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01Power & Backup
What a Power Station Won't Run: Space Heaters, Well Pumps, Central Air
Battery power stations are great for phones, lights, routers and medical devices. They're the wrong tool for heat, wells and big appliances. What they will and won't do, in plain numbers.
- Read
- 2 min
- Updated
- October 5, 2026
Battery power stations are everywhere this fall, and they'll be all over the holiday gift lists. They're useful. They're also oversold. Here's what one can and can't do in an outage.
01Two numbers matter
- Watt-hours (Wh): how much energy is in the battery. Like the size of the gas tank.
- Watts (W) output: how much it can deliver at once. Like horsepower.
02What they do well
Small loads over many hours:
- Phones, tablets, laptops
- LED lamps
- Wi-Fi router and modem (often 10 to 20 watts together)
- CPAP (especially without the heated humidifier)
- A fan
- A fridge for a few hours at a time. See day two with no power.
03What they don't
Space heaters. A space heater draws about 1,500 watts. A 1,000 Wh station runs it well under an hour. Heat takes too much energy for a battery. See keep one room warm.
Well pumps. Most are 240-volt with a big start surge. Most portable stations can't run them at all.
Central air and electric furnaces. Far too much power.
Electric ranges, ovens, dryers, water heaters. Same.
A gas furnace blower: maybe, with the right setup. Many furnaces need a proper connection by an electrician, and they're picky about power quality. Ask before you count on it.
04Quick math
Wh ÷ watts = hours (then take off 10 to 15 percent for losses)
- Router at 15 W on a 500 Wh station: about 28 hours
- Fridge averaging 100 W: about 4 to 5 hours on 500 Wh
- Space heater at 1,500 W: about 18 minutes on 500 Wh
05Recharging
Wall outlet (not much help in an outage), car (slow), solar panels (slow in winter), or a generator (fast). A station plus a small generator is a good combo: the generator charges the battery for a few hours, the battery runs the quiet stuff overnight.
06The bottom line
A power station keeps you connected, lit and able to run small medical devices. For heat and big appliances, you need a generator, a gas appliance, or another plan. See portable power station vs. generator.
Photo by pisauikan on Pixabay.
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