From October until March my girlfriend lives with her electric blanket running almost 24/7. From watching the morning news to sleeping through the night this thing is plugged in. She even takes it with her on road trips in the RV. I guess it’s a better deal than running the central heating on full power. Seeing how often it was being used got me very interested in the power consumption.
Below we will discuss and test electric blanket wattage, explain how to work it out for yourself, and calculate the total electricity required.
How Many Watts is an Electric Blanket?
The average electric blanket uses between 40 to 100 watts.
The exact number depends on the size and model of your electric blanket. For example, a small single throw blanket uses 50W of less, while large double versions draw over 70W.
Generally, the power consumption is directly related to the size of your blanket. This is because the bigger blankets have larger internal heating elements due to the increased surface area. The bigger the heating element, the more power it consumes.
You should also be aware that many blankets have multiple heat settings. To reduce wattage from the maximum you can select a lower setting.
How to Find Out Your Electric Blanket Wattage
There’s 3 ways you can work out the wattage of an electric blanket.
- Check Product Specification
The quickest way is to look at the electric blanket’s specification. The watts (W) is usually written on a sticker on the base of the appliance. If not, you can check the user manual or the manufacturer’s website for technical details.
- Use a Wattmeter
A wattmeter is brilliant for getting a live wattage reading and tracking total energy usage of any appliance. You can simply plug it into your electric blanket to get instant information.
I used one to test my electric blanket which gave a live reading of 55.5W.
- Wattage Formula or Calculator
If you know the amperage and voltage of your electric blanket you can use this to find the maximum watt rating. Simply use the formula Amps x Volts = Watts. Or you can head over to the ‘Watt Calculator’ to work this out.
Electric Blanket Wattage Examples
Let’s take a look at specific examples of how many watts an electric blanket draws. Below is a collection of modern electric blankets with their listed power ratings.
| Electric Blanket Model | Power Rating (Watts) |
| Joom 145x65cm Electric Blanket | 50 |
| Kingavon King Size Electric Blanket | 60 |
| STAYWARM Single Size Superior Electric Underblanket | 60 |
| Kingavon Double Electric Blanket | 60 |
| Status Double Electric Under Blanket | 70 |
| Pifco Double Heated Underblanket | 80 |
| Status King Electric Under Blanket | 90 |
| Beurer HD75UK Electric Throw | 100 |
| Joom 140X110cm Winter Heated Electric Blanket | 100 |
As you can see, the power ratings vary between different electric blankets. So you should take the time to check your own appliance.
How Much Electricity Does an Electric Blanket Use?
You can use electric blanket wattage to work out how much electricity it uses. Plus this can be useful in understanding how much it costs to run your electric blanket.
A watt (W) is a measurement of power at a single point in time. A watt-hour (Wh) is the total amount of electricity used in an hour. For example, an electric blanket drawing 70W would use 70Wh when running for an hour.
Happily, electricity bills are recorded in kilowatt-hours (kWh). A kilowatt is simply 1000 watts. So a 70W electric blanket running for 1 hour uses 0.07kWh.
In reality, you might use an electric blanket for 5 hours a day. This means a 70W electric blanket uses about 350Wh or 0.35kWh electricity a day. That’s 10.5kWh a month and 127.75kWh a year.
That’s a rough electricity cost of $0.047 a day or $111.21 a year to run a heated blanket for 5 hours every day!
The exact number will vary from user to user. You might run for fewer hours, and probably don’t use it during the summer months.
Using an Electric Blanket Off-Grid
If you’re planning to use your electric blanket in an off-grid situation like a power outage, RV, boat, semi-truck, or similar, the information above is important. It enables you to pick the correct power products and know how long you can run them for.
You can either use a power inverter, portable power station, or generator for AC electricity.
To make sure everything runs smoothly you should check two things on this equipment – wattage capacity and total energy capacity.
Your power source, like an inverter, should have a wattage capacity of at least 20% more than your electric blanket. This ensures it will be able to deliver enough power as they are never 100% efficient.
Secondly, you need to ensure your energy source, like a battery, has enough energy to run the electric blanket for the required amount of time. As we already know, it will use about 70Wh electricity every hour. This is the equivalent to 5.83Ah on a 12V battery.
How Many Watts Does an Electric Blanket Use Summary
I hope you now have a clear understanding of how many watts an electric blanket uses.
These devices don’t draw an enormous amount of power, it’s similar to a widescreen TV. You could easily run one in a campervan or RV for short periods of time without depleting your battery. For use during the coldest months, it is a cost effective way to keep warm. But you should be aware that using one every single day uses a significant amount of electricity over a year.
