Appliance Wattage Chart: Running vs Starting Watts
Typical running and starting (surge) watts for common household and RV appliances — for generator, inverter and battery sizing. Estimates; read the nameplate.
| Appliance | Running Watts | Starting Watts |
|---|---|---|
| Refrigerator / freezer | 700 W | 2,100 W |
| Chest freezer | 500 W | 1,500 W |
| Microwave oven | 1,000 W | 1,000 W |
| Coffee maker | 900 W | 900 W |
| Toaster | 1,100 W | 1,100 W |
| Dishwasher | 1,500 W | 1,500 W |
| Washing machine | 1,150 W | 2,300 W |
| Electric clothes dryer | 5,400 W | 6,750 W |
| Window AC (10,000 BTU) | 1,200 W | 3,600 W |
| Central AC (3 ton) | 3,500 W | 8,750 W |
| Furnace blower (1/2 HP) | 800 W | 2,350 W |
| Well pump (1 HP) | 1,000 W | 3,000 W |
| Sump pump (1/3 HP) | 800 W | 1,300 W |
| Space heater | 1,500 W | 1,500 W |
| Television (LED) | 150 W | 150 W |
| Laptop computer | 65 W | 65 W |
| LED light bulb | 10 W | 10 W |
| Garage door opener | 720 W | 1,400 W |
| Hair dryer | 1,500 W | 1,500 W |
| RV air conditioner (13.5k) | 1,500 W | 2,800 W |
Running watts, starting watts, and why the gap matters
This chart lists two figures for common household and RV appliances, and the difference between them drives generator and inverter sizing. Running (rated) watts is the steady power a device draws once it is up and going. Starting (surge) watts is the brief spike an electric motor demands as it overcomes inertia at start-up — for a refrigerator, well pump, air conditioner or power tool this can be two to three times, occasionally more, the running figure, lasting only a fraction of a second but real enough to stall an undersized generator or trip an inverter.
Purely resistive loads — incandescent bulbs, heaters, kettles, toasters — have essentially no surge: their starting and running watts are the same. Motor-driven and compressor loads are where the gap opens up. When you size backup power, add the running watts of everything on at once, then add the surge of only the single largest motor, since two large motors are very unlikely to start in the same instant.
These are typical ranges for planning; the nameplate on your own appliance always wins, and a plug-in power meter beats any chart for a load you can measure. Feed the figures into the Generator Size, Inverter Size and Battery Bank calculators, or read what size generator do I need for the full method.
Sources: NEC Chapter 9 Table 8 (conductor resistance), NEC 310.16 (ampacity), NEC Chapter 9 Tables 1/4/5 (conduit areas & THHN), ASTM B258 (AWG geometry), NREL (peak sun hours) · All sources