Choosing backup power for outages
Match the tool to what you need to keep running
Start from the load, not the product. Keeping a phone, a few lights, and a CPAP going is a very different job from running a refrigerator, a well pump, or a whole home. Add up the watts of what you truly need during an outage — that number, and how many hours you need it, drives every choice below.
Portable power stations (battery)
A portable power station is a large rechargeable battery with normal outlets and USB ports. It's silent, emits no exhaust, and is safe to use indoors — the big advantage over fuel generators. It runs phones, laptops, CPAPs, lights, and small appliances; larger units with add-on batteries can carry a fridge for a while. It recharges from a wall outlet before a storm, from a car, or from solar panels. Limits: finite battery capacity (you can't refuel it like gasoline) and higher upfront cost per watt.
Portable generators (fuel)
A fuel portable generator delivers a lot of power and runs as long as you have fuel — good for refrigerators, sump pumps, and multiple circuits. The tradeoff is safety: they emit carbon monoxide and must run outdoors only, ≥20 ft from the house, never in a garage, and must never be back-fed into a wall outlet. Read our generator-safety guide before using one — CO from generators kills dozens of Americans a year, per the CPSC.
Standby generators & home batteries (permanent)
A standby generator is permanently installed, runs on natural gas or propane, and starts automatically through a transfer switch — the hands-off option for whole-home backup, at a professional-installation cost. A home battery (often paired with solar) does the same job silently and cleanly, with runtime bounded by its stored energy. Both require licensed installation and a transfer switch so power can never back-feed the grid and endanger line crews.
The safety rules are non-negotiable
Whatever you choose: no fuel-burning generator indoors, ever; a transfer switch (not a suicide cord) for anything wired into the house; CO alarms with battery backup on every level; and fuel or batteries stored per the maker's instructions. The Ready.gov outage guidance and the manufacturer's manual are the authorities here.
Solar panels alone won't ride through an outage
A common surprise: standard grid-tied solar shuts itself off during an outage. Inverters are required to stop exporting when the grid goes down for exactly the reason back-feeding is banned — so panels can't energize lines crews believe are dead. Riding through an outage takes islanding hardware: a home battery (or special inverter) plus a transfer switch that separates your home from the grid first. If you have or are considering solar, ask the installer specifically about backup/islanding capability — "has solar" and "has backup power" are different purchases.
Runtime math in one minute
Battery capacity is sold in watt-hours (Wh); loads are watts (W). Hours ≈ Wh ÷ W, minus conversion losses. A 1,000 Wh station running a 60 W fan lasts roughly a dozen hours; the same station on a 600 W microwave lasts about an hour of actual cooking. Refrigerators cycle on and off, so their average draw is far below the nameplate — which is why a big station can carry one longer than the label math suggests.
Fuel realities
Gasoline stores poorly (months, better with stabilizer) and stations can't pump in a wide outage — store what you'll actually rotate, in approved containers, outside living space. Propane stores for years and dual-fuel portable generators run on either. Natural-gas standbys skip storage entirely but depend on gas service staying up. Match the fuel to how often your area actually loses power — which is exactly what your area's outage history shows.
We don't sell power equipment — we tell you how long you'll need it
This guide is independent information, not a purchase recommendation. What we do is the outage side: search your address for the live restoration outlook, so you can size backup power to the outages your area actually gets — and see how long they really last on our public accuracy record.