Here is the short answer first, because that is what you came for.
Want to keep your fridge, wifi and phone running during a power cut without any hassle? Then a portable power station is the most sensible choice: quiet, safe to use indoors, no installer needed, from around 300 euros.
Want your whole house to keep running automatically the moment the grid drops out? Then you are looking at a home battery with a backup function, but count on 5,000 to 12,000 euros including installation.
And a generator? That is for when you need a lot of power for days on end and you live out in the country, with a shed and space. But a generator gives off carbon monoxide, so it must never go indoors. I will come back to that shortly, because that is exactly where things go wrong every year during a storm.
Now the details. I have had all three in my hands and I will tell you honestly what works and what does not.
Greetings up front, I am Fred.
What is the difference between a power station, a home battery and a generator?
Roughly put, they are three completely different beasts.
A power station (also called a battery station or a portable power bank on steroids) is a big battery with an inverter and sockets built in. You take it out of the box, plug it in and it is ready. Capacity usually sits between 0.5 and 3 kWh. You just carry it around, and it weighs anything from a few kilos to a decent suitcase.
A home battery is mounted on the wall or stands in the utility room, wired to your fuse box and usually to your solar panels. A fitter installs it. Capacity for backup power often sits between 5 and 15 kWh. The big advantage: with the right backup function it switches over automatically when the grid fails.
A generator makes its own electricity by burning petrol or diesel. As long as you keep topping up the fuel, it keeps running. So the run time is unlimited, but it comes with noise, exhaust fumes and maintenance.
Put simply: the power station and the home battery store electricity. The generator makes electricity.
Comparison table: power station vs home battery vs generator
Here you see the three side by side at a glance.
| Power station | Home battery (with backup) | Generator | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | approx. 300 to 1,500 euros | 5,000 to 12,000 euros incl. installation | portable from approx. 300 euros, bigger and quieter quickly runs into several thousand |
| Capacity | 0.5 to 3 kWh | 5 to 15 kWh | unlimited (as long as you have fuel) |
| Run time | hours, sometimes a day | hours to a full day | days, with refuelling |
| Installation | none, plug and play | fitter needed | none, but set up safely |
| Switching over on outage | connect manually | automatic (up to a few seconds) | start and connect manually |
| Noise | quiet | quiet | 50 to 65 dB for a quiet inverter, open frame much louder |
| Use indoors? | yes, safe | yes (fixed in place) | never, CO danger |
| Fuel | none | none | petrol or diesel |
| Ideal for | fridge, wifi, laptop, phone | bridging the whole house automatically | long, heavy loads outdoors |
Above all, remember these two things: the power station and the home battery are quiet and safe indoors, the generator is powerful and unlimited but belongs outside. The whole choice hinges on that.
How long will it keep your fridge, heating and wifi going?
This is the question that really matters. Because “3 kWh” tells you nothing until you know what your house eats.
Let us make it practical.
A fridge uses on average about 0.4 kWh per day, and the power draw usually sits between 75 and 150 watts. Important: the compressor does not run continuously, it cycles on and off. Averaged over the day the consumption is actually modest.
A wifi modem and router together draw very little, a handful of watts. Negligible in the overall picture.
Your central heating boiler uses somewhere between 130 and 500 kWh of electricity per year, mainly for the pump and fan. Per running hour that is modest, in the order of tens up to around a hundred watts for a modern condensing boiler. Note: your boiler uses gas to heat, but without electricity it will not start. So a bit of backup power does keep your heating going.
Let us do a quick sum with a 1 kWh power station, on the bare essentials only:
- Fridge (keep the door shut): roughly a day, since a fridge only uses about 0.4 kWh per day.
- Wifi on top: barely any difference, that costs almost nothing.
- Charging phones and a laptop: dozens of times.
Put a kettle or an induction hob on it? Then your kWh is gone within half an hour. Those big loads devour everything.
With a home battery of, say, 10 kWh and a lean essentials package (fridge, heating pump, a bit of light, wifi) you easily bridge a full day or longer. But here too: most backup systems only allow loads up to a certain power in backup mode, often around 2 to 5 kW. Heavy loads like an induction hob or a heat pump often simply will not run in backup mode.
A generator? That bridges for as long as you have fuel. But count on serious consumption and the hassle of bringing jerry cans into the house.
Fred’s rule of thumb: backup power is for the bare essentials. Cooling, communicating, lighting, keeping the heating going. Not for cooking, washing or the sauna. Anyone who separates that in their head chooses something a good deal cheaper straight away.
The EcoFlow Delta Pro as an example: what can a big power station do?
Let me pick up the EcoFlow Delta Pro for a moment, because it turns up on almost every backup power list and nicely shows what the top end of portable can do.
The Delta Pro has a capacity of 3,600 Wh, so 3.6 kWh. The rated power is 3,600 watts, with a peak up to 7,200 watts. It uses LiFePO4 battery cells, which stands for a long lifespan.
What does that mean in practice? With 3.6 kWh you keep your fridge, wifi and lighting running for a fair number of hours up to well over a day, depending on what you plug in. And with that peak power you can briefly kick off a heavier appliance.
The nice thing is that you can expand a system like this with extra batteries to a much larger capacity. That way a portable power station grows towards the territory of a small home battery, without you having to touch the fuse box.
Downside: models this big cost a multiple of a simple power station. You are clearly in the more expensive end of portable here. For many people a smaller model of 1 to 2 kWh is plenty.
I mention the Delta Pro as an example, not as a recommendation. Always look at what your household really needs.
Why a generator must never go indoors: the CO danger
This is the part you have to read, even if you skip the rest.
A generator burns petrol or diesel. That releases carbon monoxide (CO). This gas is colourless, odourless and deadly. You cannot smell or see it. The first symptoms (headache, dizziness, nausea) resemble a mild flu, which is why people fail to recognise them until it is too late.
That is why, and I cannot say it often enough:
A generator must never run indoors. Not in the garage, not in the shed, not in the hallway with the door ajar.
Set it up outside, at least three metres away from windows, doors and air vents. Further is even better. Point the exhaust away from your house and from the neighbours.
Every year, during heavy storms and power cuts, this exact thing goes wrong somewhere. People drag a generator inside in the cold and dark to keep warm, and it ends badly. Do not do it.
Extra rules for the generator:
- Never add fuel while it is running and hot.
- Store petrol in approved jerry cans, outside your living space.
- Fit a carbon monoxide alarm if you regularly work with combustion appliances.
With a power station and a home battery none of this applies. They give off no combustion gases and are simply safe to use indoors. For most families that alone is reason enough not to choose a generator.
What about switching time and noise?
Two things people often forget, but that make the difference between comfortable and annoying.
Switching time. With a power station and a generator you switch over manually. The power drops out, you grab the unit, connect your appliances or start the engine. So your fridge sits still for a moment, and your PC shuts down. No disaster for a fridge, but annoying for a running computer.
A home battery with a good backup function does this automatically. The switching time varies per system: from a few seconds with a standard EPS function to around 10 to 20 milliseconds with the most advanced hybrid inverters. With the latter you barely notice the outage at all. Your lights flicker briefly, or not even that.
If you want your appliances to truly not drop out for a second, look specifically at the switching time in the specifications. Not every home battery is equally fast, and not every home battery even has a backup function. That is a separate option you have to ask about specifically.
Noise. A power station and a home battery are quiet. Full stop.
A generator makes a racket. A good, quiet inverter generator sits around 50 to 65 dB, depending on load and distance. That is bearable, but still audible. A simple open-frame generator is a lot louder and keeps your whole street awake. During a longer outage that is no fun, not for you and not for the neighbours.
When do you choose what?
Now to make the call. I will sum it up the way I would tell a neighbour over the fence.
Choose a power station if:
- You mainly want to bridge your fridge, wifi, phone and a bit of light.
- You do not want an installer and do not have a big budget.
- You also want to use it while camping, in the garden or on a project.
- Power cuts at your place are rare and short.
Choose a home battery with a backup function if:
- You want your house to keep running automatically without you having to do anything.
- You already have solar panels or are considering them, because then a battery like this works double duty.
- You are prepared to invest heavily and have the fuse box adapted.
- You have sensitive equipment that cannot tolerate an interruption.
Choose a generator if:
- You need a lot of power for days on end, for example in a remote spot.
- You have a shed, yard or outdoor space to set it up safely.
- You accept the noise and the exhaust fumes.
- Unlimited run time matters more to you than convenience and quiet.
For the average terraced-house dweller who sits without power for an hour now and then, a power station is the sensible winner. For anyone who wants everything automatic and seamless, and has the budget, the home battery is the finest. The generator is a specialist for the heavy, long job outdoors.
Fred’s 5-step choosing plan
Want to do it properly? Work through this list one evening with a cup of coffee.
Step 1. Write down what you really want to bridge. Fridge? Wifi? Heating pump? A medical device? Make a list with the power draw (watts) of each appliance. Deliberately leave off the hob, washing machine and dryer, they are too heavy.
Step 2. Add up the watts and estimate the hours. That tells you roughly how many kWh you need. Bridging a fridge and some electronics can be done with 1 kWh. Want half a day of comfort for the whole family, then you are heading towards 3 kWh or more.
Step 3. Work out how often and how long the power fails at your place. Rarely and briefly? Power station. Often or for a long time, and you want convenience? Look at a home battery. For days on end and heavy outdoors? Then and only then a generator.
Step 4. Check the safety and the location. Using it indoors? Then the generator is out, done. Do you need a fitter and space in the utility room for a home battery? Ask about that before you buy.
Step 5. Watch the details in the specifications. For a home battery: does it have a backup function, and what is the switching time? For a power station: how many kWh and what is the peak power? For a generator: how many dB and is it a pure sine wave for your electronics?
Do this and you buy exactly what you need, and not a euro too much.
Frequently asked questions
Does an ordinary power station work as backup power for my house?
Yes, but only for individual appliances that you plug into it yourself. A power station does not automatically feed your whole fuse box. For a fridge, wifi, phones and a bit of light it is fine. For “the whole house keeps running” you need a home battery with a backup function.
Can I use a home battery as backup power?
Only if it is specifically equipped for it. Not every home battery has a backup or EPS function. Ask about this explicitly. And know that in backup mode only loads up to around 2 to 5 kW often work, so heavy appliances like an induction hob or heat pump usually do not.
Can I run a generator in my garage or shed?
No. Never. A generator gives off carbon monoxide, a colourless and odourless gas that is deadly. Always set it up outside, at least three metres from windows, doors and vents, with the exhaust pointing away from your house.
How long will a power station keep my fridge cold?
A fridge uses on average about 0.4 kWh per day and the compressor does not run continuously. With a 1 kWh power station you get roughly a day, if you keep the door shut, with the fridge alone. Plug in more and it goes faster.
Which is quieter, a power station or a generator?
A power station is completely silent, because no engine runs. A generator makes noise: a good, quiet inverter sits around 50 to 65 dB, a simple open-frame generator is a lot louder. During a long outage that weighs heavily.
Which is cheaper in the long run?
A power station is the cheapest to buy and has no fuel costs. A home battery is a big investment, but it pays for itself if you pair it with solar panels and use it daily. A generator is cheap to buy for small models, but you keep paying for fuel and maintenance.
In closing
Backup power need not be rocket science. Decide what you want to bridge, be honest about how often the power really fails, and then choose the simplest thing that gets the job done. For most people that is a power station, for anyone who wants it seamless the home battery, and the generator only for the heavy job outdoors.
If you want to not only handle backup power smartly but also bring your energy bill down sharply, take a look at the Energy Crusher. There I explain step by step how to waste less electricity at home and get more grip on your usage, exactly the kind of knowledge that also helps to keep your backup power smart and small.
Greetings from Fred Schouten
PS: have you settled on a power station or home battery? Then charge it up at least a few times a year, even when you are not using it. A battery that sits empty in the cupboard for months on end wears out faster. Set a reminder on your phone, and you will never be left in the dark with an empty backup.