What Can You Run During a Power Outage?
Prioritize refrigerators, communications, lights, pumps and other loads by power need and importance.
Tier 1: safety and critical needs
Medical equipment, sump pumps, essential communications and safety systems deserve first priority where applicable.
Tier 2: food and basic comfort
Refrigeration, selected lighting, internet equipment and device charging are usually modest compared with large heating or cooling loads.
Tier 3: high-power appliances
Electric ranges, clothes dryers, resistance heaters, central air conditioning and some well pumps can require large systems, especially during startup.
Use a load budget
Treat your backup source as a budget. Running a high-power appliance may require temporarily switching off other loads.
Test the plan
Before an outage, test the intended load combination under controlled conditions so you know what the system can actually support.