How many watts does a refrigerator use?

The fridge is usually the first thing people want to keep running in a power outage, so it’s the first number you need when you size a generator or a backup battery. It also runs around the clock, so it shows up on every electric bill. Which number you need depends on the job: the watts it takes to start and run for a generator, or the energy it uses over a year for the cost.

How many watts a fridge, mini fridge and freezer use

Plan for 400 to 700 running watts and up to about 2,600 starting watts for a full-size refrigerator when you size a generator, but expect it to average only about 40 to 80 watts over a whole day.

Each number answers a different question. Starting watts are the short jolt the compressor needs to get going, running watts are what it pulls while it hums, and the average counts the long stretches when it’s off. A generator has to cover the first two. Your bill and a battery’s capacity depend on the third.

The full-size sizing figures come from generator makers’ wattage charts, which don’t quite agree and leave some headroom because most fridges draw less, and the yearly figures cover most new ENERGY STAR models. The mini fridge and freezer watts are from one model each, a Danby mini fridge and a Frigidaire chest freezer, with starting watts estimated at two to three times the running watts.

What size generator or battery runs a fridge

To size a generator, add up the running watts of everything you want to power at once, then add the single highest starting wattage.

With Champion’s figures, a fridge (400 W), a microwave (800 W) and an LED TV (80 W) add up to 1,280 running watts. Add the fridge’s 2,200 starting watts and you need a generator rated for at least 3,480 starting watts. If a fridge and a freezer could kick on at the same moment, add both surges. The generator size calculator does this sum for a list of common appliances.

A battery or portable power station has to pass the same two tests: its continuous rating must cover the running watts and its surge rating the startup jolt. Its capacity then decides how long it lasts, and that’s where the average comes in. A 472-kWh fridge uses about 1.3 kWh a day, but your own meter reading beats any average. The battery runtime calculator turns a battery’s capacity into hours if you enter the fridge’s average watts as the load.

Why a fridge averages far less than its running watts

A refrigerator’s compressor runs only part of the time, switching on and off to hold the temperature, so the fridge spends much of the day drawing little power.

The Danby mini fridge shows how big the gap is. At 110 watts, its rated 220 kWh a year works out to about 2,000 hours of running, or roughly 5.5 hours a day. The rest of the time it’s off.

The startup surge is shorter still. A motor draws about three times its running current for a moment as it starts. That spike barely shows up on your bill, but it decides whether a generator or battery can start the fridge at all.

How to find your own fridge’s watts

Start with the yellow EnergyGuide label for yearly kWh, check the rating plate for running watts, and use a plug-in meter if you want the real number.

Use the label’s kWh, not its dollar figure, which assumes a fixed price. BSH’s bottom-freezer model B36CL84SN is labeled 568 kWh and $80 a year at 14 cents per kWh, but at $0.18 it costs about $102. If the label is gone, look up your model number in ENERGY STAR’s list of certified refrigerators or on the maker’s spec sheet.

The rating plate is usually inside the refrigerator near the front. If it lists only volts and amps, multiply them. The Danby mini fridge is rated 1.3 amps at 115 volts, about 150 watts, a bit more than the 110 watts Danby lists, so treat plate math as an upper limit.

To see what yours really uses, put a plug-in usage meter, such as the P3 Kill A Watt P4400, between it and the wall. It shows the live watts and the total kWh, and handles up to 15 amps on a standard 120-volt outlet, plenty for a fridge.

1. Plug the meter into the wall and the fridge into the meter.
2. Wait for the compressor to start. The watts reading while it hums is your running watts.
3. Leave the meter in place for at least a full day, a week if you can, and use the fridge normally.
4. Divide the kWh total by the number of days and multiply by 365.

If the meter shows 9 kWh after 7 days, that’s about 1.3 kWh a day, or roughly 470 kWh a year.

What a refrigerator costs to run

A typical new full-size fridge rated at 472 kWh a year, the middle of the ENERGY STAR list, costs about $85 a year, or about $7 a month, at the US average of $0.18 per kWh.

At that rate, new full-size models run about $60 to $126 a year, and the Danby mini fridge or a 7-cubic-foot chest freezer about $40. Your electricity rate matters more than the model, though. In August 2026 average residential rates ran from about 13 cents per kWh in Nevada to more than 47 cents in Hawaii, so the same 472-kWh fridge costs about $60 a year in one and $223 in the other. To find your exact rate, see how much it costs to run an appliance.

In the electricity cost calculator, enter the fridge’s average watts and 24 hours a day, not its running watts, which would count the compressor as running nonstop. A 472-kWh fridge averages 54 watts.

What makes a fridge use more

Size, layout and features make the biggest difference in a fridge’s rated use. Top-freezer models tend to use the least energy, and the most efficient models are typically 16 to 20 cubic feet.

That’s worth weighing when you buy. Among certified 19- to 23-cubic-foot models, the median top-freezer is rated at 396 kWh a year, about $71 at $0.18 per kWh, while bottom-freezer and side-by-side models come in at 584 and 600 kWh, about $105 to $108. An ice maker adds more: among 14- to 19-cubic-foot top-freezer models, the median is 362 kWh a year without one and 450 kWh with one.

Placement and habits matter too. Keep it at 35 to 38 °F, away from the oven, the dishwasher and direct sun, with a few inches of space behind it. Clean the condenser coils on older models, replace door seals that aren’t airtight, and keep the door closed.