How to find microwave wattage. Your microwave generates radio waves, which means it’s not unlike radio or TV. They all work by means of waves.
Specifically, these waves are inside your microwave. When they are absorbed by the food you’re heating, they produce heat and make the food hot.
This is what heats food. One way of determining how fast your microwaves will be able to do their job is to check how powerful the microwaves are.
In general, microwaves with higher wattage ratings can heat faster than those with lower wattage ratings so make sure you always check your oven’s wattage rating before putting in any large cuts of meat or other foods that need heating up right away.
How to find microwave wattage
Check the label on the inside of the door or in an owner’s manual or manufacturer’s website for your oven’s wattage.
A typical range of wattages
The output wattage of microwave ovens varies considerably from model to model, but higher wattages generally provide more power than lower wattages.
Smaller units typically have between 600 and 800 watts while larger units tend to select between 1,200 and 1,650 watts.
Both manufacturers offer a range of output ratings with your choice between 700-1200 and 1200-1600 as an example.
Look in the following places
It’s easy to find the wattage of your microwave by checking the user manual or visiting online sites that display this information. Wattage is typically listed on the machine itself in clear view.
If it isn’t, you can test wattage yourself fairly easily since most microwaves with similar styles have near-identical ones.
The average range for a standard microwave is 600-1200W and there are 800W microwaves even though their upper limit is usually set by the user’s particular model.
Wattage estimation
If you can’t find your microwave’s user manual or your label for wattage, there’s a quick and easy test you can do to figure out what the power is.
Just fill a microwave-safe cup with exactly 8 ounces of cold water, put it in the oven, set it for 4 minutes at high power, and watch through the window as the water heats.
The time that it takes for the water to boil will tell you about its power. A 1000-watt microwave will have boiling water around 2 minutes in, and an 800-watt microwave will take around 2:30 minutes.
For 700-watts it should be 3 mins or so. After cooking the water, let it cool off as you don’t want to burn yourself when picking up this potentially hot liquid.
Remember that if spilled hot liquid on a normal household surface could damage wood floors and other things – use a mat or something when reheating foods in microwaves to keep surfaces safe.
lower wattage
To match the power of a microwave with a lower wattage, simply divide the desired wattage by your microwave’s wattage.
Shift the decimal two places to the right to get the percentage power you should set your machine to.
So if you want to mimic a 600W one with a 900W unit you would input 60% (900/600=1.5 so 1.5*100 = 150 so 100+150=250), and if your machine is 1,200W and needs to mimic an 800W microwave then you would round 66.67% up (80%) because 80% is what you’d enter in this case.
higher wattage
You can’t accurately determine how long a dish will take to cook just by plugging in an appliance with a higher wattage; you need to keep an eye on the cooking time and time it accordingly.
For every extra 100 watts, add 10 seconds of cook time for every minute of cook time.
So if something takes 2 minutes in a 1,200-watt microwave on 100% power, then it would take 2 minutes plus 20 seconds in a 1,000-watt one.
How to find microwave wattage
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