Storm prep

Hurricane Backup Power Checklist

The grid usually does not fail during a hurricane. It fails after, when downed lines and flooded roads keep crews away for days. This checklist gets a family ready to keep the fridge cold, the phones charged, a CPAP running, and a fan moving for the 3 to 7 days that power can be out once the storm has passed.

Sam Whitaker

By Sam Whitaker · June 2026 · 8 min · How we test

Atlantic hurricane season runs June 1 through November 30, with the dangerous peak from August through October. The work below is split into four phases: things to do at the start of the season, in the last 72 hours, in the final 24 hours, and during and after the outage itself. Tick each box as you go. You can print the whole list and stick it on the fridge.

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Phase 01 · Season start (June 1)

Charge every power station and battery bank to 100 percent, then store at 60 to 80 percent if it will sit unused for weeks.
Test each station under a real load. Plug in the fridge for an hour and confirm it starts and runs.
Lay out your folding solar panel and confirm the cable and connector match your station.
Check that you own enough lanterns and a battery-powered fan, with spare batteries for each.
Size your power needs once, on paper, using the run-time calculator so you know your real daily watt-hours.
If you run a generator, change the oil, run it for ten minutes, and confirm it has fresh fuel and a working CO detector nearby.
Note where your medications live and whether any need refrigeration during a multi-day outage.

Phase 02 · 72 hours out (storm in the forecast)

Top up every power station, phone, tablet, laptop, and spare battery to 100 percent now, while grid power is still on.
Buy or top up generator fuel early, and store it safely outside the living space in approved containers.
Set the fridge and freezer to their coldest setting so the food holds longer once the power drops.
Freeze water bottles and gallon jugs. They keep the freezer cold longer and become drinking water later.
Refill any prescriptions you are low on, including CPAP supplies and a backup mask.
Confirm your solar panel, cables, and adapters are all in one labeled bin so nothing is missing in the dark.

Phase 03 · 24 hours out (landfall window)

Do a final 100 percent charge on all batteries and phones, then unplug chargers you will not need.
Fill bathtubs and large containers with water for flushing and washing.
Move your power stations and lanterns to a dry, central room above any flood line.
Stage one lantern and one fully charged power bank in each bedroom before dark.
Position the generator outside, at least 20 feet from any window, door, or vent, and confirm it is off and cool until needed.
Write down your priority loads in order: fridge, phones, CPAP, fan, lights. Power them in that order when the grid drops.

Phase 04 · During and after the outage

Keep the fridge and freezer doors shut. A full freezer holds for about 48 hours unopened, a fridge for about 4 hours.
Run the fridge from the power station in short blocks rather than all day, to stretch the battery across the outage.
Charge phones once or twice a day on a schedule, not constantly, to make every watt-hour count.
Run the CPAP from a battery station overnight with the heated humidifier turned off to cut its draw.
Recharge every station from your folding solar panel on the clear days that follow the storm.
Only run the generator outdoors, never in a garage or porch, and never while sleeping. Use it for bulk daytime charging, not overnight.
When in doubt about food after long warm spells, throw it out. A meal is cheaper than a hospital trip.

A dramatic stormy sky over wind-bent palm trees as a hurricane approaches, a coastal storm prep and power outage readiness scene — The storm itself is the easy part. Power planning is what carries you through the days after it passes.

An LED lantern lighting a kitchen during a power outage, an off-grid blackout and emergency backup lighting scene — A few charged lanterns turn a dark, powerless kitchen back into a usable room.

How much power do you actually need?

Before you buy anything, get an honest number for what you run in a day. The fridge is almost always the biggest single load, and most modern refrigerators use roughly 1,000 to 1,500Wh per day once the compressor cycling is counted. Phones, a fan, a few LED lanterns, and a CPAP overnight add a few hundred more. Add it up and you have the daily target your batteries and panels have to hit.

The fast way to get there is the free run-time calculator, which tells you how long a given station will run each appliance, and the off-grid solar calculator, which sizes the panels you need to refill that station between storms. For a 3 to 7 day outage, plan to recharge daily from solar rather than expecting one battery to carry the whole week on its own.

The gear that carries a family through an outage

You do not need a whole-house system to ride out a hurricane. A 1kWh-class power station, a folding solar panel to refill it, a battery-powered fan, a couple of good LED lanterns, and a low-draw 12V fridge or cooler will keep the essentials going. Buy the station first, then build out from there.

The core kit, in the order most families should buy it:

A 1kWh-class power station for silent, indoor-safe power for the fridge, phones, and a CPAP.
A folding solar panel to recharge the station on the clear days after the storm.
A battery-powered fan for sleeping through hot, humid, post-storm nights without burning station power.
LED lanterns for safe, flame-free light in every room.
A 12V fridge or cooler as a low-draw alternative when running the household fridge is too much.

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Open the run-time calculator Best home backup

Frequently Asked Questions

How big a power station do I need to run a fridge for 3 days?

A modern energy-efficient refrigerator uses roughly 1,000 to 1,500Wh per day once you account for the compressor cycling on and off. For three days that is about 3,000 to 4,500Wh, which is more than any single portable station holds. The realistic plan is a 1kWh-class station like the EcoFlow DELTA 2 paired with a folding solar panel, so you run the fridge in short blocks, recharge by day, and stretch one battery across the outage. If you want true three-day fridge autonomy with no sun, you need an expandable station with an extra battery or a 3,000Wh-class unit.

Do solar panels work in storm overcast?

Yes, but at a fraction of their rating. Heavy storm cloud can drop a 200W panel to 20 to 60W, and rain on the glass cuts it further, so do not count on full charging the day a system passes through. The useful window is the bright, clear days that usually follow once the storm moves out, when a folding panel can put real watt-hours back into a station. Treat solar as your recharge plan for the long tail of the outage, not for the worst hours of the storm itself.

Generator or power station for hurricanes?

They solve different problems. A gas generator makes a lot of power for a long time as long as you can get fuel, but it is loud, must run outside, and produces deadly carbon monoxide, so it is wrong for overnight and indoor essentials. A battery power station is silent, safe to run indoors, and recharges from solar, but it holds a limited amount of energy. The strongest hurricane setup is both: a generator for bulk daytime power and big loads, and a power station for quiet, safe overnight running of the fridge, phones, and a CPAP.

How do I keep a CPAP running through a multi-day outage?

Run the CPAP from a battery power station, not a generator, because you need silent power right next to the bed all night. A CPAP without its heated humidifier draws only about 30 to 60W, so a 1kWh station can usually cover one or two nights per charge, while the humidifier and heated hose can triple that draw and should be turned off during an outage. Recharge the station by day from solar or a generator, and check that your machine accepts the station's pure sine wave AC, which every unit we recommend provides. See our guide to the best power stations for a CPAP for machine-specific numbers.