How much battery it takes to run a refrigerator, and which power station does it
A fridge is the appliance everyone wants kept running, and the one whose appetite varies most from house to house. Size it on the harder end of that range and the choice of station mostly makes itself.
Buy the EcoFlow DELTA 3 Classic (1024Wh) if your fridge is new and the kitchen stays cool, the EcoFlow DELTA 2 Max if you have never measured it and would rather not find out mid-outage, and the Anker SOLIX F3800 if the fridge is old, the kitchen is warm, or the power may stay off past a day. The planner checked 58 units against a refrigerator alone for 24 hours: 39 of them carry the efficient end of that plan and not one carries the hard end on a single charge. The gap between those two ends is your fridge, not your battery. Put its EnergyGuide figure into the calculator below, read the runtime table under it, and you will know which of the three you are shopping for.
The Amazon links on this page are affiliate links: if you buy through one we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It does not change which units are picked. How that works.
| Model | Usable | Output | Short of worst case | Weight | Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Our pick | EcoFlow DELTA 3 Classic (1024Wh) | 870 Wh | 1,800 W | 7,530 Wh | 27 lb | on Amazon |
| If you are guessing | EcoFlow DELTA 2 Max | 1,741 Wh | 2,400 W | 6,659 Wh | 51 lb | on Amazon |
| For an old fridge | Anker SOLIX F3800 | 3,264 Wh | 6,000 W | 5,136 Wh | 132 lb | on Amazon |
Who this is for
You want one thing from a battery: the food still edible when the power comes back. Lamps can be candles and phones can wait for the car. That makes this the cleanest plan to size, because a fridge is a single motor with a predictable habit, and the least forgiving one to get wrong, since guessing low costs you a freezer emptied into a bin.
If you also want the router, some lights and everyone's phones through the same outage, read our page on portable power stations for home backup instead; it sizes the same three-way choice around that fuller list. And if the thing you need running is wired into the house rather than plugged into a socket, a well pump, a furnace blower, central air, no page about fridges will size it for you.
How much battery you need
A fridge is not a load that sits still. The compressor runs until the box is cold, shuts off, and waits for it to drift back up, so your energy comes from the fraction of the day that motor turns, not the watts on the nameplate. The diagram above is that cycle. A newish fridge in a cool room with the door mostly shut spends roughly a fifth of the day running; the same fridge in a warm kitchen, opened all afternoon, can spend half of it running.
Three things push you up that range. Age is the biggest: seals leak, insulation settles, compressors tire, and an old box works harder for the same cold. Room temperature is next, because a fridge only pumps heat out into the kitchen, and a house without air conditioning warms up fast in a summer outage. Then the door, which tips the cold air onto the floor every time it opens.
That is why this page carries 480 watt-hours at one end and 8,400 at the other for a refrigerator alone for 24 hours, and why one recommendation would be a lie. Your EnergyGuide label is the figure you already own; feed it to the calculator below and it places your fridge on that range. The runtime table then shows how long each pick lasts at three points on the cycle. Read the label as a floor, though. The federal test runs at a fixed room temperature with the doors shut, which is not your outage.
Find your own fridge on that range. The yellow EnergyGuide label inside the door, or the model page on the maker’s site, gives kilowatt-hours per year. Enter it and we place your fridge in this plan. The federal test runs at a fixed room temperature with the doors shut, so the label is your fridge’s floor, not its average.
Adjust this plan to your house. Change the hours or the loads and the picks are re-scored here, with the same planner and the same maker figures.
How long each pick runs a refrigerator/freezer
| Model | Efficient, cool room 100 W on 20% of the time | Middle of the range 400 W on 35% of the time | Old, warm room, door opened often 700 W on 50% of the time |
|---|---|---|---|
| EcoFlow DELTA 3 Classic (1024Wh) | 44 h | 6 h | 2 h |
| EcoFlow DELTA 2 Max | 87 h | 12 h | 5 h |
| Anker SOLIX F3800 | 163 h | 23 h | 9 h |
Hours = usable energy divided by running watts times the share of the day the compressor runs. Nothing else on the battery, no inverter losses beyond the usable allowance, and no solar. Past a day the plan is a recharge.
Where the energy goes, load by load
| Load | Hours | Running watts | Duty cycle | Energy | Share of worst case |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Refrigerator/freezer | 24 | 100–700 | 20–50% | 480–8,400 Wh | 100% |
Energy = running watts × duty cycle × hours, at each end of the range. The right-hand end of every row is what the plan is sized on.
A refrigerator alone for 24 hours, run against all 58 units we track: 39 clear at least the best case, 16 do not, and 3 could not be judged (a missing maker figure or an unresolved recall identity). Every figure is from the maker’s own page or manual; nothing here was tested by us. The method.
Our pickEcoFlow DELTA 3 Classic (1024Wh)
Cheapest that carries an efficient fridge for a day
$559 at Amazon, September 16, 20261,024 Wh (870 usable)1,800 W continuous3,600 W peak27 lb
The EcoFlow DELTA 3 Classic (1024Wh) is the cheapest verified listing that carries an efficient fridge through the 24 hours of this plan while still swallowing the worst starting surge we model, which is the check that catches small stations out. At $559 and 12.1 kg it is also the only one of the three an ordinary person picks up and carries to wherever the fridge is. It suits someone with a newish fridge in a cool kitchen who wants the food safe through an outage that ends the same day, and who is not building a house system.
Against the worst case it is 7,530 Wh short: about 15.1 hours of full sun at its 500 W solar input, or roughly 38 hours from one 200 W panel, and real panels deliver less than their rating.
The listing we verified as the bare unit; the price is on Amazon.
A refrigerator alone for 24 hours:
- Energyonly in the best case
- Running loadyes, even in the worst case
- Starting surgeyes, even in the worst case
Three days (72 hours) of the same fridge:
- Energyno
- Running loadyes, even in the worst case
- Starting surgeyes, even in the worst case
Living with it
It refills from a wall socket to most of the way full in well under an hour, which matters between rolling outages: a real top-up, not a gesture. Sat between the wall socket and the fridge, it hands grid power along untouched and picks the load up when the grid dies, with a switchover EcoFlow puts at a few hundredths of a second, which no compressor will notice. A toggle in the app forces the fridge onto the battery while bypass is active, which is how you rehearse this on a quiet afternoon rather than during a storm.
The one setting to change before you need it is the idle shutoff. The AC output turns itself off after a timeout with nothing drawing, and EcoFlow's own manual warns the feature can misread an intermittent load and cut out on appliances that cycle. It names fridges. Set that timeout to never in the app the day the unit arrives. Reviewers rate the app well for monitoring and poorly for finding anything the first time through.
One reviewer measured its standby draw and inverter efficiency, called both good for the price, and found it near-silent at rest; EcoFlow rates it quiet at loads far above anything a fridge asks. It will not charge below freezing, which rules out an unheated garage in January. The same reviewer ran a small mini-fridge most of a day on one charge, then flattened the same battery in a couple of hours on a window air conditioner. Warranty: three years, or five if you register the unit.
- Switchover when the grid drops
- 10 ms standby-UPS transfer timeus.ecoflow.com
- Pass-through charging
- Yes, auto Bypass Mode; app can force battery-only powerimages.thdstatic.com
- Wall recharge
- 0-80% in about 45 minutes via AC chargingus.ecoflow.com
- Noise
- Under 30 dB at 600W; under 40 dB at 1200Wecoflow.com
- Charges between
- 0°C to 45°C (32°F to 113°F)images.thdstatic.com
- Low-load shutoff
- AC output auto-shuts off after idle; adjustable, can disableimages.thdstatic.com
- Warranty
- 3-year warranty, extendable to 5 years by registeringecoflow.com
What owners report, from public threads and long-term reviews; not our own testing.
- One reviewer measured about 17W idle draw and roughly 83% inverter efficiency, both called strong for a budget-tier unit, with near-silent operation at idle.thesolarlab.com
- Several reviewers flag the complete lack of a battery-expansion port as the unit's most common complaint, since sibling DELTA 3 models support add-on batteries and this one doesn't.prismopicks.com
- One reviewer found a 60W mini-fridge ran about 14 hours on a full charge, but a small 5,000 BTU window AC unit drained the battery in under two hours.backuppowerhub.com
- Reviewers note the unit ships with only three AC outlets (one reportedly ungrounded), no 12V car-style port, and a 500W solar input cap that ignores extra wattage from larger arrays.thesolarlab.com
- One reviewer found EcoFlow's marketed 'Smart Generator' compatibility just means the unit can be AC-charged from a generator, not real generator-specific automation.thesolarlab.com
What independent testers measured
We do not test units ourselves. These are figures published by testers who did, with the maker’s claim beside them where the tester gave it.
| Measurement | Result | Tester |
|---|---|---|
| Inverter efficiency, measured | ~83% inverter efficiency measured by the tester | The Solar Lab |
| Idle draw, measured | roughly 17W idle draw, as measured by the tester | The Solar Lab |
| Wall charge, empty to full | just shy of 55 minutes, empty to full, on a standard wall outlet | The Solar Lab |
| Also measured | About 2 hours to charge fully via solar panels in the tester's setup | The Solar Lab |
- A no-nonsense, budget-friendly portable power station well suited to camping or light emergency backup, though buyers wanting more ports/expandability should look elsewhere. The Solar Lab
- Rated 8.2/10 and called the best budget entry point into EcoFlow's DELTA 3 lineup, though this review is spec-based (real-world use photos, no lab measurements) rather than hands-on tested. Backup Power Hub
What you give up
Capacity, and the fact that it can never grow. This is the least battery on the page, so an old fridge or a warm kitchen empties it first, and the complaint reviewers raise most often is that it has no expansion port when its own siblings take one. Its solar ceiling is the lowest here, and one reviewer found EcoFlow's generator compatibility claim means only that you can charge it from a generator. No work light, either.
Figures from us.ecoflow.com, captured August 13, 2026; recall screen: not screened against the recall database yet (how we screen, CPSC).
If you are guessingEcoFlow DELTA 2 Max
For a fridge you have not measured
$1,049 at Amazon, September 16, 20262,048 Wh (1,741 usable)2,400 W continuous4,800 W peak51 lb
The EcoFlow DELTA 2 Max holds about twice the energy of the value pick and takes expansion batteries, which is what you want when you honestly do not know which end of the range your fridge sits on. It also still covers the easy end of a three-day outage, where the DELTA 3 Classic (1024Wh) has stopped. At 23 kg it is a two-handed lift rather than a two-person one. Buy it if you would rather pay once for the uncertainty than measure carefully and hope you measured right.
Against the worst case it is 6,659 Wh short: about 6.7 hours of full sun at its 1,000 W solar input, or roughly 33 hours from one 200 W panel, and real panels deliver less than their rating.
The listing we verified as the bare unit; the price is on Amazon.
A refrigerator alone for 24 hours:
- Energyonly in the best case
- Running loadyes, even in the worst case
- Starting surgeyes, even in the worst case
Three days (72 hours) of the same fridge:
- Energyonly in the best case
- Running loadyes, even in the worst case
- Starting surgeyes, even in the worst case
Living with it
What costs you energy on this unit is not the fridge, it is the inverter. Independent bench testing put real efficiency at roughly three-quarters at the couple-hundred-watt loads a running compressor makes, well below its rated sweet spot, and the same tester measured a fixed overhead from merely leaving the AC output switched on, several times the draw with it off. EcoFlow publishes no idle figure at all and the independent ones disagree, so the rule is blunt: if the fridge is not plugged in, the AC output is off.
Its timers are gentler than the value pick's. The unit sleeps after a couple of hours with the outputs off and nothing drawing, and the AC output alone gives up after half a day with no AC load, so a cycling fridge keeps it awake by itself. Pass-through works, though the manual limits how long heavy sustained bypass may run and says outright that the unit is no substitute for a real uninterruptible supply. Two figures disagree between EcoFlow's marketing page and its printed manual, the switchover time and the wall recharge time, and we print both rather than the flattering one. For noise, cold and the app, our home backup page covers this unit at length.
- Switchover when the grid drops
- About 20 ms (manual says within 30 ms)ecoflow.com
- Pass-through charging
- Yes, via AC bypass; not a true UPS for serverswebsiteoss.ecoflow.com
- Wall recharge
- 0-80% in about 1.1 h on AC aloneecoflow.com
- Noise
- About 30 dBecoflow.com
- Charges between
- 0°C to 45°C (32°F to 113°F)websiteoss.ecoflow.com
- Low-load shutoff
- AC outlets shut off after 12 h with no load; adjustable in appwebsiteoss.ecoflow.com
- Expansion
- Up to 2 extra batteries, 6,144 Wh totalwebsiteoss.ecoflow.com
- Warranty
- 5-year warrantyecoflow.com
What owners report, from public threads and long-term reviews; not our own testing.
- One tester measured about 23W drawn just from leaving AC output switched on (versus about 5W with it off) and recommends switching it off when not needed.windinmyface.com
- At least one long-term owner reported USB output ports randomly stopped working, requiring a factory reset each time to restore them.4wdtalk.com
- Independent bench testing found real-world AC efficiency drops to about 77% at everyday 200W loads, well below the unit's rated sweet-spot efficiency.windinmyface.com
- One owner's 12V car outlet never worked from new, suspected to be an isolated manufacturing defect rather than a design-wide flaw.4wdtalk.com
- A one-year overlander who ran the unit daily calls it reliable and consistent, and a two-year owner says it still delivers its full rated 2,400W without dropouts.4wdtalk.com
What independent testers measured
We do not test units ourselves. These are figures published by testers who did, with the maker’s claim beside them where the tester gave it.
| Measurement | Result | Tester |
|---|---|---|
| Noise under load, measured | 52 dB measured fan noise during heavy loads/charging | Power Station Advisor |
| Wall charge, to 80% | 0-80% AC charge in 65 minutes, per the site's own spec/test line comparing it to the DELTA 2 (maker: EcoFlow rates 0% to 80% in 50 minutes (per a separate PowerStationAdvisor article on the same site)) | Power Station Advisor |
| Also measured | Real-world 14-hour power outage: ran fridge continuously, LED lights, charged devices, ran a space heater on low, finished with 23% capacity remaining, no add-on batteries | Power Station Advisor |
| Also measured | Refrigerator (full-size) runtime in personal testing: approximately 16-20 hours on a single charge (maker: EcoFlow-derived calculation elsewhere on the site put it at ~14.2 hours for a fridge cycling 100-400W) | Power Station Advisor |
- After eight months of testing, the DELTA 2 Max is their top pick for whole-home backup, striking the best balance of capability, longevity and value in its class. (Our Top Pick for Whole-Home Backup) Power Station Advisor
- Positioned as the better choice than the standard DELTA 2 for families needing whole-home backup, extended outages, and future battery expansion. Power Station Advisor
What you give up
Weight and money for a job one box smaller would often do. If your fridge turns out to sit at the efficient end, you have bought roughly twice the battery you needed and carried it up the stairs yourself. The dossier also notes that no published recall names this exact model, but that a similarly named product was recalled, and it names that product; read it before you order.
Figures from us.ecoflow.com, captured August 12, 2026; recall screen: no published recall names this exact model (screened 2026-08-12), but a similarly named product was recalled; the dossier names it (how we screen, CPSC).
For an old fridgeAnker SOLIX F3800
For an old fridge or a long outage
$2,200 at Amazon, September 16, 20263,840 Wh (3,264 usable)6,000 W continuous9,000 W peak132 lb
The Anker SOLIX F3800 holds the most usable energy of the three with a verified listing, carries a hard-working fridge far deeper into a day than either EcoFlow, and still covers the easy end of a three-day outage. It takes up to six expansion batteries, the only path we can point at that reaches the hard end of this plan at all. Buy it if your fridge is old, your kitchen is warm, your outages arrive in days rather than hours, or there is a chest freezer standing next to the fridge.
Against the worst case it is 5,136 Wh short: about 2.1 hours of full sun at its 2,400 W solar input, or roughly 26 hours from one 200 W panel, and real panels deliver less than their rating.
The listing we verified as the bare unit; the price is on Amazon.
A refrigerator alone for 24 hours:
- Energyonly in the best case
- Running loadyes, even in the worst case
- Starting surgeyes, even in the worst case
Three days (72 hours) of the same fridge:
- Energyonly in the best case
- Running loadyes, even in the worst case
- Starting surgeyes, even in the worst case
Living with it
The most relevant thing published about this unit is that Pro Tool Reviews ran a refrigerator on it for a full day after Hurricane Milton, watching the battery drop through Anker's app over Bluetooth. That is this page's exact scenario, done by someone who really had no power. A fridge is also far too small a load to wake the fans, which testers found engage only past roughly forty percent draw and get genuinely loud near the top. For a fridge alone, the biggest of the three is the quietest.
Anker publishes no idle draw and no pass-through figure for the US unit; the numbers on its own product page that look like them belong to the F3800 Plus, a different model, so we leave both blank rather than borrow. One three-week test refilled it from a wall socket to most of the way full in a bit over an hour and a half, and measured real inverter efficiency at about eighty-five percent, so plan on the usable figure above rather than the one on the box. It powers itself down after half a day with the outputs off, adjustable in the app. It will not charge below freezing but keeps running far colder than either EcoFlow. The rest of its character is on our home backup page.
- Charges between
- 0°C to 40°C (32°F to 104°F) while chargingsignaturesolar.com
- Low-load shutoff
- Shuts off after about 12 h idle with no loadsignaturesolar.com
- Expansion
- Up to 6 add-on batteries, 26.88 kWh added capacityankersolix.com
What owners report, from public threads and long-term reviews; not our own testing.
- Multiple reviewers report fan noise climbs sharply under heavy load — about 68 dB at 90% load versus 58 dB at 50% load — despite near-silent operation at lighter loads.backuppowerhub.com
- The roughly 132 lb weight is a recurring complaint; reviewers needed a second person or a vehicle ramp to move it anywhere the built-in wheels couldn't roll it.protoolreviews.com
- One long-term tester measured real-world AC recharge at about 1 hour 38 minutes to 80% (roughly 2h21m full) on a standard outlet, slower than a quick top-up.backuppowerhub.com
- A 2-ton central air conditioner drained the unit in only about 1.6 hours despite its 6,000W rating, so it isn't a practical all-day whole-home AC backup alone.backuppowerhub.com
- One tester measured real-world inverter efficiency at only about 85%, meaning a 3,000W draw actually consumes roughly 3,530Wh from the battery — more than the rated draw implies.backuppowerhub.com
What independent testers measured
We do not test units ourselves. These are figures published by testers who did, with the maker’s claim beside them where the tester gave it.
| Measurement | Result | Tester |
|---|---|---|
| Wall charge, to 80% | 1 hour 38 minutes from 0-80% on a standard 120V/15A outlet (max 1,440W input) | Backup Power Hub |
| Wall charge, empty to full | 2 hours 21 minutes from dead to full via AC | Backup Power Hub |
| Inverter efficiency, measured | ~85% inverter efficiency, measured during testing | Backup Power Hub |
| Solar input achieved | 1,850W peak solar input achieved with three 400W panels in ideal conditions (maker: 2,400W rated solar input (per generatorchecker.com spec listing, not stated by this tester)) | Backup Power Hub |
| Noise under load, measured | 58 dB at 3 feet at 50% load (3000W) | Backup Power Hub |
| Noise under load, measured | 68 dB at 90% load (5400W), 'comparable to a dishwasher' | Backup Power Hub |
- After a three-week real-world test running central AC, refrigerators, and power tools, the reviewer rated the F3800 9.2/10, calling it the best split-phase 240V whole-home option currently on the market. (Editor's Choice (per site homepage listing, 9.2/10)) Backup Power Hub
- The reviewer calls the F3800 a solid investment at $3,499 for whole-home backup power or off-grid adventures, despite it being the heaviest single-unit station they've tested. The Solar Lab
What you give up
Weight, and money you will not use. At 60.01 kg it is a wheeled appliance, and reviewers needed a second person or a ramp for stairs and for loading it into a car. For a fridge alone you will never approach its output rating: a tester emptied the whole battery on a central air conditioner in a fraction of the time this plan covers, and that is the kind of load the inverter is really there for.
Figures from ankersolix.com, captured August 12, 2026; recall screen: no published recall names this exact model (screened 2026-08-12) (how we screen, CPSC).
Day two and three
Stretch this to three days (72 hours) of the same fridge and the target becomes 1,440 to 25,200 watt-hours. The DELTA 3 Classic (1024Wh) no longer covers even the easy end of that; the DELTA 2 Max and the F3800 still do, and nothing we track covers the hard end. From the second morning on, you are not shopping for a battery any more; you are working out how to refill the one you own.
A fridge is the kindest load to refill, because it draws in bursts and a panel in good sun can gain on it through the afternoon even while it runs. That is where the three separate hardest. The DELTA 3 Classic (1024Wh) accepts the least solar, and reviewers note it ignores anything a larger array sends past its ceiling; the DELTA 2 Max takes roughly twice that and the F3800 more again. Batteries are the other refill: EcoFlow documents extra packs for the DELTA 2 Max, Anker as many as six for the F3800, and the DELTA 3 Classic (1024Wh) has no expansion port at all.
Hooking it up safely
The plug-in path is the plan on this page. The station sits indoors, the fridge, router and lamps plug into its outlets, and nothing touches the house wiring. That is the only path this page sizes.
If the station sits between the wall and the fridge in pass-through mode, the fridge keeps running when the grid drops and the station picks up the load. The switchover time and pass-through behaviour, where the maker publishes them, are listed under each pick above. A fridge tolerates a brief gap; a desktop computer may not.
Wired loads are a different job. A well pump, a furnace or a whole circuit needs a transfer switch or a power inlet installed by a licensed electrician. Never feed a station or a generator into a wall outlet: it backfeeds the line and can kill the crew restoring your power. The safety boundaries.
Output quality. A compressor wants a pure sine wave; that phrase belongs on the maker’s spec page, and a modified-sine inverter is the thing to avoid.
Buying it right
A search for any of these models returns bundles, sibling models and, often, the same unit under two listings at different prices. We link only a listing whose own title states the bare unit and its exact battery and output; the box should say the same. Check the seller is the maker or Amazon itself, and that the model number on the label matches the one on this page.
EcoFlow DELTA 3 Classic (1024Wh)
- The listing we verified: “EF ECOFLOW Portable Power Station Delta 3 Classic, 1024Wh 1800W AC”, $559 when checked. Title states 1024Wh and 1800W, matching our record exactly.
- “EF ECOFLOW Portable Power Station Delta 3 Classic with Bag, 1024Wh 1800W”, $509: a bundle, not the bare unit; the extra hardware is in the price.
- “EF ECOFLOW Delta 3 Portable Power Station, 1024Wh 1800W”, $629: a different model that a search for this one returns.
EcoFlow DELTA 2 Max
- The listing we verified: “EF ECOFLOW Portable Power Station DELTA 2 Max 2048Wh, 2400W LiFePO4 Battery”, $1,049 when checked. Title states 2048Wh and 2400W, matching our record exactly.
- “EF ECOFLOW DELTA 2 Max Power Station Extra Battery, 2048Wh LiFePO4 Battery”, $879: the same unit under a second listing at $879; we link the cheaper verified one.
- “EF ECOFLOW DELTA 3 Max Portable Power Station, 2048Wh LFP Battery, 2400W”, $1,199: a different model that a search for this one returns.
- “EF EcoFlow Delta 2 Max Portable Power Station with 800W Alternator Charger”, $1,249: a bundle, not the bare unit; the extra hardware is in the price.
- “EF ECOFLOW DELTA 2 Max Portable Power Station, 2048Wh, 2400W”, $1,399: the same unit under a second listing at $1,399; we link the cheaper verified one.
Anker SOLIX F3800
- The listing we verified: “Anker SOLIX F3800 Portable Power Station, 3,840Wh”, $2,200 when checked. Title states 3840Wh and the exact model name with no variant word; it does not state a wattage, so output was not cross-checked against our 6000W record. (previously verified ASIN, re-checked by direct lookup)
- “Anker SOLIX F3800 Portable Power Station and 400W Solar Panel, 3,840Wh”, $2,400: a bundle, not the bare unit; the extra hardware is in the price.
- “Anker SOLIX F3800 Portable Power Station, 3840Wh, LiFePO4 Batteries, Ultra-High 6000W AC Output with 120V/240V, Solar Generator for Home Backup and Outdoor Camping (Renewed)”, $1,759: Listing is renewed/refurbished, not the new base unit..
What this page can’t promise
We cannot see your fridge, and this page is only as good as the figure you feed it. The label is a floor, not a forecast; the calculator gives a range, not an answer; and the runtime table assumes your compressor behaves the way the diagram says it does.
Neither maker publishes an idle draw for any of these three, and the independent measurements that exist disagree, so the cost of leaving a station switched on is the figure we cannot pin down. Nothing here was tested by us: the specifications are the makers' own, and owner reports come from published hands-on reviews, labelled as such. Where a marketing page and a printed manual disagree, we print both.
The competition
Every unit we track was run against the same plan. The ones that clear at least the best case are below with their own shortfall; the ones that do not are listed with the rule they fail.
Every unit that clears at least the best case (39)
| Model | Battery | Peak | Weight | Worst-case shortfall | Verified price | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zendure SuperBase V6400 | 6,438Wh | 5,000W | not captured | 2,928 Wh | no verified listing | Clears the best case only |
| Jackery Explorer 5000 Plus | 5,040Wh | 14,400W | 134 lb / 61.0 kg | 4,116 Wh | no verified listing | Clears the best case only |
| Zendure SuperBase V4600 | 4,608Wh | 5,000W | 55 lb / 25.0 kg | 4,483 Wh | no verified listing | Clears the best case only |
| EcoFlow DELTA Pro 3 | 4,096Wh | 8,000W | 114 lb / 51.5 kg | 4,918 Wh | $3,699 | Clears the best case only |
| Goal Zero Yeti PRO 4000 | 3,994Wh | 7,200W | 116 lb / 52.5 kg | 5,005 Wh | no verified listing | Clears the best case only |
| Anker SOLIX F3800 | 3,840Wh | 9,000W | 132 lb / 60.0 kg | 5,136 Wh | $2,200 | Clears the best case only |
| Anker SOLIX F3800 Plus | 3,840Wh | 9,000W | 132 lb / 60.0 kg | 5,136 Wh | no verified listing | Clears the best case only |
| Jackery HomePower 3600 Pro Max | 3,600Wh | not captured | not captured | 5,340 Wh | no verified listing | Clears the best case only |
| EcoFlow DELTA Pro | 3,600Wh | 7,200W | 99 lb / 45.0 kg | 5,340 Wh | no verified listing | Clears the best case only |
| Jackery HomePower 3600 Plus | 3,600Wh | not captured | not captured | 5,340 Wh | no verified listing | Clears the best case only |
| Anker SOLIX F3000 (UL9540 Certificated) | 3,072Wh | 7,200W | 91 lb / 41.5 kg | 5,789 Wh | no verified listing | Clears the best case only |
| EcoFlow DELTA 3 Ultra (3072Wh) | 3,072Wh | 7,200W | 72 lb / 32.7 kg | 5,789 Wh | no verified listing | Clears the best case only |
| Jackery HomePower 3000 | 3,072Wh | 7,200W | 60 lb / 27.0 kg | 5,789 Wh | no verified listing | Clears the best case only |
| EcoFlow DELTA 3 Ultra Plus (3072Wh) | 3,072Wh | 7,200W | 74 lb / 33.7 kg | 5,789 Wh | $1,599 | Clears the best case only |
| BLUETTI Apex 300 Home Battery Backup | 2,765Wh | 7,680W | 84 lb / 38.0 kg | 6,050 Wh | no verified listing | Clears the best case only |
| Anker SOLIX F2600 | 2,560Wh | 2,800W | 70 lb / 31.6 kg | 6,224 Wh | no verified listing | Clears the best case only |
| Zendure SuperBase Pro 2000 | 2,096Wh | 4,000W | 47 lb / 21.2 kg | 6,618 Wh | no verified listing | Clears the best case only |
| Anker SOLIX C2000 Gen 2 | 2,048Wh | 4,000W | 41 lb / 18.6 kg | 6,659 Wh | $1,000 | Clears the best case only |
| EcoFlow DELTA 2 Max | 2,048Wh | 4,800W | 51 lb / 23.0 kg | 6,659 Wh | $1,049 | Clears the best case only |
| EcoFlow DELTA 3 Max (2048Wh) | 2,048Wh | 4,800W | 45 lb / 20.3 kg | 6,659 Wh | no verified listing | Clears the best case only |
| Jackery HomePower 2000 Plus v2 | 2,048Wh | not captured | not captured | 6,659 Wh | no verified listing | Clears the best case only |
| BLUETTI AC200L | 2,048Wh | not captured | 62 lb / 28.3 kg | 6,659 Wh | no verified listing | Clears the best case only |
| EcoFlow DELTA 3 Max Plus (2048Wh) | 2,048Wh | 6,000W | not captured | 6,659 Wh | no verified listing | Clears the best case only |
| Jackery Explorer 2000 Plus | 2,043Wh | 6,000W | 62 lb / 27.9 kg | 6,664 Wh | no verified listing | Clears the best case only |
| Jackery Explorer 2000 v2 | 2,042Wh | 4,400W | 39 lb / 17.9 kg | 6,664 Wh | $999 | Clears the best case only |
| PECRON E2000LFP | 1,920Wh | 4,000W | 49 lb / 22.0 kg | 6,768 Wh | no verified listing | Clears the best case only |
| Jackery Explorer 1500 Ultra | 1,536Wh | 3,600W | 39 lb / 17.5 kg | 7,094 Wh | no verified listing | Clears the best case only |
| Jackery Explorer 1500 v2 | 1,536Wh | not captured | not captured | 7,094 Wh | no verified listing | Clears the best case only |
| Jackery Explorer 1000 Plus (JE-1000C) | 1,265Wh | 4,000W | 32 lb / 14.5 kg | 7,325 Wh | no verified listing | Clears the best case only |
| Jackery Explorer 1000 v2 | 1,070Wh | 3,000W | 24 lb / 10.8 kg | 7,490 Wh | $559 | Clears the best case only |
| Anker SOLIX C1000 | 1,056Wh | 2,400W | 28 lb / 12.9 kg | 7,502 Wh | $560 | Clears the best case only |
| Jackery HomePower 1000 v2 | 1,024Wh | not captured | not captured | 7,530 Wh | no verified listing | Clears the best case only |
| EcoFlow DELTA 3 Plus | 1,024Wh | 3,600W | 28 lb / 12.5 kg | 7,530 Wh | $719 | Clears the best case only |
| EcoFlow DELTA 3 Classic (1024Wh) | 1,024Wh | 3,600W | 27 lb / 12.1 kg | 7,530 Wh | $559 | Clears the best case only |
| EcoFlow DELTA 3 | 1,024Wh | 3,600W | 28 lb / 12.5 kg | 7,530 Wh | $629 | Clears the best case only |
| BLUETTI Elite 100 V2 | 1,024Wh | 2,700W | 25 lb / 11.5 kg | 7,530 Wh | no verified listing | Clears the best case only |
| EcoFlow DELTA 2 (EFD330) | 1,024Wh | 2,700W | 26 lb / 12.0 kg | 7,530 Wh | $699 | Clears the best case only |
| Anker SOLIX C1000 Gen 2 | 1,024Wh | 3,000W | 25 lb / 11.3 kg | 7,530 Wh | no verified listing | Clears the best case only |
| Jackery Explorer 600 v2 | 640Wh | not captured | not captured | 7,856 Wh | no verified listing | Clears the best case only |
What will not work, and why (16)
- Too little energy (6). Even the best case needs 480 Wh over 24 hours; these hold less than that: BLUETTI AC50B (381 Wh usable); Jackery Explorer 300D (245 Wh usable); Anker SOLIX C300 (245 Wh usable); Jackery Explorer 300 v2 (245 Wh usable); EcoFlow RIVER 3 Plus (243 Wh usable); EcoFlow RIVER 3 (208 Wh usable).
- Out of scope: 10 fuel generators. Not a failure of the numbers: this plan is indoors-only, and a generator burns fuel, so it must stay outside, far from windows, doors and vents. Honda EU2200i Super Quiet Inverter Generator, Honda EU3000iS Inverter Generator, FIRMAN WH03242 Dual-Fuel Inverter, Champion 201444 5500W Inverter, Champion 201255 5500W Open Frame Inverter (CARB), Champion 201254 5500W Dual Fuel Open Frame Inverter (CARB), Champion 201513 6500W Inverter, Champion 201598 8500W Wireless Start Tri Fuel Inverter, Champion 201176 9000W Tri-Fuel Open Frame Inverter, Westinghouse WGen9500DF.
Questions people ask
How many watt hours does a refrigerator use per day?
Between 480 and 8,400 watt-hours in our model, and the range is wide because a compressor only runs part of the day. A newish fridge in a cool room sits near the bottom; an old one in a warm kitchen with the door opening all afternoon sits near the top. The calculator on this page turns your own EnergyGuide label into your figure, and that label is a floor rather than a forecast.
How long will a 1,000-watt-hour power station run a refrigerator?
Divide the usable energy by what your fridge actually draws, and remember that usable is less than the figure on the box: the EcoFlow DELTA 3 Classic (1024Wh) is a station of about that size, and its usable energy is 870 watt-hours. The runtime table on this page does that division for every pick at three duty levels, so you can read the efficient case, the middle and the hard case off one row instead of guessing at one.
Can a power station run a fridge and a freezer at the same time?
Our plan models one fridge-freezer, the single cabinet most kitchens have. A separate chest freezer is a second compressor with its own energy and its own starting surge, and the two can kick in together. Watts are not the problem, since all three picks clear the worst surge we model with room to spare, but energy is. Run both appliances through the planner rather than assume one box covers two.
Does a fridge need a pure sine wave power station?
It is the usual worry about compressor motors, and we will only tell you what we captured. EcoFlow states a pure sine wave output plainly in the DELTA 2 Max's outlet specification. We did not find the same sentence on the maker sources for the other two, so we will not put the words in their mouths. If it matters to you, ask the maker before you order rather than take it from a review.
Will the starting surge trip a small power station?
It can, and it is the check most people skip. The instant a compressor starts it pulls several times its running draw for a fraction of a second, and our plan models that worst case at 2,900 watts against a running load of 700 watts. All three picks clear it: the DELTA 3 Classic (1024Wh) is rated 3,600 watts at peak against 1,800 continuous. Read the peak figure on any station you consider, not the continuous one.
Other plans we sized
- 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.
- 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.
- CPAPPortable power for a CPAP machine: one night, and three
A CPAP is a small, steady load, so this comes down to battery size and one switch: the heated humidifier. Covering a single night is settled; covering three, or running the heat, takes a bigger box.
- Portable generatorsThe best portable generators for home backup
Three 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.
- ComparedWhich EcoFlow DELTA 3? The whole family, judged against one plan
Every EcoFlow DELTA 3 variant on one table with the maker's own figures, the gaps marked, and all of them run against the same refrigerator plan.
- ComparedThe home-backup class: DELTA Pro 3, SOLIX F3800, Explorer 5000 Plus and the rest
The largest portable power stations on one table, run against a full-day household plan, with expansion paths, 240V output and the makers' gaps marked.
- Sump pumpThe 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.
- FurnaceThe best portable power stations for a gas furnace
A gas furnace burns its own fuel and asks the grid only for the blower and the control board, which is the good news. The bad news is that both are wired into the house, so the battery is half the job and an electrician is the other half.
- Well pumpThe 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.
- ComparedEcoFlow DELTA 3 vs DELTA 2: what changed, and which one to buy
EcoFlow's DELTA 2 and DELTA 3, plus the DELTA 3 Plus and Classic, on one table from the makers' own figures and judged against one fridge plan.
- ComparedAnker SOLIX F3800 vs F3800 Plus: the real differences
The Anker SOLIX F3800 and F3800 Plus side by side from Anker's own figures, judged against one full-day household plan, with the real differences marked.
- Camping with a fridgeThe best portable power stations for camping with a fridge
Put a compressor fridge in the back of the car and it becomes most of the battery: it is the one thing in your kit that keeps drawing while you sleep. We size this page from the hard end of every range.
- GuidePower station or generator: which do you actually need?
This is the decision that comes before choosing a product, and it is the expensive one to get wrong in either direction. A battery bought for a well pump is wasted money; a standby generator bought to keep a router alive is a great deal more of it.
- GuideHow to connect a power station to your house
These four methods differ less in how much power they move than in what they can reach: a cord reaches a plug, transfer equipment reaches a circuit. The fifth thing people try, a cord into a wall socket, can kill the line worker restoring your power.
- GuideSolar panels for a power station: how many, and how long
Panels are where the optimism creeps into a backup plan. The arithmetic is simple enough to do on the back of an envelope, and the answer it gives you is the best case, not the likely one.
- GuideExpansion batteries: what an extra battery for a power station actually does
An extra battery for a power station is the cheapest-sounding fix for the wrong problem about half the time. It buys hours, it does not buy watts, and the pack you buy has to be the exact one your station was built for.
EcoFlow DELTA 3 Classic (1024Wh)Our pick
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