How many watts does a toaster use?

April 2, 2022

Toasters can use a variety of different wattage settings and these can range between 800 Watt-hours (Wh) and 1500Wh. The average toaster wattage is 1200Wh. The watts used by a toaster determine its power and therefore how quickly it can heat and toast a slice of bread. The higher the watt rating for a toaster, the shorter the time needed to heat the air in order to dry the moisture from inside the bread and to brown the outside to a pleasing golden color.

The term Watt is derived from the name of a Scottish inventor and mechanical engineer from the 1700s. James Watt was in large part responsible for the invention of the steam engine, amongst a great many other things and his name has been given to the unit of measurement that quantifies the rate of energy transfer, particularly when referring to electricity.

The number of watts used by a toaster doesn’t change whether it is possible to get the desired result, it only determines the amount of time that you will have to wait until the toaster gets to the required temperature of around 350 Fahrenheit. All toasters will get to this eventually but those at the higher end of the wattage scale will get there in a more timely manner and there won’t be quite so long a wait.

Toaster with baked toast on kitchen desk
Toaster with baked toast on kitchen desk

Even though the air in the toaster is heated to 350F, the element inside the toaster can actually get as hot as 1200F. This is what produces the hot air to heat and brown the toast. There is very little danger in having an element heat to that temperature as they cool down again rapidly once they are switched off and are only ever at that temperature for a very limited amount of time until the bread has been toasted. The elements are also usually in a difficult place to reach, so the chances of being injured by accidental contact with them are miniscule.

A more powerful toaster often means a more expensive model so many people find that 1200Wh is a good medium ground between being inexpensive and relatively fast at making toast. Some of the more powerful 1500Wh versions are often used in hotels, when they are used as workhorses for making large volumes of toast quickly for breakfast to feed their guests.

So, in conclusion, the number of Watts that are used by toasters can vary by make and model but the easiest way to remember the difference is that the lower the wattage, the longer the toast will take to make, even on the highest settings on the particular toaster model. In general, 800Wh tends to be the minimum available while 1500Wh tends to be the maximum. The “Goldilocks area” where the price and the length of time you have to wait for your toast intersect is around 1200Wh. This seems to be the sensible compromise option between cost and speed and is one that continues to be popular.

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