Will a power station run a fridge freezer, and for how long?

What a fridge freezer actually draws

Two numbers matter. The running or nameplate figure is the maker’s connection rating, the power the appliance is rated to draw while running: Bosch’s spec sheets give 100W for a 60cm fridge freezer (the KGN34VW35G) and 240W for an American-style model (the KAD93AIERG). That is the number to hold against a power station’s continuous output. It is not what the fridge uses over a day, and starting the compressor briefly takes more, as the next section explains.

The average is what the compressor’s on-and-off cycling works out to, and it comes from the energy label: kWh per annum divided by 8,760 hours. Bosch’s A-rated KGN392LAF is 104 kWh a year, about 12W; its E-rated American-style KAD93AIERG is 323 kWh, about 37W. Older stock uses more: European Commission estimates put the average fridge freezer sold in 1990 at 477 kWh a year, roughly 54W, against 181 kWh for one sold in 2020.

The runtimes below use 100 to 240W running and 12 to 51W average. The top figure, about 450 kWh a year, sits a little under that 1990 average, so a fridge freezer older or thirstier than that will use more. Efficiency class, size and age all move the figure, and the label is a lab test with the doors shut; a warm kitchen and frequent opening push real use higher. Your own label is the place to start.

The start surge: why the output rating decides it

A compressor draws a brief burst as it starts, and none of the fridge spec sheets we checked says how big. BLUETTI’s manuals say some devices with motors or compressors may start at two to four times their rated power, so we plan on 960W for a fridge freezer (four times 240W) and 480W for a chest freezer rated at 120W. These are planning figures, not measurements, but they explain why a unit whose continuous rating easily covers a fridge’s running watts can still fail to start it.

Small units are the problem. The Jackery Explorer 300 Plus is rated at 300W with a 600W surge peak, below the planning figure. The EcoFlow RIVER 3 Plus is rated at 600W with a 1,200W surge, only a quarter above 960W, and the RIVER 2 Max (500W, 1,000W surge) has essentially no margin. The 1kWh and 2kWh classes are different: every one we list is rated for at least 1,500W continuously, so the continuous rating alone clears 960W. The EcoFlow DELTA 3 Classic is rated at 1,800W with a 3,600W surge, the BLUETTI Elite 100 V2 at 1,800W with a 3,600W surge, the Anker SOLIX C1000 at 1,800W, the Jackery Explorer 2000 v2 at 2,200W, the BLUETTI Elite 200 V2 at 2,600W, and the EcoFlow DELTA 3 Max Plus at 3,000W with a 6,000W surge.

One caveat on the bigger numbers makers print. BLUETTI’s ‘Power Lifting’ (2,700W on the Elite 100 V2, 3,900W on the Elite 200 V2) and Anker’s ‘SurgePad’ (2,400W on the SOLIX C1000) are for heating appliances such as kettles: BLUETTI’s manuals say Power Lifting is only for pure resistive loads and that actual output stays at the rated wattage, and Anker says SurgePad works better with devices that generate heat and does not support devices with voltage protection. Ignore them for a fridge. It makes no difference here, because those units’ continuous ratings of 1,800W, 2,600W and 1,800W already clear the 960W planning figure. The principle is explained in what size power station do I need.

Two settings matter more than any spec. EcoFlow’s RIVER 2 Max manual warns that a fridge’s fluctuating draw can make the unit shut off, and recommends setting AC to ‘Never Turn Off’ in the EcoFlow app when the fridge holds medicines or other high-value items. BLUETTI’s manuals for the Elite 100 V2 and Elite 200 V2 say ECO mode, which shuts off AC output after a period of low or no load, is on by default, and to disable it for critical appliances such as refrigerators. Left at the default, a setting like this can cut the fridge off long before the battery is empty, so check the auto-off or ECO setting whatever the model. Every runtime below assumes you have changed it.

Honest runtimes: 1kWh and 2kWh units

The makers’ simple sum is hours ≈ capacity in Wh × inverter efficiency ÷ the fridge’s watts, at 80 to 90 per cent efficiency: Jackery’s formula multiplies capacity by 0.85, and EcoFlow’s guide says to use 0.80 to 0.90 for AC as a first pass. BLUETTI’s UK page for the Elite 200 V2 goes further: capacity × 90 per cent depth of discharge × 85 per cent inverter efficiency ÷ (the load + the unit’s own consumption, about 10W). That last term matters most for a fridge, because its average draw is so small: 10W nearly doubles a 12W fridge’s draw.

On BLUETTI’s fuller formula, a 1kWh unit (1,024Wh) runs an efficient fridge freezer averaging 12W for about 36 hours, a day and a half, and an older one averaging 51W for about 13 hours (Bosch’s 37W American-style model would get about 17). A 2kWh unit (2,048Wh) manages about 71 hours, roughly three days, and about 26 hours. Leave out the unit’s own consumption and the simple sum gives 16 to 77 hours and 32 to 154 hours: treat that as a ceiling, because every power station uses some power itself.

Treat even the lower figures as estimates. BLUETTI’s UK pages put the Elite 100 V2’s and Elite 200 V2’s own consumption at about 10W; EcoFlow support has put the DELTA 2 Max, a model we don’t list, at 23W with AC on, which would cut the efficient-fridge figures by roughly another third. If the compressor ran flat out at its nameplate rating, the same formula gives a 1kWh unit only about 3 to 7 hours and a 2kWh unit about 6 to 14; a tired door seal or warm shopping pushes a fridge towards that floor. Plan on the low end.

Chest freezers: the lid does most of the work

A chest freezer’s load varies more than you might expect, so check yours: Gorenje rates its 248-litre FH25EAW at 120W, while Liebherr gives its 497-litre CFe 2500 a 1.5A connection rating, which at 230V allows for up to about 345W. On their labels they use 215 and 295 kWh a year, about 25 and 34W on average. Allowing for the power station’s own consumption, a 1kWh unit runs one for roughly 18 to 22 hours and a 2kWh unit for roughly 36 to 45. The Gorenje’s 480W planning start is within reach of more units than a fridge freezer’s, but on the same four-times rule the Liebherr could need more to start than a fridge freezer, so check your own rating plate.

Now the part that changes the decision. Makers rate how long a loaded chest freezer holds its temperature with the lid shut and no power at all: Gorenje gives the FH25EAW a power cut safe time of 39 hours, and the CFe 2500 is listed at 40. That hold time comes on top of whatever a power station adds, not instead of it. On those ratings, a shut lid covers a cut of up to about a day and a half on its own; for a longer one, a 1kWh unit adds most of another day and a 2kWh unit roughly another day and a half to two.

You often don’t need to power the fridge at all

Before sizing anything, check whether the problem exists. The Food Standards Agency’s guidance on food safety in a power cut (July 2023, for England, Wales and Northern Ireland) says a fridge should stay cold for up to 4 hours with the door shut, and a full freezer should stay frozen for up to 48 hours, or 24 hours if half full. The FSA normally recommends keeping a fridge at 5°C or below, but says food can be kept under 8°C during a cut; once it reaches 8°C or above, eat the food that normally needs refrigeration within 4 hours first. The FSA calls these timings estimates. Makers’ own figures for fridge freezers are shorter: Bosch’s spec sheets give a power-failure storage time of 16 hours for the KGN34VW35G, a temperature rise time of 21 hours for the KGN392LAF, and 3 hours for the American-style KAD93AIERG. These are lab tests under set conditions, and even the two chest freezers above are rated below 48 hours, so treat the FSA’s figure as a best case. The ‘temperature rise time’ on your model’s product information sheet is the number to check.

The FSA adds that the timings vary by make and model, and that a warm room or frequent opening pushes the temperature up faster. Even so, a cut fixed within 4 hours sits inside the fridge window, and a full freezer usually holds for longer, so for a short cut a power station would be solving a spoilage problem that has not yet started. In practice: keep the doors shut, check your network operator’s live map or call 105 (England, Scotland and Wales; in Northern Ireland, contact NIE Networks) for its estimated restoration time, and decide then. Our power cuts tracker shows live faults on the networks it covers. What to keep and what to bin is in power cut food safety.

When a power station is worth it, and when it isn’t

Worth it: a cut that will clearly outrun the FSA windows or a chest freezer’s hold time, such as a multi-day storm outage, where a full freezer is genuinely at stake and a 2kWh unit can carry an efficient fridge freezer for around three days. If you keep fridge medicines, a power station is rarely the first answer: for a cut of up to about 4 hours, keeping the fridge door shut is usually enough, a cool bag covers a longer one, and your pharmacist, not this guide, decides what is safe for your product. See fridge medicines in a power cut, and join the Priority Services Register with your energy supplier and your network operator so you get priority updates during a fault. If your likely outages run longer than any of these units can honestly cover, read power station vs generator first; a generator must only ever run outdoors, never in the house, a garage or a porch, as how to use a generator safely explains.

Not worth it: a cut of under 4 hours, which the FSA says is unlikely to affect the safety of chilled or frozen food; a loaded chest freezer for a cut shorter than its rated hold time (39 and 40 hours on the two we checked); and a small unit such as the Explorer 300 Plus, RIVER 3 Plus or RIVER 2 Max, whose surge ratings of 600 to 1,200W sit below or only just above a fridge freezer’s 960W planning start. Use a small unit for phones, lights and the router, and leave the fridge shut.

If you do run one: change the auto-off setting first, keep the doors closed as if the fridge were unpowered, and put phones and the router on the USB and DC ports, as EcoFlow suggests, so the inverter serves the fridge alone. Plug the fridge’s own plug straight into the power station. Never run a double-ended lead from the power station into a wall socket to power the kitchen circuit: backfeeding can put power back onto the network and electrocute engineers working to restore it. If your fridge freezer is integrated and its plug is out of reach, or it is wired into a fused spur with no plug, don’t cut or rewire it: a registered electrician can fit an accessible socket.

Use a pure sine wave power station for a compressor appliance. EcoFlow’s UK pages confirm pure sine output for the DELTA 3 Classic and DELTA 3 Max Plus, and BLUETTI’s UK page lists the Elite 200 V2’s inverter as pure sine wave; for any other model, check the maker’s UK page or manual before you buy. In a long cut a portable solar panel can top it up by day, though UK winter light is weak, so treat it as an extender rather than a full recharge; the kit builder sizes a unit from your own appliances.