In this video, I'm going to provide you
with five options if the grid were to go
down. When people get serious about
preparedness, especially when it comes
to backup power, they start by asking,
"What generator should I buy?" But the
better question is, "What do I
absolutely need during an outage?"
Because your answer determines
everything else. So, in this video, I'm
going to walk you through the five
levels of household power resilience so
you can decide which level of
preparedness makes the most sense for
your family, your budget, and your
specific risk. Now, I've tried to answer
this question in various ways on the
channel before, but in this video, I
want to present an escalation ladder
starting from the simplest option all
the way up to the most advanced option,
explaining your choices along the way.
Now, each of these approaches build on
top of each other so you don't waste
time or money as you move to the next
level. Here's what we're going to cover
in this video. Level one, staying
informed. Level two, protecting your
family. Level three, protecting
essentials. Level four, protecting
critical loads. And level five, whole
home resilience. I'm also going to
provide a free downloadable power
resilience checklist at the end of the
video that ties all five levels
together. And a big thanks to EcoFlow
for providing equipment we're going to
be using throughout this video. They're
a solid choice for backup power and
we're going to be looking at several of
their systems throughout this
preparedness ladder. All right, so let's
get started. Level one, staying
informed.
The first level of preparedness is
simply staying informed. And honestly,
this is the level that every household
should begin with. The goal here is not
to power your entire home. Rather, it's
to turn a power outage from a surprise
into an inconvenience. Think back about
the last time your power went out. What
do you normally do? Most people, they're
going to reach for their phone. They're
going to check their utility company's
website. They'll check social media.
They'll text family members or neighbors
asking if they're dealing with an outage
as well. Then they start looking for
updates. They're trying to typically
answer three questions. What's
happening? How widespread is this? And
how long is this going to last? Because
in the first few hours of an outage,
information often becomes more valuable
than electricity as it helps inform you
as to what to do next. Now, in this
situation, you simply need enough power
to stay connected and informed. And
honestly, for most people, that means
keeping your phone charged and having
flashlights available if the lights go
out. So, what do I recommend at this
level? If I was just starting out,
something like this Noah weather radio
would solve a lot of the problems. It
allows you to get updates and also
charge your phone via a USB port here on
the side. And then it's got a hand crank
that you can actually connect to your
phone with a USB cord and begin to power
your phone. Now, I realized running this
hand crank for a while to charge your
phone. That would be tedious, but it
works. Now, another option would be a
small portable charger that's paired
with a small solar panel. You could get
this out during the day and charge the
portable charger with this actual solar
panel. But if you wanted to skip the
battery entirely, you can actually plug
your cell phone directly into this again
via USB cords that typically come with
these. And so this gives you options to
keep an important device charged, your
cell phone. And now at this point, we're
talking about maybe $50 depending on
which of these options you go with,
whether it's this uh you know, a cell or
rather a solar panel or just a small
battery charger. And this again keeps
our cell phone working. You're just
simply making sure that you can
communicate and receive information. And
for many people, that may be enough. And
that's the cheapest way to solve your
particular problem. But once an outage
begins to stretch beyond a few hours,
the questions they really start to
change. And that brings us to level two.
Level two, protecting your family. Once
an outage stretches beyond a few hours,
the questions, they start to change. You
stop asking, "When is the power coming
back?" and start asking, "How hot is
this house going to get?" or "During the
winter, how cold is it going to get?"
and "How do I keep everyone safe if this
lasts through tomorrow?" And this is
where power outages stop being really a
convenience problem and they start
becoming a safety problem. And one of
the biggest mistakes people make is
trying to keep their entire household
comfortable during an outage. Instead, I
would encourage you to focus on a single
room during the summer. Use that room
that naturally stays coolest during the
day. It's usually the room where you can
block sunlight, close doors to isolate
it from the rest of the house, and
create a comfortable place for everyone
together if temperatures continue to
rise. And for some homes, that may be a
basement. For others, it may be a
north-facing bedroom or a room that
receives very little direct sunlight
during the day. And we recently covered
this concept in detail in our city
prepping brief. And I'll put a link
below if you'd like to receive those
weekly preparedness tips. Knowing this
in advance is especially important if
you have children, pets, older adults,
or neighbors who may be more vulnerable
to extreme temperatures. And during the
winter, the same principle applies, just
in reverse. which room stays warmest or
receives the most sunlight. In
preparedness, it's not always about
buying equipment. Sometimes it's just
simply thinking through the problem
before it happens. But even after you
figured out how to protect the people in
your home, there's still the question of
what you're going to keep powered. And
that's where level three begins. Level
three, protecting essentials.
Now that we get to the big question,
what actually needs power when the grid
goes down and how are you going to power
it? I think this is where most people
start thinking about backup power for
the first time. Based on conversations
I've had with this community over the
years, the first thing people usually
bring up is the refrigerator or freezer.
But for many households, it may be
medications that need refrigeration,
medical devices, internet access, or the
ability to continue working from home.
At this level, there are really two
common approaches. The first is a
traditional backup generator. If you're
considering that route, I'd recommend
starting with an inverter generator. And
if possible, look at dual fuel or
trifuel models since they give you more
flexibility during an extended outage.
Propane, it stores well for long
periods, while gasoline that requires
more maintenance and eventually it does
go bad. And I recently did an entire
video covering generators and fuel
considerations, which I'll link to
below. With this option, you leave it
outside and run an extension cord into
your home to power your devices inside
your home. Now, my personal preference,
however, is a solar generator. These
portable battery systems can power
essentials like refrigerators, medical
devices, internet equipment, and other
critical loads during an outage. I like
them because they can operate inside
your home, and they're quiet. They're
easy to use. They don't require fuel,
they produce no fumes, and they can be
recharged with solar panels. If you want
to check out any of the products that
we'll be covering, they're running their
Prime Day deals right now, and I'll post
links in the description along with my
coupon code 26 EFPDCP for 5% off all
eligible orders. For example, I have the
EcoFlow Delta 3 Max here beside me. This
is the type of system that works well
for many families because it can power
the essentials, recharge quickly, and
deliver a whopping 2400 watts
continuously compared to other units on
the market that typically output roughly
1,800 watts. So, if you're running a
microwave or window AC unit during an
outage, that difference really matters.
As you move up in size, you're going to
find systems that are capable of
powering much larger appliances and
handling much heavier loads like the
EcoFlow Delta 3 Ultra here next to me.
And that's really the key question at
this stage. How much power do you need
at a given moment and for how long? Now,
I know that's not an easy question to
answer without more information, and
it's really outside the scope of this
video. So, I'm going to post a link to a
video below where I cover that in a lot
of detail. In that video, I provide a
free tool to help you out. As far as
pricing, we're roughly in about the,000
to $3,000 range depending on
manufacturers. But that gives you a
rough estimate of what you'd be spending
for devices along with solar panels.
Okay, so we've introduced basic backup
power options. So let's move to level
four. Level four, protect critical
loads. By this point, we've moved simply
beyond powering individual devices. Now
we're talking about powering parts of
the home itself without having to run
extension cords all over the place. This
is where the concept of critical load
comes into play. The difference between
level three and level four is
integration. At level three, you might
be running extension cords to the
devices you want to power from a gas or
solar generator. But at level four,
you're creating a dedicated system that
powers selected circuits automatically
when the grid goes down. At this level,
this is typically done through something
called a critical load panel. Think of
it as a smaller electrical panel that
contains only the circuits you consider
most important during an outage. Instead
of trying to power the entire house,
you're prioritizing the things that
matter most. The refrigerator, the
freezer, a few lights, internet
equipment, medical devices, maybe a well
pump, maybe a home office, and whatever
is most important to your household.
From there, you have a couple of
options. Some homeowners install a
manual transfer switch connected to a
backup generator. When the power goes
out, they start the generator and
manually switch over those critical
circuits. It's a proven approach and one
that's been used for decades. The other
option is a batterybased system with a
smart transfer switch, which is what I
cover extensively here on this channel.
This is where most systems like the
EcoFlow Delta Pro start to make sense.
One of the reasons this platform became
so popular is because it can scale from
powering a few essentials all the way up
to supporting critical circuits
throughout the whole home. And with the
proper installation, these systems can
automatically detect when the grid goes
down and then switch over to powering
your critical loads without requiring
you to drag out extension cords or to
start a generator. The goal here is not
whole home backup power. It's about
maintaining the most important functions
of your home with as little disruption
as possible. And for families, this
level represents the sweet spot between
cost, complexity, and capability. As far
as pricing, we're roughly in the $1,700
to maybe $10,000 range, depending on a
lot of different factors. But that gives
you a rough estimate of what you would
be spending between parts and
installation. But eventually, some
households are going to want to go even
further. They don't want to power a few
selected circuits. They want the entire
home to function normally during an
outage. And that's where level five
begins. Now, before I dive into level
five, I do want to point out that I also
recently did an in-depth video comparing
the various whole home solar generators
on the market, which we'll cover in
level five. We'll cover those options at
a high level in the next section, but if
you want a deep dive understanding, I
would recommend you check out that
video. Level five, whole home
resilience. The final level is whole
home resilience. And this is where
outages happen and you don't notice. And
at this level, you no longer really
thinking about powering a refrigerator
or a few lights or a handful of critical
circuits. You're beginning to think
about keeping the entire home
operational. Like with all these levels,
you can either go with a whole home
backup ice or internal combustion engine
generator, something like a Generrack,
or you can go the battery inverter and
solar route, which we'll do a deep dive
on here. This is where larger battery
systems, significant solar generation,
automatic transfer capability, and whole
home integration, they begun to come
together. Currently, here at my YouTube
property in the main house, I currently
have two EcoFlow Delta Pro Ultra X
systems installed along with EcoFlow's
Smart Home Panel 3. Now, this system is
connected to more than 10,000 kilowatts
of solar panels and currently has 48
kilwatt hours of battery storage
capacity. One feature I especially like
is that if you're connected to the grid,
the Smart Panel 3 automatically switches
over when the utility power is filled.
So there's no scrambling around during
an outage trying to get those systems
running. But due to the capabilities of
this setup that we have installed, I've
actually been disconnected from the grid
since August of last year, roughly 10
months ago. Now, honestly, that's not a
recommendation. It's just an example of
what's possible at level 5. not just
backup power but rather whole home
energy independence. Now I do want to be
clear about something. This level it's
optional. It's also very expensive. By
the time you account for equipment,
installation, electrical work, uh
batteries, solar panels, and supporting
hardware, you can easily find yourself
investing tens of thousands of dollars
into a system like this. This setup,
including parts and labor, came out to a
little over 30,000. At the moment, they
are running special discounts and
installation offers as part of their
Prime Day deals. Let's be honest, most
families, they don't need that. So, why
am I bringing it up here? To really show
you that it is possible if you want to
go that route. In fact, many households
would dramatically improve their
resilience simply by reaching level two,
three, or even level four. So, wrapping
this up, I know we've done a speedrun
through the various levels, but I wanted
this video to be a springboard for you.
Uh, I've done dedicated content on each
of these levels. And again, I would
encourage you to check out the links
below to do a more in-depth deep dive of
each of these things. What I've learned
over the years is that preparedness,
it's not about building the biggest
system possible. It's about matching
your solution to your actual risk. For
some families, that may mean a small
battery system capable of keeping a
refrigerator running during an outage.
For others, it may mean protecting
critical circuits through a transfer
switch and backup power system. And for
a smaller group of people, it may mean
building toward whole home resilience
and long-term energy independence. All
those choices are valid. The mistake is
really thinking there's only one correct
level of preparedness. There's not.
There's only the level that matches your
household, your budget, and the
consequences you're trying to reduce. If
all you ever do is reach level two or
three, you're already ahead of most
households. The important thing is that
you understand your options and make a
deliberate decision instead of waiting
until the next outage forces the
decision for you. I'll also put together
a free power resilience checklist PDF in
the description below that walks you
through all five levels so you can
determine where your household stands
today. Again, a big thanks to EcoFlow
for providing this equipment for the
video. They're recognized as a USA Today
most trusted brand. And if you'd like to
check out the Prime Day deals, I'll link
to everything below along with the
coupon code 26 EFPDCP for an additional
5% off all eligible orders. As always,
stay safe out there.