Most homes need one of four things to ride out an outage: a portable power station for a few essential loads, a fuel generator for long or heavy loads, solar to refill a battery, or a whole-home battery wired in by an electrician. The choice starts with the load, not the equipment: add up the watts you must run and the watt-hours (Wh) the outage will consume, then pick the cluster below that covers both.
Start with the load
A modern full-size fridge averages about 44 to 69 W over a day by its ENERGY STAR rating, so the real sizing question is energy. A station rated about 1,000 Wh (1,024 to 1,070 Wh) delivers about 0.85 of that at the outlet, roughly 870 to 910 Wh, which covers a fridge for roughly 10 to 16 hours once you add a 25 percent cushion for door openings (55 to 86 W), according to our fridge runtime math. Anything much bigger, such as a furnace blower, a well pump, or a full house, moves you toward the later clusters. We research and compare spec sheets and manuals; we do not run our own product trials, and how we choose explains the scoring.
Portable power stations: quiet backup for essentials
Choose a station when the critical loads are a fridge, a CPAP, a router, lights, and phones, and you want no fuel and no exhaust. The best portable power stations for home backup guide ranks the models. Before you buy, read how to size a station and what a watt-hour is. If you are choosing between makers, the four-brand comparison lines up the specs. Most stations put out 120 V only, so a 240 V load or an all-day heater usually points to a larger system. For medical gear, start with power stations for CPAP machines and check the maker’s guidance for your device.
Generators: long runtimes and heavy loads
A generator makes sense when the outage runs for days or the load is too big for a battery. The best inverter generators for home use guide is the starting point. Size first with what size generator you need, then compare fuels in propane vs gas: gasoline holds 120,214 Btu per gallon and propane 91,452 (EIA), so a gallon of propane carries about 76 percent of the energy. Runtime and fuel math live in how long a propane tank lasts and how much gas a generator uses. If you are undecided between this cluster and the last one, generator vs power station settles it.
Any fuel-burning generator produces carbon monoxide (CO). The CPSC says to run it outdoors only, at least 20 ft from the home and far from windows, doors, and vents, with the exhaust pointed away from buildings, and to keep working CO alarms on every level and outside sleeping areas. Read how to run a generator safely and your manual, and follow local rules.
Solar charging: refilling the battery
Solar matters when an outage might last longer than one battery charge. The planning math is short. Assuming 5 peak sun hours and a 0.75 real-world derate, both planning assumptions that vary by location and season, 200 W of panels x 5 h x 0.75 = about 750 Wh per day. Use how many watts of solar you need to scale it, how to charge a station with solar for voltage matching, and the best solar generators for home backup for complete kits. Panels alone are covered in best solar panels for power stations.
Whole-home backup: the panel-level option
Pick this cluster when you want lights, outlets, and some hardwired loads to stay on without plugging things in. The EIA puts the average US residential utility customer at 10,791 kWh a year (2022 data), or 10,791 / 365 = about 29.6 kWh a day. One Tesla Powerwall 3 is 13.5 kWh nominal AC, so it covers about 46 percent of an average day, which is why load planning matters here. Compare the field in whole home battery backup options, then read what it costs, how long it lasts in an outage, home battery backup vs generator and whether a power station can run a whole house.
Connecting anything to a home’s electrical panel is licensed electrician work, and the transfer switch basics guide explains the concept only. Never feed a generator into a wall outlet: the CPSC calls this backfeeding extremely dangerous, an electrocution risk to utility workers and neighbors served by the same utility transformer.
Start here: pick by your situation
Match the row to your house, then open the linked guide. Each row names where to begin, not the only option, and every guide shows its sizing math so you can swap in your own appliance labels. Outage length matters as much as load: a one-night event favors a battery, while a week without grid power favors fuel or a large solar array.
| Your situation | Start with | Read first |
|---|---|---|
| Apartment or condo, fridge, router, CPAP | Portable power station | Best portable power stations for home backup |
| Outage of a day or less, essentials only | Portable power station | How to choose portable power station size |
| Multi-day storm outage, heavy or 240 V loads | Inverter or dual fuel generator | Best inverter generators for home use |
| Want to avoid fuel storage and exhaust | Station plus solar | Best solar generators for home backup |
| Whole-house coverage with no fuel | Home battery system, installed by an electrician | Whole home battery backup options |
Many homes end up with two layers: a station for the first hours and a generator or larger battery if the outage drags on. The one mistake to avoid is buying by headline capacity. A box rated 2,000 Wh holds about 2,000 x 0.85 = 1,700 Wh at the outlet, and a 1,800 W unit cannot start a load that surges past its limit. Check both numbers against your list before you compare brands. Backup power is one part of a wider plan, and the home emergency preparedness guide covers water, food, and the rest of the kit.
Not sure where you land? Total the running watts of your essential loads first, then work down the table. A guide that cannot show its math is not worth trusting, and ours show every step.
Changelog: October 2026: first published.
