Quick answer: Find the appliance wattage label on the back, base or door frame. If it prints watts, use that. If it prints only volts and amps, multiplying them gives apparent power, not watts — on one well pump we checked, that overstates the real draw by 72 percent.
Our appliance wattage chart gives you a range for 60 household loads, and a range is the honest way to publish a figure that varies by model, age and setting. But the appliance in your kitchen is one specific unit, and it carries its own number. This is how to read it.
It matters most when you are sizing backup power, where the numbers you feed in decide what you buy and being wrong in either direction costs money, which is the subject of starting watts versus running watts.
Where the appliance wattage label actually is
It is a small silver sticker, an engraved plate or moulded text, and manufacturers put it where it survives the life of the appliance rather than where you would look first.
- Refrigerator and freezer: inside the fresh-food compartment, usually on the left wall or above the top shelf. Sometimes on the back, which means pulling the unit out.
- Washer and dryer: inside the door frame or lid, visible only with the door open.
- Dishwasher: on the edge of the inner door, along the side.
- Microwave: on the back panel, or inside the door frame behind the seal.
- Furnace, air handler and water heater: a printed panel on the side of the cabinet, often behind the access door.
- Window air conditioner: on the chassis, so it is normally hidden once the unit is installed. Look up the model number instead rather than disturbing a unit sitting in a window opening.
- Well and sump pumps: stamped on the motor body. For a submersible pump the plate is down the well, so use the paperwork or the model number instead.
- Small plug-in appliances: on the base, or printed on the power brick.
If the plate has worn off, the model number is enough: manufacturers publish specification sheets for equipment long out of production, carrying the same figures in a form you can actually read. Where neither exists, our appliance power section publishes sourced ranges instead.
What every symbol on the plate means
| On the plate | What it means | What to do with it when sizing backup |
|---|---|---|
| W or Watts | Real power drawn while running | Use it directly. This is the number you want |
| V / VAC | Supply voltage, 120 V or 240 V in the US | Tells you which circuit it needs, not how much it draws |
| A or Amps | Current drawn at rated conditions | Only becomes watts if you know the power factor. See below |
| Hz | Supply frequency, 60 Hz in the US, 50 Hz in the UK | Ignore for sizing. It matters only for imported equipment |
| FLA | Full load amperes, measured in a laboratory | The running figure for a motor. Convert using the power factor, do not simply multiply |
| RLA | Rated load amperes, used on sealed motor-compressors | Treat like FLA. It is a rating for approval purposes, not a measurement of your unit |
| LRA | Locked rotor amperes: the current if the rotor cannot turn | This is your surge figure. Several times FLA, but the multiple varies widely by motor type — read it, do not assume it |
| MCA | Minimum circuit ampacity, sets the wire size | Not a draw figure. It already includes a safety margin |
| MOP or MOCP | Maximum overcurrent protection, the largest breaker allowed | Not a draw figure. Sizing a generator to it wastes money |
| SF | Service factor: how far past rated load the motor may run continuously | An SF above 1.0 means the real ceiling is higher than the FLA line |
The multiplication that catches almost everyone
Nearly every guide says the same thing: if the plate shows only volts and amps, multiply them. For a kettle, a toaster or a space heater that is exactly right, because a resistive load draws current in step with the voltage.
For anything with a motor it is wrong, and not by a little. Volts times amps gives apparent power, measured in VA. Watts are real power. The ratio between them is the power factor, and on a household induction motor it sits well below one.
Franklin Electric publishes both figures for its submersible well motors in its own installation manual, so the gap is not theoretical. The 1/2 HP unit is rated 5.0 A at 230 V and 670 W at full load. Multiply and you get 1,150. That is a power factor of 0.58, and volts times amps lands 72 percent above the real number — from a plate that is telling you the truth.
We know the trap works because we fell into it. The first draft of our own wattage chart multiplied 5.0 by 230 and published 1,150 W for that pump. It took a review pass against the manufacturer figure to catch it.
So if the plate gives only amps, treat volts times amps as a ceiling rather than an answer. On the two pumps above the real figure sits 42 and 36 percent below that ceiling. Better still, find the specification sheet, which usually publishes watts outright.
The yellow label is not the appliance wattage label
The EnergyGuide label is the yellow tag, and it answers a different question from the nameplate. It gives estimated kilowatt-hours per year under a standardised test, plus an estimated annual running cost. The nameplate gives the draw right now.
They are not interchangeable. Annual kilowatt-hours cannot tell you whether your inverter will start the compressor, and the nameplate cannot tell you what a year costs, because it says nothing about how often the appliance is actually drawing that current.
Two things are worth knowing about it. The FTC requires the label on a specific list: boilers, ceiling fans, central air conditioners, clothes washers, dishwashers, freezers, furnaces, heat pumps, pool heaters, refrigerators, televisions, water heaters, and room and portable air conditioners. Clothes dryers, ovens, ranges and microwaves are not on that list, so their absence means nothing is wrong. And the FTC states that the operating cost is only an estimate, based on typical use and a national average energy price.
What an appliance wattage label will never tell you
- The startup surge, unless it prints LRA. Most domestic appliances do not, which is why our chart publishes a starting range separately and why the surge figure is the one that decides a purchase.
- The duty cycle. A fridge nameplate shows the draw while the compressor runs, not that it runs roughly a third to half of the time.
- Which setting you are on. A space heater plated at 1,500 W draws 750 on low. A microwave plated 1,500 W input is a 1,000 W cooking model, and the number on the front door is output, not consumption.
- Age. The plate reports the unit as built. A twenty-year-old compressor working against fouled coils can draw more than its plate suggests.
When to stop reading and start measuring
If the plate is missing, illegible, or gives only amps for a motor you care about, a plug-in meter settles it. These sit between the outlet and the appliance and report actual consumption.
A decent one shows volt-amps and watts as separate readings, and often the power factor itself. Put it on a fridge and you can watch the two numbers disagree, which is the argument above proved on your own worktop.
Two limits. They lose accuracy at very low power and many stop registering below roughly 2 W, so they are poor at measuring standby draw. And they only work on plug-in loads: a furnace, a water heater or a well pump is hard-wired, which is why our generator sizing section works from published motor data instead.
A note on precision, not danger. A nameplate is a rating, not a measurement of your unit on your day. It is set at rated voltage, rated load and rated frequency in a laboratory. Treat it as the best single starting figure you have and add headroom, rather than sizing to it exactly.
Reading a plate is safe. Getting to one is not always: never remove an access panel on a furnace, air handler or water heater to find it. Those cabinets contain live terminals, and the same figures are in the manual or available from the model number. Anything hard-wired belongs to a licensed electrician.
Frequently asked questions
Can I just multiply amps by volts?
For resistive loads, yes: heaters, kettles, toasters and incandescent bulbs. For anything with a motor or compressor it overstates the real draw, because the result is apparent power in VA rather than watts. On the two well pumps in this article the true figure is 42 and 36 percent lower.
What is the difference between FLA, RLA and LRA?
FLA is the current at full rated load. RLA is the equivalent for a sealed motor-compressor, set for approval purposes. LRA is the current if the rotor cannot turn, and the closest thing on a plate to a startup surge figure. The multiple is not fixed: 6.4 times FLA on the well pump above, but as little as 1.5 times on the sump pump motors we checked.
Why does my appliance have no EnergyGuide label?
Probably because it is not required to have one. The FTC list excludes clothes dryers, ovens, ranges and microwaves, among others. Check inside the appliance, then the manufacturer website, before assuming it is missing.
Should I size backup power to the MOP figure?
No. Maximum overcurrent protection is the largest breaker the equipment may legally sit behind, not what it draws, and it can be more than double the running current. Sizing a generator or battery to it buys capacity the appliance will never ask for.
The plate says 1,500 W but my meter reads less. Which is right?
Both, usually. The plate is the maximum at rated conditions; the meter reports what the appliance is doing at that moment on that setting. For sizing use the plate figure, and for running costs use the meter.
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.
