Sizing guides, setup how-tos, FAQs
Can a portable power station actually run my refrigerator? For how long? What happens if I leave it plugged in all the time? Do I need to do anything to maintain it? I get variations of these questions constantly — from readers, from neighbors, from people who found this site three hours into a power … Read more
Hey, quick note — this one should’ve gone up before my Generac vs EcoFlow and Kohler vs Generac posts, but it got lost in the scheduling shuffle, so here it is now. $10,847. That’s what a Generac 22kW air-cooled standby generator would have cost me, installed, at the middle quote of three I got from Jacksonville … Read more
Chris called me, his voice tight with frustration. “Marcus, you won’t believe this. I was on a critical client call, presenting the Q3 numbers, and the power just poof went out. My Generac kicked on, but there was that 15-second delay, and the Wi-Fi dropped. I looked like an amateur.” Chris, bless his heart, spent … Read more
4.5 million. That’s how many Texas homes and businesses lost power during Winter Storm Uri in February 2021. According to the Texas Comptroller’s impact analysis, 69% of Texans lost power at some point during the February 14–20 event. Some for hours. Many for days. A significant number for the entire seven-day span. At least 246 people died … Read more
Yes. But not for the reason most people expect, and not at every price point. The solar panel question comes up constantly — usually from someone who just bought a DELTA Pro and is wondering if the $350–$400 for a 220W panel is worth adding. Chris asked me this almost word for word. He’d bought … Read more
The week after Hurricane Milton hit in October 2024, Ray had eleven generator installs booked. Not eleven inquiries — eleven confirmed jobs, permits already pulled, customers who’d called him during the storm because they’d finally had enough. He told me about it over the phone while he was driving between jobs. He sounded tired in … Read more
A reader named Patricia emailed me last month. She’d bought a 3,600Wh portable power station — the EcoFlow DELTA Pro — based on a YouTube video that said “bigger is always better for hurricane season.” She’d used it through two outages. First outage: she ran her refrigerator, her CPAP machine, and charged her phone. Used … Read more
The most common mistake I see homeowners make with portable power stations isn’t buying a bad brand. It’s buying too much capacity for what they’re actually going to do with it. More watt-hours feels safer. It’s intuitive — bigger battery, longer coverage, more peace of mind. But “biggest I can afford” is not a sizing … Read more
Why does everyone ask me this specific comparison? Probably because Generac is the brand people know from TV ads and neighbors’ yards, and EcoFlow is the brand that keeps showing up in storm-prep Facebook groups with surprisingly compelling prices. They’re not the same type of product — and that’s exactly where the confusion starts. Here … Read more
The box arrived on a Tuesday afternoon and I sat there staring at it for ten minutes before I opened it. Not because I didn’t know what to do — I’d watched enough YouTube videos by then — but because Ray had called me the day before and said, “Before you plug anything in, make … Read more
