The Best Power Stations for Home Backup (2026) — What Kept My Fridge Cold

"Will it back up my house" is the wrong question, because none of these back up a house. The right question is: which circuits, for how many hours?

So I ran outage drills. For the two big units I went through a transfer switch fitted by an electrician and ran real household circuits. For the smaller ones I ran a fridge and router off extension leads, the way most people actually use them.

Usable capacity is from my bench: every unit drained from full to shutdown on a constant 300 W load, metered at the AC outlet.

These are observed runtimes from my drills, with different fridges on the big and small units, so compare within a column rather than across.

For a realistic mixed load of fridge, lights, router and phones at about 250 W, the calculated runtimes from my measured capacities are roughly 15 hours on the Delta Pro 3, 14 on the F3800 Plus, 7½ on the Elite 200 V2, and 3½ on a 1 kWh unit — assumptions here.

I used the Delta Pro 3 for 44 days, including a whole-house outage drill through a transfer switch and a garage freezer, and it is the best power station I have tested.

On my meter it delivered 3,772 Wh — 92.1%, the highest efficiency of all eleven. It held its full 4,000 W for ten minutes and tripped at 5,900 W. I ran a well pump on its 240 V output, and it kept a fridge, freezer and router going for 31 hours; a fridge alone ran for 80. It switched over in 10 ms — the lights didn't flicker — and EcoFlow's app is the best I used for scheduling home backup.

It accepted 2,480 W from a 2,400 W roof array, and at roughly 500 W it measured 41 dBA, quieter than I expected for a 4 kW unit. Its overall score of 8.53 is the highest on the site.

Against it: 113.2 lb on my scale, wheels that only help on flat floors, $3,699 before add-ons, and a wall recharge of 2 h 32 that is fast on a 240 V circuit but slower on a standard 120 V outlet. Its inverter idle draw was 34 W — about as much as a CPAP — so turn AC off when you don't need it.

The F3800 Plus out-muscles the Delta Pro 3. I held 6,000 W for ten minutes through it, and it tripped at 8,800 W. It accepted 3,050 W of solar, ran a window air conditioner for six hours, and kept an RV going overnight on its TT-30 socket. It has more outlets than anything else I tested, including 240 V, which I verified. At $2,400 it is the most power per dollar in this class, and I rated value 5 out of 5.

It delivered 3,448 Wh on my meter — 89.8%, about 324 Wh less than the Delta Pro 3 — and ran a fridge, freezer and router for 28 hours, three fewer than the EcoFlow.

Why it's second: it weighed 136 lb (stairs are impossible), the fans measured 60 dBA at full 6 kW output, switchover was 20 ms rather than 10, the plastic panels flex a little, and its cycle rating is 3,000 against the EcoFlow's 4,000.[2] What would change my pick is a big F3800 Plus price cut — it already outputs 50% more for less money.

The full head-to-head is in EcoFlow Delta Pro 3 vs Anker SOLIX F3800 Plus.

Forty-one hours of fridge and router for $1,199, with 6,000 cycles to 80% — the longest rated life here — and 2,600 W of output that ran a kettle and a blender together.[3] On my meter it delivered 1,902 Wh, 91.7%, second only to the Delta Pro 3. It refilled from the wall in 86 minutes.

For the common case, this is the better buy. Most outages are hours, not days, and a day and a half of refrigeration covers the overwhelming majority of them at a third of the Delta Pro 3's price.

It is 120 V only, it has only four AC outlets, and at 53.4 lb with no wheels it is a two-hand lift.

Thirty-nine hours of fridge and router from a 39.5 lb box I could lift alone — 43.1 usable watt-hours per pound, the best carry ratio I measured. If the same unit has to do outage duty in winter and camping duty in summer, this is the compromise.

For pure backup it's the weaker choice: a 400 W solar ceiling, cycles rated to 70% rather than 80%, and only four AC outlets.[5]

The EcoFlow Delta 3 earned 5 out of 5 from me on home blackout — the only 1 kWh unit to do so — thanks to six AC outlets, a 10 ms switchover and the ability to add an expansion battery later.[6] If you want to start at 1 kWh and grow, it's the one. But on its own, 21 hours of fridge and router is one night.

None of these will run central air conditioning for a useful period, an electric water heater, or an electric range. A window air conditioner ran for six hours on the F3800 Plus in my testing; calculated at a constant 900 W, it would run about four hours on the Delta Pro 3 and two on the Elite 200 V2.

If your outages run into days, or anything you need is 240 V, my pick is the EcoFlow Delta Pro 3: the most usable energy I measured, verified 240 V, a 10 ms switchover and the best home-backup app. The pick is my judgement; the figures behind it are measured.

If you need more power for less money, the Anker SOLIX F3800 Plus is the stronger hardware on output and solar — at 136 lb and with louder fans.

If your outages are hours, which for most people they are, the Bluetti Elite 200 V2 does 41 hours of fridge and router for a third of the money. If the unit also has to go camping, the Jackery Explorer 2000 v2 carries better than anything else.

Whatever you buy, size it against the load you'll actually run, not the fridge on its own.