How to Calculate a Cooking Appliance Load
Calculating the electrical load of your cooking appliances is a great way to figure out how efficient your kitchen is. It is also a great thing to know if you are planning on adding new appliances or replacing old ones, so you can estimate your energy costs and savings.
Things You Need:
- Calculator
- Pen and paper
Instructions:
- Locate the nameplates or stamps on your appliance. These are usually found on the lower rear of the appliance, near where the plug comes out of the appliance. Write down the manufacturer's wattage rating.
- Create a list of each large appliance such as stoves, ovens and refrigerators and its wattage rating. This represents the maximum amount of energy the appliance can use.
- Locate the wattage ratings of your smaller cooking appliances such as blenders, microwaves and food processors which are usually labeled on the bottom or back. Add these to the list as well.
- Write down the amount of time you use each appliance on a daily basis. Use the decimal system and place each time next to each respective wattage number. For example, if you use an appliance an average of an hour and a half, that would be 1.50 in the decimal system. If you only use an appliance an average of six minutes a day, that would be 0.10.
- Determine the daily load of each appliance by using the formula "wattage x hours of usage / 1,000 = kilowatt hours." Use your calculator to make this easier. This gives you the amount of hours used by the appliance daily, which is the appliance's load.