Power station vs gas generator for outages (cost, noise, indoor safety, runtime)
Only a power station can run indoors: the CPSC says never to run a gas generator in a home, garage or basement and to keep it at least 20 feet from the house. A generator runs as long as you refuel it, while a 2,048 Wh EcoFlow DELTA 3 Max keeps a fridge and router going about 27 hours.
Only the power station can sit inside the house. The CPSC says never to run a portable generator in a home, garage, basement, crawlspace or shed, and to keep it outdoors at least 20 feet from the house. What the generator offers in return is runtime: it keeps going while you have fuel, while a 2,048 Wh DELTA 3 Max carries a fridge and router for about 27 h 7 min before it needs a recharge.
This guide compares the two for an outage. To work out how many watt-hours your own outage needs over 24 to 72 hours, use the outage sizing guide instead.
Indoor safety: the rule that decides placement
A gasoline engine makes carbon monoxide, which you cannot see or smell. The CPSC counts an average of nearly 100 deaths a year in the US from CO poisoning caused by portable generators, and warns that opening doors or windows does not give enough ventilation to stop it building up. It also rules out running one on a porch or in a carport (CPSC winter safety release, March 2026). Its carbon monoxide guide adds keeping the generator away from windows, doors and vents, and having a working CO alarm in the house (CPSC, generators and engine-driven tools).
A battery station has no exhaust, so it can run next to the fridge or the bed. That also means no extension cord run out of a window and no refueling in the dark during a storm.
Worked example 1: how long a station holds the essentials
Inputs: the calculator's fridge preset, 123 W with the compressor on about a third of the time, plus a 10 W router, for an average of 51 W on the AC outlets. The station is the EcoFlow DELTA 3 Max, with the engine's default usable share, inverter efficiency and idle draw (see the methodology).
| Usable energy | 2,048 Wh rated, 1,843 Wh usable after depth of discharge |
|---|---|
| Battery draw | 51 W of devices plus inverter loss and idle draw = 68 W |
| Runtime | 1,843 Wh ÷ 68 W = 27 h 7 min |
A generator has no fixed answer here: its runtime is the size of its tank and how often someone goes outside to fill it. The EcoFlow DELTA Pro 3 stretches the same load to 54 h 14 min, and the Explorer 1000 v2 gets 14 h 10 min. For more than a day or two, a station needs solar or grid power to refill, which a long outage may not provide.
Worked example 2: a heavy load, where generators pull ahead
Inputs: a Window AC (5,000 BTU) at 450 W, counted as running the whole time it is on, on the DELTA Pro 3, the largest single EcoFlow unit in the table below.
| Usable energy | 4,096 Wh rated, 3,686 Wh usable after depth of discharge |
|---|---|
| Battery draw | 450 W of devices plus inverter loss and idle draw = 521 W |
| Runtime | 3,686 Wh ÷ 521 W = 7 h 4 min |
A full 4,096 Wh battery covers one night of cooling, not a heat wave. A 1,500 W space heater is harsher still: the same station runs it for 2 h 9 min, and the DELTA 3 Max for 1 h 4 min. Heat and cooling are the loads where a fuel-burning generator, run safely outdoors, does work a battery cannot sustain.
Cost: what the stations in our dataset sell for
Prices are the brand's own store price on 11 Oct 2026, and sale prices move often. Hours are the engine's figure for the 51 W fridge and router load from example 1. We do not track generator prices, so there is no generator column; compare against a quote for the generator you would actually buy, plus fuel and storage.
| Station | Capacity | Continuous output | Store price | Price per kWh rated | Fridge and router | Runs the window AC |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EcoFlow DELTA 3 Classic | 1,024 Wh | 1,800 W | $499 | $487 | 13 h 33 min | 1 h 46 min |
| Jackery Explorer 1000 v2 | 1,070 Wh | 1,500 W | $499 | $466 | 14 h 10 min | 1 h 50 min |
| Jackery Explorer 1500 v2 | 1,536 Wh | 2,000 W | $849 | $553 | 20 h 20 min | 2 h 39 min |
| EcoFlow DELTA 3 Max | 2,048 Wh | 2,400 W | $879 | $429 | 27 h 7 min | 3 h 32 min |
| EcoFlow DELTA 3 Ultra | 3,072 Wh | 3,600 W | $1,369 | $446 | 40 h 41 min | 5 h 18 min |
| EcoFlow DELTA Pro 3 | 4,096 Wh | 4,000 W | $2,799 | $683 | 54 h 14 min | 7 h 4 min |
| Jackery Explorer 5000 Plus | 5,040 Wh | 7,200 W | $3,149 | $625 | 66 h 45 min | 8 h 42 min |
Price per kWh does not simply fall with size here: the DELTA 3 Max is the cheapest per kWh in this list, while the two largest units cost the most per kWh, and every extra hour of runtime is battery you pay for up front. Two pairs worth weighing side by side: the Goal Zero Yeti 1500 and Jackery Explorer 1500 v2, and the DJI Power 2000 and EcoFlow DELTA 3 Max.
Noise and switchover
A station's inverter makes little noise beyond its cooling fan, which matters indoors and at night. Many also act as a backup supply: the DELTA 3 Max lists a 10 ms switchover and the Explorer 1000 v2 20 ms, so a router or fridge plugged through it keeps running when the grid drops. A portable generator has to be started and connected by hand after the outage begins. For a specific generator's noise and fuel figures, use its manufacturer's spec sheet; we do not publish them.
What changes the answer
- Outage length. For an outage of a day or less, a station of 2 kWh or so covers the essentials above with nothing to refuel. Multi-day outages without sun favor fuel.
- Solar. A panel turns a station into a slow, quiet recharge loop. The solar charging guide computes how much a panel puts back per day.
- Where you live. An apartment or a house with no safe outdoor spot at least 20 feet from the house rules a generator out, whatever the outage length.
- Motor starts. Well pumps and some fridges need surge power at startup. Check the station's surge rating with the surge watts guide.
- Both. Some households keep a station indoors for the overnight load and recharge it from a generator run outdoors during the day. The CPSC placement rules still apply to the generator.
Related power stations
Product images: official brand websites (EcoFlow, Jackery).