Backup power, sized for what you actually need to keep on
Four plans people search for, each run against every power station and generator we track, with the picks that clear them and the reasons the rest do not. Every figure is the maker’s own, and every unit is screened against the recall database before it is allowed a place.
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Home backupThe best portable power stations for home backup
A fridge, the internet, a few lamps and everyone's phones through a day without the grid, indoors, with no engine to run. Sized on the harder end of every range.
Buy the EcoFlow DELTA 2 Max if you want one box you can carry and add to later.
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Camping and road tripsThe best portable power stations for camping
Two nights of phones, a laptop and a few lights is a small job with a wide range, and the range is what catches people out. All three picks cover the easy end of it on one charge; the hard end takes a panel at the site or a full charge before you leave.
Buy the Anker SOLIX C1000 unless you want something lighter to carry or more headroom for a longer stay.
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CPAPBest portable power station for a CPAP (2026)
A CPAP is a small, steady load. The heated humidifier decides how long a battery lasts, so we size on it being on and show how much longer each pick lasts with it off.
Buy the Jackery Explorer 1000 v2 for one night, and the Anker SOLIX F3800 if the outage could run to three.
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Portable generatorsThe best portable generators for home backup
Generators judged on the one number that decides the job: the watts on tap for the second a fridge and a chest freezer both restart at once. Not battery capacity, and not the running total.
Buy the Westinghouse WGen9500DF.
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RefrigeratorWhich power station will run your refrigerator?
A typical fridge needs about 2,000 watt-hours a day. Buy a station that holds that much you can actually use, and check it can start the compressor.
For a typical fridge, get the PECRON F3000LFP: it runs a full day on one charge, the lowest price that does.
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Sump pump
The best portable power stations for a sump pump
A sump pump is a motor that starts hard and then runs in bursts: the starting surge decides which station can start it at all, and the weather decides how much energy it drinks. Sized on the harder end of every range.
Buy the EcoFlow DELTA 2 Max.
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Furnace
Can a power station run a gas furnace? Yes, with the right hookup
A gas furnace needs power only for its blower and controls. The blower motor type decides how long a battery lasts.
Yes.
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Well pump
The best backup power for a well pump
A well pump is the hardest start in an ordinary house, and it is wired in at 240 volts rather than plugged into anything. That is why this plan usually lands on a generator, and why every figure here is sized on the harder end of its range.
Buy the Westinghouse WGen9500DF: it clears the pump's worst-case starting surge with margin, puts out 240 volts, and is the only pick here with a retail listing whose model number matches the maker’s figures.
The models people weigh against each other
- Which EcoFlow DELTA 3? The whole family, judged against one plan
- EcoFlow DELTA 3 vs DELTA 3 Plus: which one to buy
- The home-backup class: DELTA Pro 3, SOLIX F3800, Explorer 5000 Plus and the rest
- Anker SOLIX F3800 vs F3800 Plus: the real differences
- Jackery Explorer 1000 v2 vs 1000 Plus: the expandable one or the cheaper one
Or start from your own appliances
Tick what has to stay on and for how long. The planner returns the watts and watt-hours as a range, because a refrigerator does not draw one number: it cycles, and how often depends on its age, the room and the door. It then judges all 73 units against the harder end of that range and lists the ones it ruled out with the reason.
How this site works
62 power stations and 11 portable generators, each normalised to the same fields from the maker’s own page or manual, so they can be compared. Where a maker does not publish a figure we say so rather than borrow one from a sibling model. A product whose recall identity is unresolved stays visible for research but is never ranked and never linked. Prices and buy links point only at an Amazon listing whose own title matches the bare unit; bundles and lookalikes are rejected and named on each product’s page. The method, the recall screen, how the site makes money.