How Many Amps Does A Dryer Use: A Comprehensive Analysis
Nowadays, almost every family around the globe possesses a hair dryer in their house, it’s a popular household appliance. However, people only care about the drying performance of the dryer and pay very little attention to its electric current along with energy rating. Do you know how many amps does a dryer use? In the case the issue never crosses your mind, this article could provide with the answer and some interesting information.
How Many Amps Does A Dryer Use
In most of the case, you should be able to find the rating of the dryer electric current on the information label of the appliance. Otherwise, you may have to do some conversions. Old dryers often use 15 – 20 amps but modern products could go as high as 30 amps. Generally speaking, hair dryers are surprisingly powerful and energy-hungry for their sizes. Therefore, it’s very unwise to underestimate the hair dryer influence on the house electrical system.
Before you buy a fryer, you must ensure that its handling characteristics and electric ratings are suitable for your house. It’s not exactly an expensive investment that requires thorough inspection but to buy an electric appliance without proper consideration is strongly ill-advised nonetheless. Beside the fact the dryer may be unable to satisfy your need, you would risk the integrity of the house wiring arrangement if you buy on a whim.
The Consequences Of Underestimating The Dyer Impact On The System
So you are in rush to get ready for work, you grab your dryer, plug it in and without warning, you are surrounded by darkness. There are many things that could cause power overload but if they often happen when you drying your hair, your dryer may be the culprit. In order to get rid of the constant outages or at least alleviate the situation somewhat, you could try out these methods below:
Check Out The Circuit Breaker
The circuit breaker job is to monitor the flow of electricity on a circuit and disconnects power when the current reach above the determined level. In order to avoid overheating and prevent electrical fire, it’s important not to choose a circuit breaker with a high rating. On the other hand, a breaker with a low rating is also inappropriate since it’s going to “trip” continuously which shall prove very frustrating for most people.
For example, if your dyer rating is 30 amps but your breaker is rated at 20 amps, the breaker would trip every time you use the dryer. In contrast, if you use a 40 amps breaker on a circuit that is designed to carry 30 amps, the current would be allowed to pass through undisturbed till it exceeds 40 amps. This is extremely dangerous since by the time the breaker could do its job, the entire system may overheat already.
Reduce The Number Of Appliances
One of the simplest ways to solve power outages caused by circuit overload is to reduce the number of appliances in use on one circuit. For instance, in the summer/winter, people often use many devices to keep the house temperature at an acceptable level. Leaving multiple appliances on at the same time may generate a load that exceeds the capacity of the electrical wiring.
For the solution, it’s recommended that you disperse all plugged in device across the house circuits. You could use extension so you don’t have to concentrate many appliances on a particular circuit. In order to figure out the number of the circuits you have in the house, you should check out the breaker box. If needed, you could call an electrician over and let him take a look at the breaker box as well as the house electrical system.
Increase The Circuit Power Rating
Homes that are built before the end of the 20th century often have circuits with a rather low power rating compared to modern day appliances. As a result, it could be difficult for you to use hair dryers with high power ratings in such houses. While it’s easy to buy a hair dryer that matches the power rating of the house circuits, you should consider updating the house wiring.
By getting new internal wiring, you would be able to increase the circuit power rating as well as solve a wide range of electrical problems. It’s always good to know that the electrical system of your house is safe, modern and up to date. Technically speaking, you could attempt to do the wiring on your own as long as you have the tools and know exactly what to do. If you need help, there are a lot of places that offer rewiring and maintenance service.
Give Your Dryer Its Own Circuit
If the above methods appear to be ineffective of not feasible to you, you could give your dryer its personal circuit with a proper rating. That should solve your overload issue or significantly reduce the number of times it happens.
“How Many Watts Does A Mini Fridge Use?”: A Detailed Answer
Compact refrigerators, or mini fridges, are primarily used to store foods and drinks in dorm rooms, game rooms, home offices, garages and alike. Thanks to the fridges humble profile, they have a very limited space requirement so you could conveniently place them anywhere you see fit. Nonetheless, you are in for a surprise if you assume that mini fridges use less energy compared to standard fridges simply because they are smaller.
Want to know how many watts does a mini fridge use? Then you could find the answer right down below along with a couple of important information on the side.
What is the cost of running the average mini fridges?
Here is an interesting fact: For most the time, mini fridges actually use more electricity per cubic feet than other standard size fridges. The cost of running a full-size refrigerator is only about twice as much as a compact fridge one-quarter of its size. As a result, a 4.4-cubic-feet compact refrigerator could cost you $27 a year while a much larger 20.6-cubic- feet fridge only cost you $47 in the same time period.
There are two reasons behind this: First, there isn’t a lot of room for insulation. Second, mini fridges have considerably more area per cubic feet to accommodate food and drink which require additional electricity to keep everything cool. Of course, there are many other contributing factors too such as the unit age, the room placement, the defrost setting and so on.
In general, provided that the setting is similar, mini fridges would have lower energy efficiency compare to full-size refrigerators. Most people don’t notice the slight difference in their utility bills though because compact refrigerators often cost you well below $5 per month. To have cold snacks and beverages in your hand while watching sport or playing games could easily justify the less than ideal efficiency.
You should be able to find an eye catchy yellow and black Energy Guide Label somewhere on the fridge body. It would tell you the estimated amount of energy the refrigerator could use in a year along with its projected c cost. Products with an Energy Star rating on their label tend to consume less energy compared to other models.
The estimate electricity usage and associated cost of mini fridges from popular brands
Do remember that the cost could vary a lot in reality, depending on the local utility rates as well as well individual preferences. The products down below are simply examples, there are more products on the market for you to choose. Nonetheless, these examples should offer you a general idea of what to expect when it comes to mini fridges electricity usage and operation cost.
1.7 cubic refrigerators
- Galanz fridge: 230 kWh/ year with a yearly cost of $28
- Haier fridge: 200 kWh/ year with a yearly cost of $24
- Igloo fridge: 318 kWh/ year with a yearly cost of $34
3.2/3.3 cubic refrigerators
- Igloo fridge: 332 kWh/ year with a yearly cost of $35
- Haier fridge: 272 kWh/ year with a yearly cost of $31
- Frigidaire fridge: 220 kWh/ year with a yearly cost of $26
- Danby fridge: 266 kWh/ year with a yearly cost of $28
4.5 cubic refrigerators
- GE fridge: 332 kWh/ year with a yearly cost of $35
- MicroChill fridge: 259 kWh/ year with a yearly cost of $28
How many amps does a mini fridge use?
The refrigerator ampere is often listed in the manual or on the fridge front/back labels, you could even look for it online. It’s also simple to manually calculate the ampere of a mini fridge, you only need to use this formula: Amperage = Watts/Volts. For example, if you have a 120 Voltage and 240 Wattage then your mini fridge shall have an Amperage of 2.
How many watts does it take to run a refrigerator on a generator?
As a rule of thumb, the generator wattage must be 1.5 times higher than the refrigerator running wattage to start the unit. This is due to the fact that fridge requires an extra jolt of electricity to jump-start its compressor motor. Take a good look at the output rating of the generator in order to make sure it can handle the fridge electricity requirement.
How to take care of your mini fridge?
- It’s recommended that you keep the fridge away from direct sunlight and heat sources.
- When you first plug in the fridge, set it at a medium-cold setting
- Don’t try to squeeze too many things into the fridge. That would leave no room for the cold air to circulate and chill the items.
- Clean the fridge and vacuum its coil on a monthly basis to maintain an ideal performance.
- Get rid of all perishable item if you intend to go away for a couple of months.
Conclusion
And that is most of what you should know about running mini fridges and its related issue, pretty simple to absorb, right? “How many watts does a mini fridge use?” It’s not easy to figure out the answer when you don’t know much about the fridge characteristic. But with the help of the article, you should have no trouble obtaining the wattage of any compact refrigerator you could find.
What Is The Difference Between 220 And 240 Volt Outlets ?
Whenever you want to move your electric appliances, you must have a clear understanding of the difference between 220 and 240-volt outlets. Each appliance needs to be plugged into an outlet that matches its voltage; otherwise, the appliance would not work correctly. As a result, if you intend to relocate your washing machine, microwave, refrigerator and alike, you must ensure that proper outlets are around. Using the right outlet for the right appliance is the key to preserve the appliance quality and avoid potential hazards. In the case you want to know more, down below is additional information about the outlets characteristic and associated issues.
The plug
There are about 15 types of plug currently in use nowadays, each of them come with a letter for convenient identification. The name of the plug has no special meaning so you don’t really have to worry too much about it. Certain plugs could be compatible with both 220 and 240-volt arrangements so do remember to exam the outlet and appliance voltage beforehand. Act carelessly here and you could run into trouble: At best, the appliance would not work as designed which is ill efficient. At worst, the conductor would overheat and that would lead to significant fire hazard.
Important note
As mentioned above, depending on the manufacturer wish, one plug type could have different voltage in different appliances. Therefore, the list of 220V and 240V plugs down below is compiled using both the plug capability and country voltage as references.
There are approximately 13 types of plugs that could be seen on 220V electric appliances base on the plug capability. They are C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N and O. Some of these plugs are used across the globe but there are country exclusive plugs as well. Base on country voltage, there are 12 plugs: A, B, C, D, E, F, G, I, K, L, M and N
What does a 240v plug look like?
There are also 13 types of plug currently in circulation that could be seen on 240V electric appliances base on the plug capability. The 240v plug list is pretty much the same as the 220v one. Similar to their 220V counterparts, some of these plugs could only be found on remote corners of the world. However, base on country voltage, there are only 3 240v plugs which are G, I and D.
The outlet
What does a 220v outlet look like?
220v outlets mostly correspond to their plugs but there are some outlets that are able to accept more than one type of plug. The examples include:
What does a 240v outlet look like?
The 240v outlet’s compatibility with the appliances is also similar to their 220v cousin. It’s advised that you should connect the appliance plug with an outlet that matches its type just to be on the safe side
The design of the outlet
The average 220/ 240v appliances utilize 3 wires
There is no neutral wire here but when one of the hot wire is positive, the other is negative. That arrangement complete the circuit. However, there is another wire scheme that is employed by appliances like clothes dryers and so on. It consists of 4 wires
As a result, certain appliances could have up to 4 prongs instead of the usual 3 in their plug.
Conclusion
That is most of what you should know about the differences between 220 and 240-volt outlets, not too hard to take in, right? It could be a bit confusing at first but as long as you get the hang of it then you should have no trouble identifying the outlet. This knowledge would help you a lot when it comes to remodeling the house and rearranging your electric appliance.
5 Nasty Things You Do To Your Washer
Have you got washing machine problems? Relax. There is no need to panic. Before you decide to call out a professional to check why your washing machine won’t spin, it is always a good idea to read your washing machine manual and see., Iif it can help you troubleshoot what could be wrong with your washer.
Most washing machines, regardless of brand, come with a manual that provides instructions for simple repairs. If you want to take a shot at trying to solve what you think is just a minor issue, make sure your machine is switched off and unplugged at the mains before you begin.
In this article, we present to you some simple ideas to try, which could fix your washing machine issues;
Why is your washing machine not spinning?
1. Unbalanced Load
Weight imbalance can affect your washing machines’ sensors. It is always good to mix large and small items in one load to avoid overfilling the tub and keep everything working.
2. Drain Properly
If you’re certain that your tub is not overfilled or unbalanced, try to check whether or not the washer is properly draining or not, as this can be the root of the problem.
3. Check the Lid Switch and the Tab
The washer may halt during certain cycles, if the plastic tab is broken, try pressing and releasing the switch. You should hear a click when you do this, but if you don’t then that means it’s broken and needs to be replaced.
4. Check Your Washing Machines’ Drive Belt
It may be time to replace worn or broken belt. Perhaps the belt is just loose, try to tighten it and see if it works.
5. Blocked Filters Can Also Be the Culprit
Clear the drain pump in the washer by pulling the filter out. If you feel like you can’t rectify the problem yourself, call a technician.
If these measures don’t work, then it’s time to call a professional appliance repair person, as there may be a problem with the controls.
Faulty Washing Machine
Aside from the problems mentioned above, which may be able to help you fix why your washing machine wont spin, there are other factors that can cause a washing machine not to agitate that requires the expertise of a repairman. Keep in mind that every washer make and brand is different, so it's not always easy to diagnose the fault unless seen by a service guy.
Common Washing Machine Faults Are Due To;
If your washing machine is acting up, does this mean that you should call it quits and purchase a brand new unit? Or try and see if you can have it repaired? There are many things to take into account before you make a decision to have the unit repaired or replaced. One of the reasons to consider is, if the repair would exceed the cost of a brand new washer.
Your washing appliance is a key part of your household. Under normal circumstances, washers typically can last for many years and don't give the owner too much trouble. To settle on whether you should get yourself a new unit or have your old one repaired, check out these viewpoints:
Age
Your washing machine can last anywhere from 10 to 15 years. Of course, this number is based on usage, care and the brand. If you happen to use an old model, expect to pay for a pricey repair cost, if something goes wrong. So, it is smart to weigh the price of repairs against the cost of a new washing machine. If, it is more than 15 years old, it's time to get a new one.
Type
The type of clothes washer you have plays a major role in whether or not it should be replaced.
2 Types of Washing Machine
1) Top loading washing machine
This is the type where you load the clothes from the top of the machine. There is a cover that you have to open to load or unload the clothes into the tub that functions as the washing vessel, rinser and drier, as well, if it is a fully automatic clothes washer.
2) Front loading washing machine
Top loading washing machines are also classified as: fully automatic and semi automatic. With this type of washer, the clothes are loaded from the front opening. Front loading washing machines are very economical to use, because this type consume less water, detergent and electric energy. Compared to the top loading type of clothes washer, studies show that front loading machines produce better washing results.
In these tough times, wasting money is not an option. Do some research first, if you are looking to acquire the services of a repairman or if you are planning to buy a new washing machine. Never make a purchase impulsively, in order for you to get the best item that’s equipped with the best features, the best price and comes with a lifetime warranty.
Washing machines, like many pieces of equipment, were manufactured with limitations. We tend to make small errors when operating our washers that may affect the performance of this great laundry helper over time.
You surely can prevent making premature calls to washing machine repair technicians by learning how to avoid these common mistakes.
1. Overstuffing your washer
Overloading your washing machine makes the motor work too hard and eat up more energy. Do not pack too many clothes in one load to avoid putting unnecessary wear on it.
2. Not cleaning out dispensers
Always wipe down the detergent and fabric softener slot when you’re done washing to prevent build-up that could cause a clog.
3. Do not use too much detergent
Putting in too much detergent will wear on your machine plus suds will cause the clothes washer to overflow. Additionally, too much detergent doesn’t mean ultra clean clothes instead it will make them sudsy and stiff.
4. Do not forget to empty your pockets
Not emptying your pockets before loading the clothes into the washer is, definitely a bad idea. Coins and other stuff left in your pockets can do damage to the inner workings of the machine and can clog the drain, as well.
5. Forgetting to take the clothes out right after washing
Letting clothes stay in the tub means lingering moisture, which provides the ideal atmosphere for mold and mildew to grow. You wouldn’t want a foul-smelling laundry and machine, don’t you?
Clean the internal components to remove any lime scale and detergent which may have built up by carrying out maintenance wash on a monthly basis to keep your clothes washer working to its full potential.
A broken clothes washer means disaster. So, if and when your washing machine won’t spin, don’t get flustered. You can actually find washing machine repair guides online that shows you the step-by-step process, as well as, a list of the most common parts that cause the tub not to spin.
These washing machine care tips will educate you on how to keep your clothes washer functioning properly and deliver outstanding results with the right care and how to fix simple issues, so you can make your clothes washing task easy, fast and effective.
How To Easily Fix Your Washing Machine For Free
Have you planned for a very critical moment in your life late at night, but are currently in a panic only because your washing machine suddenly refuses to do it’s job properly just when you need it the most? Have you ever had that one chance to help out a friend who has, only to realize that you have no idea how to? To make matters worse, maybe you do have complete knowledge of how to, but you think you do not have the resources. On a lighter note, maybe you’ve been using your machine for quite some time now and simply want it to run the way it did brand new. What if I told you that you actually have everything you need to fix almost all your much-loved and much-needed machine’s problems for little to no cost and effort at all?
A Washing Machine That Refuses To Run
Most people jump to the conclusion that a machine that does not wash is a broken machine and that it needs to be serviced by a professional. Fortunately, the cause of the problem is usually not as serious as it seems.
A Washing Machine That Shakes Too Much
Aside from shortening your machine’s lifespan, excessive vibrations may cause serious damage that could prevent your machine from operating efficiently.
Solutions:
A Washing Machine That Refuses To Drain
You set your usual washing machine cycle, go out to grab a coffee while planning your next appointment. After an hour of trying to maximize every minute of your time, you come back home and are greeted with a machine that is stuck mid-cycle.
Solutions:
A Washing Machine That Leaks
If left unattended, a leaking washing machine could lead to serious accidents. Make sure that all power cables within the area are secure even after adjacent portions of the floor are submerged in water.
Solutions:
A Washing Machine That Makes Too Much Noise
Abnormal noises should always be given immediate attention because although it may not always mean there is a problem, it could eventually lead to major damage.
Solutions:
A Washing Machine That Doesn’t Dispense Detergent Properly
Observe the wash cycle of your machine from time to time as old or dirty machines might not be dispensing detergent properly. The wash cycle may continue, but your clothes will not be cleaned efficiently.
Solutions:
A Machine That Smells Bad
Unpleasant smell could indicate contamination or simply bad maintenance.