How long will a portable power station run a refrigerator?

A typical full-size refrigerator averages about 52 W over a day, so a portable power station runs it for roughly battery Wh x 0.85 / 52 hours. That is about 17 hours on a 1,000 Wh class station like the Jackery Explorer 1000 v2, about 33 hours on a 2,000 Wh station and about 50 hours on a 3,000 Wh station. The station also has to cover the fridge's running watts and its start-up surge, which rules out most small units.

Why is a fridge's average draw so much lower than its running watts?

A fridge's compressor switches on and off to hold temperature. While it runs, generator sizing charts list a full-size fridge at 700 to 725 W. Over a whole day it uses far less: the median full-size ENERGY STAR certified model is rated at 457 kWh a year, and 457 kWh spread over 8,760 hours is about 52 W on average.

That average is what decides runtime. The running and starting watts decide whether the station can power the fridge at all.

How do you work out the runtime?

Runtime (hours) = battery Wh x inverter efficiency / load W.

Take the Jackery Explorer 1000 v2. Its battery is 1070 Wh. Jackery does not publish an inverter efficiency, so we use 0.85, which leaves about 910 Wh at the outlets. Divide by the 52 W average and you get about 17.5 hours from a full charge.

If your fridge ran its compressor nonstop at 725 W, the same battery would last a little over an hour. Real fridges sit between those two numbers, closer to the average on a normal day with the door shut.

Can every power station start a fridge?

No. Two limits matter besides battery size:

• Rated output. The fridge's running watts must fit under the station's rated AC output. The EcoFlow RIVER 3 Plus is rated at 600 W, below the 700 W chart figure, so it cannot run a full-size fridge even though its 286 Wh battery would last a few hours at the average draw.
• Start-up surge. The compressor's start needs a short burst of 2200 to 2900 W in the charts we use. The Jackery Explorer 1000 v2 lists a 3000 W surge peak and the EcoFlow DELTA 3 Plus 3600 W, so both cover it. The DJI Power 500 has a 1000 W rated output but DJI does not publish a surge figure, so whether it starts a given fridge is a check, not a yes.

How long do common power stations run a fridge?

At the 52 W average, from a full charge:

• EcoFlow RIVER 3 Plus (286 Wh, 600 W): cannot run a full-size fridge; the running watts are over its rating.
• DJI Power 500 (512 Wh, 1000 W): about 8.4 hours if it starts your fridge; surge not published.
• EcoFlow DELTA 3 Plus (1024 Wh, 1800 W): about 16.7 hours.
• Jackery Explorer 1000 v2 (1070 Wh, 1500 W): about 17.5 hours.
• Jackery Explorer 2000 v2 (2042 Wh, 2200 W): about 33 hours.
• EcoFlow DELTA 3 Ultra (3072 Wh, 3600 W): about 50 hours.

Every station's battery, output and surge come from the maker's own spec page, linked in the sources below. For the full list, see the 24-hour fridge outage page.

How can you get a closer number for your fridge?

Find the yellow EnergyGuide label or the spec sheet and read the annual kWh. Divide it by 8.76 to get average watts, then put that figure in the Average W box of the runtime calculator. Older fridges, side-by-side models and fridges with ice makers usually use more than the median. Keeping the door closed, setting the fridge a degree or two warmer and leaving other big loads off the station all stretch the runtime.