 2026.
- UK costs. 26.11 pence per kWh, the Ofgem price cap in force from 1 July to 30 September 2026, including VAT at 5 percent. From 1 October 2026 the capped unit rate becomes 26.32 pence.
We do not own a test bench and we do not measure these appliances ourselves. Everything here is analysis based on published specifications and certified datasets, which is stated plainly in our testing and sourcing policy and in the editorial policy.
Safety note. This chart is for planning, not for wiring. A published range cannot tell you what your specific unit draws: read the nameplate or the EnergyGuide label on your own appliance before you commit money to a system.
Connecting any backup source to your home wiring is regulated work. We explain what the options cost and which code applies; we do not tell you how to install them. That belongs to a licensed electrician working to your adopted edition of the National Electrical Code, Article 702. In the UK the equivalent is BS 7671 and the guidance from Electrical Safety First.
Never power a house by plugging a generator into a wall outlet. It energises the utility line outside and can kill the people working to restore your power. See the CPSC portable generator safety guidance. Generators also produce carbon monoxide and must never run indoors, in a garage, or near a window or vent.
Frequently asked questions
How many watts does it take to run a whole house?
There is no single figure, because it depends entirely on what you run at once. A house keeping only its fridge, freezer, lighting and internet alive needs roughly 160 to 310 W continuously. Add a furnace blower and a well pump and the same house needs several kilowatts of surge headroom. Build your own total from the chart above, then keep going through the appliance power section.
Do I add up the starting watts of everything?
No. Add all the running watts, then add only the single largest starting surge. Motors rarely start at the same instant, and sizing for simultaneous starts makes the system far more expensive than it needs to be. One exception is worth planning for: appliances restarting together after power returns.
Why does my microwave say 1,000 watts but draw 1,500?
The number on the front is cooking output, not electrical input. Magnetrons are roughly 70 percent efficient, so a 1,000 W cooking output needs about 1,400 to 1,500 W from the outlet. For sizing backup power, use the input figure printed on the rating label at the back, or the kitchen range in the chart above. More on how these figures are sourced across the appliance power section.
Which appliances have no starting surge at all?
Anything purely resistive. Space heaters, kettles, toasters, irons, electric ovens, incandescent bulbs and hair dryers on their heat setting. They draw full rated power the moment they switch on and never more than that. Electronics with switching power supplies also have negligible surge in practice.
Does an inverter appliance change the numbers?
Yes, substantially, and in your favour. An inverter compressor ramps its own speed up from zero rather than starting across the line, so the surge largely disappears. If your refrigerator, heat pump or air conditioner is inverter-driven, treat the starting column here as a conservative ceiling.
How much does it cost to run a refrigerator for a day?
A median certified top-freezer model uses about 0.99 kWh per day. At the June 2026 US average of 18.34 cents per kWh that is roughly 18 cents a day, or about 5.45 dollars a month. At the UK capped rate of 26.11 pence it is about 26 pence a day.
This article is general information, not an installation guide and not a substitute for a licensed electrician. Electrical work on a service panel, a transfer switch or a utility connection is regulated in most jurisdictions and normally requires a permit and an inspection. Fuel-burning equipment produces carbon monoxide and must never be run indoors, in a garage or near an opening into the home.