Portable Power Station vs. Generator for a Midwest Home

When the lights go out for more than a few hours, every household runs into the same question: what do we plug in, and into what? The two common answers are a portable power station (a big rechargeable battery) and a portable generator (a gas engine). They solve different problems. Here's how to pick.

01What a portable power station is

A power station is a large lithium battery with outlets on the front. You charge it from the wall ahead of time, or from solar panels or your car. When the power goes out, you plug things into it.

What it's good at:

• Quiet and safe indoors. No fumes, no engine. You can run it in the bedroom.
• Medical devices. A CPAP, a phone, a laptop and lights for days on a mid-size unit.
• Instant. No pull-starting in the dark or the cold.
• No fuel storage.

Its limit: capacity. A power station holds a fixed amount of energy, measured in watt-hours (Wh). A 1,000 Wh unit can run a 100-watt load for about 8 to 9 hours after real-world losses. A refrigerator might use 1 to 2 kWh a day, so one fridge can drain a mid-size unit in a day. When it's empty, you need sun, a car, or the grid to refill it.

02What a portable generator is

A portable generator burns gas (some also propane) to make power as long as you keep feeding it fuel.

What it's good at:

• Big loads. A sump pump, a fridge and a freezer, a well pump, a furnace blower, with the right setup.
• Long outages. It runs as long as you have fuel. A week-long outage is where a generator earns its keep.
• Cost per watt. Generators deliver a lot more power per dollar.

Its limits:

• It must run outdoors, far from windows and doors. Never in the garage, even with the door open. Carbon monoxide from portable generators kills people every year, and it's odorless.
• Fuel. You need fuel stored safely and rotated. During a regional outage, gas stations without power can't pump.
• Noise, maintenance and starting it in the cold.
• Connecting it to the house safely requires heavy extension cords, or a transfer switch or interlock installed by an electrician. Never backfeed a dryer outlet; it can kill a lineworker.

03What Midwest outages actually demand

In the Midwest, the outages that hurt are long ones: derechos in summer, ice storms and blizzards in winter. August's derecho in northwest Indiana kept some homes dark for two weeks (our write-up).

Make a list of what your house must keep running, roughly in order:

1. Medical devices
2. Sump pump (in a wet season, the most important one)
3. Refrigerator and freezer
4. Furnace blower in winter (gas furnaces still need electricity to run)
5. Well pump if you're on a well
6. Phones, lights, radio

If your list stops at 1 and 6, a power station may be all you need. If it includes the sump pump, furnace or well pump through a multi-day outage, you need a generator, or a large battery system with solar to recharge.

04The common answer: both

Many prepared households end up with both. The power station runs quiet, indoor loads at night: CPAP, phones, a lamp, the internet router. The generator runs a few hours at a time during the day to keep the fridge cold, run the sump pump, and recharge the power station. That cuts fuel use and lets the house sleep without an engine running.

05Quick buying checklist

• Power station: check the watt-hours (capacity), the continuous watts (what it can run at once), the battery type (LiFePO4 lasts more charge cycles), and how it recharges.
• Generator: check the running watts (not just the peak number), fuel type, whether it's an inverter model (quieter, cleaner power for electronics), and CO shutoff, which many newer models include.
• Either: a quality heavy-gauge extension cord, and a plan for where it sits during a storm.

We'll cover sizing, transfer switches and generator safety in their own posts. Start by writing down your must-run list. It decides everything else.

Related: Your Neighbor's Generator and Your Bedroom Window