Running Costs - Appliances
How much energy does it take to run my household appliances?
It is surprising how expensive some appliances can be to run especially if they are used on a daily basis. So how much will that mean in terms of running costs?
To work out the running costs of electrical appliances multiply the rating by the amount of time it is on to give the number of kWh (kilowatts per hour). Then multiply the cost per kWh (look at a recent electricity bill or tariff leaflet for the appropriate figure - we used 6.6p for the example below).
Wattage divided by 1000 x time used in minutes divided by 60 = kWh
kWh x cost in pence = cost
e.g. A 900 W vacuum cleaner used for 15 minutes: 900 divided by 1000 x 15 divided by 60 = 0.225 kWh
cost = 0.225 x 6.6p = 1.5p
Therefore using a vacuum cleaner for 15 minutes costs 1.5p
The table below shows the typical rating in Watts for some of the more common household appliances:
Cold Appliances
- Freezer 150
- Refrigerator 100
Heating and Hot water appliances
- Immersion heater 3000
- Instantaneous hot water 3000
- Oil filled radiator 500-2500
- Radiant heater/fire 1000-3000
- Storage Heater 2000-3000
Wet appliances
- Dishwasher 3000
- Tumble dryer 2500
- Washing machine 2500
Cooking appliances
- Electric hob 4 rings 2500
- Grill (alone) 2500
- Kettle 1800-2500
- Microwave oven 800
- Toaster 1050-1360
Lighting appliances
- Light (common incandescent) 100
- Light (compact fluorescent) 20
Home entertainment
- Portable radio/CD 18
- DVD Player 15
- TV widescreen 70
- TV standby 5
- Video cassette player 35
- Playstation 50
Miscellaneous
- Blanket (under) 60-120
- Blanket (over) 150-350
- Fan extractor 75
- Hair dryer 400-1200
- Iron 1200
- Vacuum cleaner 900
How can I use this information?
Most modern appliances will label how many watts they consume. This can be used as a guide if you need to buy a new appliance or simply identify which appliances are costing you more money to run.
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