Accountability
Every article on WattBackup is published under this name. That is deliberate: a site that tells you which generator to buy should tell you who is answerable when the figure is wrong.
Articles here are drafted with AI assistance and every number in them is checked against a primary source by a person before publication. Both halves of that sentence are stated openly in the editorial policy, along with what counts as an admissible source and what happens when a correction is needed.
Alvaro is not a licensed electrician, and nothing published on this site substitutes for one. WattBackup explains what equipment exists, what it costs and which code applies, then refers you to a professional. That boundary is set out in the terms of use.
Articles
How Long Will a 500Wh Power Station Run a CPAP?
Three defensible answers sit behind this question and most pages pick one without saying which. The one written by the people who built the machine says 720 Wh, which this tier does not reach.
Can a Power Station Run a Sump Pump? Surge Watts Explained
The starting figure every page quotes comes from a rule of thumb. The one manufacturer that publishes locked rotor amps disagrees with it on every pump in its catalogue, and by most on the smallest.
Will a Portable Power Station Run a Refrigerator Overnight?
The certified rating every runtime calculator uses is measured with the ice maker switched off. NIST measured one running, and at 1,000 Wh it decides whether a twelve-hour night is covered at all.
What Can a 2000Wh Power Station Run? Real Appliance Runtimes
Doubling the battery doubles the runtime exactly, which is the least interesting thing about this tier. What changes is the surge rating, and whether the total covers the outage the EIA says Americans actually get.
What Can a 1000Wh Power Station Actually Run? Runtime Table by Appliance
About 800 Wh of a 1,000 Wh station reaches an AC load: 97 hours of a router, 15 of a refrigerator, 32 minutes of a space heater. What it will run at all is decided by the inverter, and three units sold as 1000Wh ship inverters of 1,000, 1,500 and 2,000 W.
Power Station Capacity Explained: Wh, Ah and Why Usable Capacity Is Lower
Amp-hours are not a measure of capacity. One manufacturer rates a single kilowatt-hour battery at both 19.5 Ah and 312 Ah, and both are correct.
Portable Power Station Sizing Guide: From 300Wh to 5kWh by Household Need
Watts decide whether an appliance starts at all; watt-hours decide how long it runs. This guide sizes a station from sixteen verified appliance articles rather than from runtime claims, and shows why a rated 1,024 Wh delivers about 580 Wh to a small AC load.
How Many Watts Does a Refrigerator Use? Running, Starting and Yearly Cost
A refrigerator does not have a wattage. It has four, they differ by a factor of 88, and each is the honest answer to a different question.
How Much Electricity Does a Chest Freezer Use per Month in Dollars?
A chest freezer is the rare appliance with a precise answer: it runs continuously, its consumption is certified rather than estimated, and the entire certified market is nine models. Three things move the number more than which one you buy.
How Much Does It Cost to Run a Space Heater for 8 Hours? US and UK Rates
The sum is the easiest on this site: eight hours at 1,500 W is 12 kWh. Everything hard is in the second number.
How Many Watts Does a Coffee Maker Use?
A drip machine is three appliances in sequence: a kettle, a hotplate and a clock. Only one maker publishes all three numbers, and reading the European model against the American one turns up a timer set by law rather than by engineering.
How Many Watts Does a Microwave Use? Input Watts vs Cooking Watts
The number on the door is cooking output, measured in a laboratory. The plug draws more - but how much more depends on who made it.
How Many Watts Does a Wi-Fi Router and Modem Use?
Nobody prints a wattage on a router, so we took the 374 named models the American broadband industry reports every year and worked out the medians. The box your provider rents you is the one that costs you money.
How Many Watts Does a CPAP Machine Use Overnight?
One of the smallest loads on this site and one of the most anxiously searched. ResMed publishes current draw for every humidifier setting, and the humidifier turns out to be the whole story: 11 watts becomes 59.
How Many Watts Does a Window Air Conditioner Use per Hour?
Every certified model publishes the answer, but not in watts: it is hidden in a number called CEER. All 438 certified window units pulled apart by size, plus the finding that every single one now has a variable-speed compressor.
How Many Watts Does a Space Heater Use? 750W vs 1500W Compared
The one appliance whose label you can trust, because a resistance heater has no power factor. What each setting costs an hour, why no space heater is more efficient than another, and why 1,500 W is close to the worst thing you can attach to a battery.
How Many Watts Does a Chest Freezer Use per Day?
One of the few questions with an exact answer, because every freezer carries a certified annual figure. All nine certified chest freezers listed, what each costs a month, and the USDA rule that means for the first 48 hours of an outage a full one needs no power at all.
How Many Watts Does a Gas Furnace Blower Use During a Power Outage?
The gas costs you nothing electrically; the blower is the whole problem. Trane publishes a full grid of watts against speed setting and duct resistance, and it spans eighteen to one, which is why every single-number answer to this question is wrong.
How Many Watts Does a Well Pump Use? 1/2 HP vs 3/4 HP vs 1 HP
Franklin Electric publishes the input watts for every submersible motor it makes, so this figure does not have to be guessed. The published numbers, the service factor ceiling nobody quotes, and the locked rotor figure that decides whether your backup equipment works at all.
How Many Watts Does a Sump Pump Use (and What Backup Size It Needs)
Every chart says 800 watts running and up to 2,900 starting, and none of them says where the number came from. The manufacturers own engineering sheets publish amps and locked rotor amps instead, and the real figures are lower and more precise.
How to Find the Real Wattage of an Appliance From Its Label
The nameplate is the one wattage figure that belongs to your actual appliance rather than to an average. Where to find it, what every symbol means, and why multiplying volts by amps is wrong for anything with a motor.
Starting Watts vs Running Watts: What the Difference Costs You When Buying Backup Power
Every manufacturer blog defines the two terms. None of them price the mistake.
Appliance Wattage Chart: 60 Household Devices With Running and Surge Watts
Every backup power decision starts with an appliance wattage chart. Before you size a generator, a battery or a portable power station, you need two numbers for each load you want to keep alive.