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Will it run? · UK figures, 230 V

Will a power station run a fridge-freezer?

Short answer: Yes

A typical freestanding fridge-freezer averages about 34 W over a day, so the question is only how long: from about 5 hours on a 286 Wh station to well over a day on a 2,000 Wh one.

average load to cover
34W
start-up peak
250W
hours to cover
12h

How much power a fridge-freezer draws

  • Average over 24 hours (freestanding)

    34 W

    Range 11–51 W

    Worked out from a published figure

    Which? puts the average freestanding fridge-freezer at £79 a year and an American-style one at £117, at 26.32p per kWh. That is about 300 kWh and 445 kWh a year (our arithmetic), or 34 W and 51 W averaged over the day. Efficient models use 100–300 kWh a year (11–34 W). Which?Household Money Saving

  • While the compressor runs

    250 W

    Range 100–250 W

    Estimate: no published figure found

    An estimate from a secondary source (Household Money Saving): 100–250 W while the compressor runs; makers rarely publish it. We size the station's continuous output for the top of that range. Household Money Saving

Hours on four power stations

Worked with BLUETTI's published formula: capacity × 0.9 × 0.85 ÷ (load + 10 W the station uses itself). Capacity and continuous output are from each maker's UK page, read on 11 October 2026. "Too much" means the station's continuous output is below what the appliance needs at once.

Estimated hours of a fridge-freezer on four power stations
LoadEcoFlow RIVER 3 Plus
286 Wh · 600 W		Jackery Explorer 500 v2
512 Wh · 500 W		Anker SOLIX C1000 Gen 2
1,024 Wh · 2,000 W		Jackery Explorer 2000 v2
2,042 Wh · 2,200 W
Efficient model (about 20 W average)7.3 h13 h1 day 2 h2 days 4 h
Average freestanding (34 W)5 h8.9 h18 h1 day 12 h
American-style (51 W)3.6 h6.4 h13 h1 day 2 h
One cell, worked through

Anker SOLIX C1000 Gen 2: 1,024 Wh × 0.9 × 0.85 = 783 Wh usable. Average freestanding (34 W): 34 W + 10 W = 44 W. 783 ÷ 44 = 18 h.

Do you need to power it at all?

Often not for a short cut. The Food Standards Agency says a cut of under 4 hours is unlikely to affect food in the fridge or freezer, a closed fridge stays cold for up to 4 hours, and a full freezer stays frozen for up to 48 hours (24 if half full). Keep the doors shut.

A power station earns its place when the cut runs past those 4 hours: storms like Éowyn in January 2025 left several thousand homes in Scotland and Northern Ireland without power for days (Met Office).

Run it in shifts to stretch the battery

You don't have to run the fridge-freezer non-stop. Plug it in for an hour or two to pull the temperature back down, then unplug it and keep the door closed. A fridge thermometer tells you when it needs another shift: the FSA allows food to stay in a fridge below 8 °C during a power cut.

Before you rely on it

  • The 34 W is an average: the compressor cycles on and off. Your fridge-freezer's energy label gives kWh a year; divide it by 8.76 to get your own average watts.
  • Startup: a compressor draws more for a moment when it kicks in. Makers rarely publish the figure, so leave headroom: we only count stations with at least 250 W continuous output, and every one on our UK list has 300 W or more.
  • Old, iced-up or overfilled appliances in a warm kitchen use more than the average.

Which station we'd pick

Smallest on our UK list for this job

Anker SOLIX C1000 Gen 2

1,024 Wh and 2,000 W continuous: about 18 h at 34 W. We size for at least 12 hours, an evening and a night, well past the 4 hours the Food Standards Agency says a closed fridge stays cold; this one has a few hours to spare.

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Want to add other appliances? The power-cut calculator does the sums for your whole home, and the full list of 14 stations has every UK figure.

Questions

How many watts does a fridge-freezer use in the UK?

About 34 W averaged over the day for an average freestanding model (Which?'s £79 a year at 26.32p per kWh is roughly 300 kWh a year), and 100–250 W while the compressor is actually running. American-style models average nearer 51 W.

Can I plug my fridge-freezer straight into a power station?

Yes, through one of the station's UK 3-pin sockets, as long as its continuous output covers the compressor (we use 250 W as the planning figure). Don't run it through an extension reel with a kettle or heater on the same station.

What size power station for a fridge-freezer overnight?

Around 1,000 Wh. At a 34 W average, a 1,024 Wh station gives roughly 18 hours by our sums, which covers an evening and a night with something to spare.

Other appliances

Guides (5)

Sources

Every figure on this page comes from one of these pages, read on the date shown. If a maker changes its page, its page wins.

See all 9 sources