- The amount of electricity used by appliances, including refrigerators, is measured in wattage. One watt equals one mathematical unit of power, or one joule per second. Sometimes, you'll find an appliance's electric currents expressed in amps, which can be defined as the amount of electrons flowing through a circuit at any given point in time. For the purpose of hooking up to a generator, you'll need to know your fridge's wattage.
- Refrigerators don't use one amount of wattage all the time they're running. They alternate between running at a very high wattage (200 to 700 watts) when the compressor is working at full speed, and at a very low wattage (57 to 160 watts) when the compressor periodically shuts down. These figures apply to an average refrigerator, so a very big one will use more wattage, since there is more space to cool, while a very small one will use less wattage. If hooking your fridge to a generator, you'll need to go by the highest wattage.
- If you're plugging in multiple appliances into your generators, an estimate of your fridge's wattage based on averages isn't enough. You'll need to find out your specific fridge's wattage. To do that, you can hook the appliance up to a watt-hour meter while the fridge is running. Alternately, you can look for the fridge's wattage label. It's usually on a back or side corner of the fridge or near the power cord.
- If the label on your refrigerator tells you the amount of amps put out by the fridge, you'll have to do some math. Simply multiply that number (the amperage) by the number of volts needed to run the appliance (in the U.S., that's usually 120). The resulting number is the wattage. However, if your fridge has a transformer that converts the electricity from alternating current (AC) to direct current (DC) you multiply the wattage by the direct current voltage. In this case, the label will tell you the voltage. Look for an integer followed by a big "V," such as "9V." The amperage is typically followed by an "A."
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