Home Backup Power Explained: Solar Generator, Gas Generator, or Battery Pack?

The EcoFlow DELTA 2 in my garage does one specific job. It keeps the chest freezer running during power cuts.

we bought it because we had an 11-hour outage after a winter storm, and the chest freezer was full of about £400 of homegrown vegetables, meat, and batch-cooked food. Nothing was lost because I was home and kept the freezer closed. But I knew the next time might not be so convenient. The EcoFlow was a direct response to a specific problem, and it has worked exactly as intended on two separate occasions since.

The backup power decision is often made the wrong way round — people start by looking at generators or batteries and work back to what they need. The better approach is to decide what you actually need to run before spending anything.

The Three Categories

Home backup power options fall into three categories with genuinely different use cases. Knowing which category fits your situation will save you money.

Category 1 — Portable Power Stations (solar generators)

Battery-based units. Charge from mains, solar panels, or a car. Provide clean, silent, indoor-safe electricity for low-to-medium wattage loads. No fuel required, no fumes, no noise.

Best for: keeping a specific appliance running (freezer, medical device, CPAP machine), phone and device charging, LED lighting, quiet indoor use.

Not suitable for: high-draw appliances (electric oven, electric shower, immersion heater, electric vehicle charging), whole-house power.

Price range: £150–£2,000+ depending on capacity.

Category 2 — Petrol or Dual-Fuel Generators

Engine-driven generators. Provide high power output. Require fuel (petrol, propane, or both on dual-fuel models). Must be used outdoors — carbon monoxide risk means they cannot run inside or in a garage.

Best for: high-power loads (sump pump, power tools, whole-house circuits in genuine extended emergencies), rural properties where extended outages are more likely.

Not suitable for: urban households without storage space and somewhere safe to run them, quiet suburban neighbourhoods, households without petrol storage capability.

Price range: £300–£1,500.

Category 3 — UPS and Whole-Home Battery Systems

UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supplies): small battery units used to protect computers and medical equipment from brief outages. They keep equipment running for minutes to hours at low draw. Not the same as a power station — they are protective, not generative.

Whole-home battery systems (Tesla Powerwall, GivEnergy, SolarEdge): large-scale installations wired into your fuseboard. Provide whole-house backup, often combined with solar panels. Expensive (£5,000–£15,000 installed), require professional installation, and are a long-term investment in energy independence.

For most households reading this, the relevant choice is between Category 1 and Category 2.

Who Should Buy a Portable Power Station

A portable power station (solar generator) makes sense if:

You need to protect a specific appliance. The most common use case is a chest freezer or fridge-freezer. A 1,000Wh power station runs a 60W chest freezer for around 12 hours. A 2,000Wh unit runs it for 24+ hours.

You have medical equipment that cannot lose power. CPAP machines, nebulisers, and similar devices typically draw 50–100W. A 500Wh unit provides 5–10 hours; a 1,000Wh unit provides 10–20 hours.

You live in a suburban or urban property with no space for an outdoor generator.

You want something that can also be used for camping, van travel, or working away from mains power — portable power stations are genuinely useful beyond emergency use.

The EcoFlow DELTA 2 is the unit I recommend most for the freezer-protection use case. It holds 1,024Wh, has a 1,800W AC output, and can be charged via mains, 220W solar panels, or a car. At around £800–£900 it is a serious investment, but the running cost is near zero once purchased.

For households where the priority is phone charging, lighting, and small devices only — not a whole freezer — the smaller River 2 is sufficient.

The DELTA Mini holds 882Wh and costs somewhat less. The River 2 Pro holds 768Wh and is the mid-tier option for most families who do not need to run a full freezer.

Who Should Buy a Petrol Generator

A petrol or dual-fuel generator makes sense if:

You are on a rural property where outages can last days rather than hours.

You need to run high-wattage equipment — electric pumps, power tools, an electric oven — that a portable power station cannot handle.

You have secure, dry storage for petrol or propane and a safe space to run the generator outdoors.

You are not bothered about noise (a conventional open-frame generator running 3 metres from a neighbour's fence is going to cause problems).

The Honda EU2200i is the generator I would buy if I needed a petrol generator. It is an inverter type, which means the power output is clean enough to run sensitive electronics (laptops, phones, medical devices). It produces 2,200 watts running load and 2,500W peak, weighs about 21kg, and is quiet relative to conventional open-frame generators.

Important: no generator runs indoors. Carbon monoxide is odourless and fatal. Outdoor use only, with the exhaust pointing away from the house.

The Decision Table

How to Size a Portable Power Station

Total wattage of devices you need to run × hours of expected outage × 1.2 safety margin = capacity needed in Wh.

Example: A 60W chest freezer running through a 12-hour outage: 60W × 12h × 1.2 = 864Wh. The EcoFlow DELTA 2 at 1,024Wh covers this with margin.

The complication: appliances with motors (fridges, freezers, pumps) have a startup surge of 3–5x their running wattage. A 60W chest freezer may surge to 300W when the compressor starts. Check that the power station's peak inverter rating handles the surge. The DELTA 2 handles 2,700W surge — more than enough for any domestic appliance.

What About Solar Panels

Adding solar panels to a portable power station means it can recharge from sunlight rather than waiting for mains access. In the UK, 100W of solar produces roughly 300–400Wh on a good summer day and 50–100Wh on an overcast winter day. Solar is a supplementary charge source, not a reliable primary one in UK conditions.

For US households in sunnier states, a 200W panel on a DELTA 2 can provide meaningful charging even in winter.

The main benefit is independence from the grid for recharging — if the mains is out for multiple days, you are not waiting for it to come back to recharge your power station.

What we Actually Has

EcoFlow DELTA 2 in the garage. Two 110W solar panels on order (not installed yet). The DELTA 2 is charged from mains normally and sits at full charge. When the power goes out, I wheel it to the chest freezer and plug in.

Total cost: around £900 for the unit plus whatever the solar panels cost. For a household with £400+ of frozen food and a freezer that runs all year, the ROI calculation is straightforward.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I run my gas boiler from a portable power station?

Most modern gas boilers draw 50–150W when running. A 1,000Wh power station will run a typical boiler for 7–20 hours depending on the model. Check your boiler's rated power consumption in the manual. Use an inverter-type power station or inverter generator to avoid damaging the boiler's electronics.

What is the difference between a solar generator and a power bank?

Scale and capability. A power bank (10,000–20,000mAh) charges phones and tablets. A solar generator (500–2,000Wh) runs household appliances, tools, and medical devices. Both use lithium batteries but operate at completely different power levels. A power bank cannot run a freezer; a solar generator can also charge your phone.

How long does a portable power station battery last?

Lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries like those in the EcoFlow DELTA 2 are rated for 3,000–3,500 charge cycles before degradation. At one full cycle per week, that is 57–67 years. In emergency backup use (occasional cycling), the battery will outlast most other household appliances.

Do I need to store petrol at home for a generator?

If you own a petrol generator, yes — you need fuel to run it. Petrol has a shelf life of about 30 days without a stabiliser additive (STA-BIL or similar extends this to 12 months or more). Store in an approved metal fuel container, away from the house, and cycle it through regularly. A dual-fuel generator that also runs on propane offers better long-term fuel storage options.

Related Guides

Best solar generator: Best Solar Generator for Home Backup 2026 Gas generator comparison: Best Portable Generator for Home 2026 Power cut protocol: What to Do in a Power Outage

Start with what you need to protect, not the equipment. Work out the wattage, size the power station, and you will make a decision you will not regret when the lights go out.