Power calculator
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Every room has a job when the power goes out.

Pick a room to see what it needs and which guide to read first.

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  • Guidance from CDC, EPA, FEMA and NOAA
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  • Guides reviewed September 2026
Cutaway illustration of a two-story home on a stormy night, every room lit: a garage with a power station, a kitchen, a bathroom, a bedroom, a living room and a basement with a sump pump.
Garage: backup power

Run fuel generators outside, more than 20 feet from windows, doors and vents.

Read the backup power guide
Kitchen: food and fridge

A closed fridge keeps food safe for up to 4 hours without power.

Read the fridge outage guide
Bathroom: water

Store at least 1 gallon of water per person per day.

Work out your water reserve
Bedroom: clean air

For smoke, pick a purifier whose CADR is at least two-thirds of the room’s square feet.

Size a purifier for smoke
Living room: staying warm

Never use a gas range or oven to heat your home.

Plan a warm room safely
Basement: sump pump

Sump pumps stop without power unless they have battery backup.

Compare sump pump backups

What an outage looks like, hour by hour.

  1. Hour 0A man shining a flashlight through a dark doorwayFind light, check on people.
  2. Hour 4A refrigerator in a dim kitchen at nightA closed fridge keeps food safe up to 4 hours.
  3. Day 1Chargers plugged into a portable power station at homeKeep phones and the radio charged.
  4. Day 3Bottled water, a first-aid kit, a flashlight and a radio on a table during a stormWater, warmth and medicine come first.
  5. Week 2Shelves of organised emergency supplies and first-aid bagsBuild toward a two-week supply if you can.

Nine parts of a capable home.

How ready is your home?

Answer six quick questions and get a plan in order of what matters.

Start the check

Example household

  • Drinking waterReady
  • Light and radioWatch
  • Fridge and freezer planAct
  • Family contactsReady

Compare stored energy, not just watts.

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Pick what you would plug in during an outage. Each station shows whether it can run them together, whether it can start the ones with motors, how many outlets they need and how long the battery lasts.

How this works. Runs together: the running watts of everything on your list, against each station's rated continuous AC output. Start-up: everything running plus the largest extra a motor draws for a moment as it starts, against the surge rating (one motor starting at a time). Lasts: 80% of stored energy, a planning allowance for conversion losses, divided by your daily use; no recharging. Station figures are the manufacturers' published specifications. Appliance figures are typical values; the label on your own appliance, or a plug-in watt meter, gives the real number, and you can type it in.

Anker SOLIX C1000: Anker lists 2,400 W as SurgePad, a mode for heating devices, and publishes no motor-start surge, so start-ups are checked against its 1,800 W rated output.

EcoFlow DELTA Pro 3: Four standard 120V outlets (NEMA 5-20R); its 30A RV and 240V outlets need matching plugs, and 120V and 240V cannot run at the same time.

Sources: Champion Power Equipment generator wattage chart; US Department of Energy FEMP light bulb guidance; Apple 20W USB-C Power Adapter; ResMed AirSense 11 user guide; station and panel specifications from Jackery, Anker and EcoFlow.

Open the full power calculator, with more stations and solar panels

Latest guides.