A microwave oven is a handy kitchen appliance that uses microwave radiation to cook and reheat food.
It is very easy to use and safe for heating and cooking a variety of foods. However, the radiation used in microwaves can be detrimental to humans if not used accordingly.
A microwave is a cost-effective kitchen appliance and usually uses relatively less energy to operate compared to a cook stove and electric oven. Follow our article to get a better understanding of how many watts your microwave is using.
Watts usage for a microwave
A standard microwave for a residential kitchen uses 800-1000 watts to operate. However, the watts requirement for a microwave depends on its size and power rating. For instance, a compact microwave uses 600-800 watts, whereas a commercial microwave uses more than 1000 watts to operate.
The watts usage of a microwave oven can vary depending on the microwave oven size and power rating.
If you know the power rating of your microwave oven you can easily calculate the watts usage of your microwave for different time duration by following the explanation.
Per minute:
On average, commercially available microwaves use between 16.4 watts to 49.1 watts per minute depending on their size.
A small 700-Watt microwave use 16.4 watts per minute whereas, a large 2100-Watt microwave use around 49 watts per minute.
On the other hand, the most commonly used 1000- Watt microwave use around 23.4 watts per minute.
Per hour:
Most microwaves for residential use are usually rated at 700- Watt to 1250- Watts and microwaves for commercial use can be rated at 1200- Watt to even 3000- Watt.
The number of watts a microwave uses is always greater than the rated wattage for the oven. Microwave watt rate refers to the output watt meaning how much energy It will make available for heating.
A 1000- Watt microwave use 1402.7 watts on average to operate for one hour. As the microwave is rated at 1000-Watt, it will make 1000 watts of energy it will make available for heating.
Per day:
The watts usage of your oven per day depends on how many minutes or hours you are operating the microwave. On average a typical small house uses the microwave for around 15 to 30 minutes per day.
If you have a 1000-Watt microwave and you are using it for 1 hour every day, it would use 1402.7 watts of power per day.
Per Month:
The watts usage of your microwave oven per month depends on the oven size and how many hours you are operating.
For instance, you have a 1000-Watt microwave oven that uses 1400 watts per hour, and on average you are operating for 30 minutes per day. The monthly use of watts of the microwave would be 21000 watts.
And if your average use per day remains the same for the whole year, the year use of watts for the 1000-watt microwave would be 252000 watts per year.
Startup:
The microwave oven uses more watts for a little time to start operating and it is known as a startup requirement. The start-up requirement for a 900-Watt microwave oven may rise up to 2700 watts.
However, this power surge only happens for a millisecond, and then it returns to normal.
How many watts does a 700, 900, 1000, 1100 & 1200-watt microwave use?
The watts usage of a microwave depends on the size and power rating. The most common sizes of a microwave for use in a residential kitchen are 700, 900, 1000, 1100 & 1200-watt microwave ovens.
The 700-watt and 900-watt microwave is considered a small microwave oven. The small 700-watt microwave oven uses 981.9 watts to operate, and the 900-watt microwave uses on average 1262.5 watts to operate.
The most common standard size of a residential microwave oven is a 1000-watt microwave. A 1000- watt microwave uses on average 1402.7 watts of power to operate.
The 1100-watt microwave is considered a moderately sized microwave oven for a residential kitchen. An 1100-watt microwave oven uses on average 1543 watts to operate efficiently.
The 1200-watt microwave oven is considered a large-sized oven for use in a residential kitchen. A 1200-watt microwave oven uses on average 1683.3 watts to operate.
How much does it cost to run a microwave?
The cost to run a microwave depends on the power rating of the microwave, operating duration, and the cost of the electricity in your area.
Camper microwave:
Camper microwaves are small and portable microwaves usually rated at 600 Watt to 800 Watt. The running cost for these small microwaves typically lies between 13 cents and 21 cents per hour, depending on their location in the USA.
On average the running cost of a camper microwave oven is 15 cents per hour in the USA. Let us assume you use your camper microwave for an average of 30 minutes per day. Your monthly cost for the microwave would be 2.25 USD.
Convection microwave:
Convection microwaves are modern and have two modes including the standard mode and the convection mode. These ovens are usually rated at 1000 watts to 1250 watts.
The running cost of these ovens can vary depending on the size and location of use. On average, the running cost for these ovens is 25 cents to 44 cents per hour.
RV microwave:
RV microwaves are designed for your Recreational vehicle. They are usually rated at 900 watts. The cost of running an RV microwave is between 15 cents to 25 cents per hour.
What factors determine microwave watt usage?
There are a few factors that determine the watt usage by a microwave oven. These factors are explained below,
Size:
The size of the microwave oven directly affects the watt usage by a microwave. The bigger the microwave higher the watt rating thus, the bigger the microwave oven uses more watts to operate.
Wattage Rating:
The wattage rating is the most important factor which directly determines the watt usage by a microwave. A 1200-watt microwave always tends to use more watts than a 900-watt microwave oven.
Duration of Operation:
The watt usage of a microwave oven also depends on how much time the microwave oven is operating. The more time you are operating a microwave oven, the more watts the microwave is using.
Operational Temperature:
Another important factor is the operational temperature that determines the watts usage of a microwave.
If you are operating a microwave at more temperature it will use more watts while if you operate a microwave at less temperature it will use fewer watts.
For instance, if you are operating a microwave at 50 degrees Celsius, it must use fewer watts than operating a microwave at 100 degrees Celsius.
How do I check the power consumption of my microwave?
To check the power consumption of your microwave, you need to follow a few steps. Follow these three steps to check the power consumption of your microwave.
Determine the wattage rating:
In the first step, you need to determine the wattage rating of your microwave oven. To determine this, check the label of your microwave.
If your microwave is rated at 700 Watt, that means output wattage is 700 watts and the input wattage is on average 981.9 watts. Therefore, your 700-watt microwave uses 981.9 watts power to operate for 1 hour.
Determine operational hours:
To check the power consumption of your microwave oven, you need to determine how many hours you are operating the microwave per day and per month.
It is obvious that, if you are operating your microwave for longer period the power consumption will be high.
Determine power consumption per month:
In this step your need to determine how much power your microwave is consuming per month.
If you are operating microwave rated at 700 watt and you are operating it on average 1 hour per day, the monthly power consumption would be 918.9 watts multiplied by 30. Thus, your 700 watt microwave oven is using 29457 watts of power per month.
Determine the electricity tariff:
After determining the power consumption of your microwave per month, you can calculate the approximate cost of running the microwave per month. To do this, you need to know how much your electricity provider is charging for per unit of electricity.
Let us assume, your electricity provider charges 15 cents per 1 kw of electricity. If your 700-watt microwave uses 29457 watts or 29.457 kw of power per month, the approximate cost of running the microwave would be 4.41 USD per month.
Final thought:
A typical microwave for a kitchen at home takes 800-1000 watts to run. A microwave’s wattage usage, on the other hand, is determined by its size and power rating. A compact microwave, for example, requires 600-800 watts to run, but a commercial microwave uses more than 1000 watts.