The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

WATTS of a Mixer

BakerNewbie's picture
BakerNewbie

WATTS of a Mixer

When choosing a mixer, should its wattage be the factor to consider to determine its capabilities? I have a home mixer that's 700 watts -- and that seems to struggle to get my dough to window pane (it'll die at around 20 minutes). I'm now looking at "commercial" mixers, but some are rated at just 300 watts. I'm wondering if the commercial mixer will perform worse than my home mixer.

phaz's picture
phaz

Go by amps, more is better. Enjoy!

gerhard's picture
gerhard

watts is important. Let’s say you have two 360 watt electric motors one at 120v would 3 amp and the other at 240v would be 1.5 amps but both motors are capable of the same work.

suave's picture
suave

Wattage is current times voltage, so ampers and watts are pretty much an identical measure.

suave's picture
suave

Watts are more or less meaningless, they tell you what the peak power consumption of the device is, but nothing about how much of it is converted to useful work and how it's done.  So, a 700 Wt mixer is not necessarily better at kneading, or more "powerful" than a 300 Wt one.

gerhard's picture
gerhard

watts are always the same thing different voltage requires different amperage to perform the same work. Higher voltage requires thinner wires than lower voltage which is why higher voltage lower amp machines are preferred in commercial settings.

idaveindy's picture
idaveindy

@gerhard. Since he's a home-user, it's a good bet that he has only the one standard household voltage available for counter-top home appliances - whatever is standard in his country.  

I doubt he'd go to 3-phase. Nor the 2-leg voltage (220/240v in the US) typical of home ovens.

gerhard's picture
gerhard

the point I was making is 300 watts is 300 watts no matter if the voltage is 12v (25 amp) or 480v (0.625 amp) were the amps change in relation to the voltage. This is why the utilities charge you by the kilo watt hours used and not by amps.

north_by_midwest's picture
north_by_midwest

The only exception to this that I know of is that KitchenAid advertises both the theoretical power of their DC mixers (1.3 HP or 969 watts) and the actual measured output power to the mixer bowl (0.44 HP or 328 watts). They also publish numbers for the 1 HP versions. How that power is used is still a question (e.g. how efficient is the KA dough hook kneading action) but it will do better than pretty much any other consumer orbital mixer. The Bosch Universal and Ankarsrum have a completely different action so the comparing them is difficult, especially the Ankarsrum which, using the dough roller, doesn’t transmit all that much energy to the dough but also doesn’t get bogged down, giving a high capacity but longer kneading time.

idaveindy's picture
idaveindy

@BakerNewbie.  How to choose a mixer has been a frequent topic. See:

https://www.thefreshloaf.com/search/node/choosing%20mixer

and:

https://www.thefreshloaf.com/search/node/choose%20mixer

Good luck. Read the reviews, and check online owner manuals to see what the max dough weight (or max grams/cups of flour) is recommended by the manufacturer.

barryvabeach's picture
barryvabeach

Just to make sure this is clear,  watts is the power consumed by the motor.  If the machines are designed the same, and the motors have similar efficiencies,  and all other things are equal, higher watts could mean more power.   Generally, not all other things are equal, the KA, the Bosch Universal, and the Ankarsrum  ( probably the 3 most commonly used machines by posters here ) have a totally different design, so watts on one has absolutely no relationship to watts for the others.  It would be like saying a 300 horsepower  4 door sedan must be faster than a 250 hp motorcycle or a 200 hp boat because the sedan has more horsepower.  Manufacturers advertise, and often hype , watts , instead, like Dave says, you should read reviews to find what will work best for you. 

Mini Oven's picture
Mini Oven

into the works.  :)    My die hard home hand mixer is 170 watts

.....and 220V ~ 50Hz.   It has a very pleasant hum when working.  I don't think I'm abusive enough to kill it.

I like to get at least one hand in the dough.  

 

carlos.ribeiro's picture
carlos.ribeiro

It depends on what kind of wattage is being reported by the manufacturer:

  • PMPO (Peak Momentary Power Output), that can be regarded as the maximum power output the mixer can deliver within a very short interval of time (usually at the moment the mixer's motor is turned on), OR
  • RMS (Root Mean Squared), which is the maximum power output that the mixer can deliver continuously without failure. The RMS value of a mixer is quite less than the its PMPO one).

As you can see, one mixer having a high PMPO wattage will not necessarily deliver continuosly more power than another one having a much lower RMS wattage value.

Marty's picture
Marty

To me it depends more on the design of the mixer, not watts. C hook, spiral, Bosch type. They all have a different ways of getting the power to the dough. My old Bosch would power through just about anything. I don't remember the watts but am pretty sure it was less than 700. If I was you I'd research types of mixers and not put too much weight on watts.

Camarie's picture
Camarie
Camarie's picture
Camarie

I have these 2 mixers. They are commercially rated & both of them are very good!! I love them both!! The SP05 at the top has a 800-watt motor. The sp08 on the bottom has an induction motor rated at 1/4HP. They are made to last!!