Portable power station or gas generator: which is right for home backup?

Where each one wins

• Power station: silent, no fumes, safe indoors, no fuel to store, almost no maintenance, can recharge from solar
• Gas generator: much more power per dollar, runs as long as you have fuel, better for well pumps, central air and other heavy loads

Safety

This is the biggest difference. Gas generators produce carbon monoxide, which is deadly and has no smell. A generator must run outdoors, well away from doors, windows and vents, and never in a garage, even with the door open. Safety agencies advise keeping it at least 20 feet from the home.

A battery power station produces no exhaust, so it can sit in the kitchen or bedroom. That makes it the practical choice for apartments and for anyone who cannot safely place a generator outside.

Run time

A generator runs as long as you keep adding fuel, which is its great strength in a long outage. Fuel can be hard to find after a major storm, and gasoline goes stale in storage unless treated.

A power station runs until the battery is empty. With solar panels it can keep going for days at a low load, but output depends on the weather.

Noise and neighbours

Most portable generators are loud enough to hear from the street. Inverter generators are quieter but still clearly audible. Power stations make almost no sound beyond a cooling fan.

Which should you buy?

• Apartment or condo: power station
• Short outages of a few hours to a day: power station
• Medical devices at night: power station, for silent indoor use
• Long outages with heavy loads such as a well pump or central air: gas generator or a large home battery system
• Many homes end up with both: a power station for essentials and quiet hours, and a generator for heavy loads and recharging