Power & Preparedness

How to Choose a Portable Power Station for Refrigerators and Freezers

A practical framework for calculating capacity, handling compressor startup, and avoiding an expensive mismatch.

Crawford Select Editorial · Updated September 2026 · 12-minute read

Affiliate disclosure: Some links may be paid links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Recommendations are based on usefulness and value, not commission rates.

A backup battery is only useful when it can start your appliance and keep it running for the outage you are planning around. The advertised watt-hours on the box are important, but they are not the whole decision.

Start with the two numbers that matter

Running watts

This is the power an appliance consumes after it is operating normally. A refrigerator may cycle rather than run constan