Bushfire season backup power: what a power station is for, and its heat limits

A power station is a small part of a bushfire plan. Its job is to keep phones, a battery radio and maybe the modem going if the power is cut, so you can still get warnings. It should never be the reason you leave late. And on a hot day it may refuse to charge, because most makers set the charging limit at 40 to 45°C.

The temperature figures below come from the Australian product pages and user manuals for four common 1kWh stations, and the safety advice from the Queensland Fire Department, Queensland Health, Get Ready Queensland and Ergon Energy. All are linked at the bottom. We haven't run these stations through a fire season ourselves, so the sums are arithmetic from the makers' numbers.

Why bushfires cut the power

Fire can damage poles, wires and equipment directly, and heat-affected assets can slow down repairs because crews can't get in. Energy Queensland's natural hazards plan says Ergon and Energex may isolate (switch off) sections of the network during bushfires or on Total Fire Ban days, when police or the fire service ask, or on their own to protect the public and equipment. So an outage can start before the fire is anywhere near you, and it can last until the area is safe to work in.

Timing matters too. The same plan says Queensland's fire season usually starts in the Gulf Country and Cape York in July, moves into central and coastal areas in spring, reaches the New South Wales border in early summer, and runs into February in the south. That overlaps the start of cyclone season, so the same station is doing double duty.

What to keep charged

The Queensland Fire Department's bushfire evacuation kit includes a battery-operated radio, batteries, and a mobile phone and charger. Get Ready Queensland's kit list adds a fully charged portable battery or power pack. A power station covers the charging side of that, but a battery radio still matters, because it doesn't care whether the mobile network is up.

Here's the sum for a small station. Say the load averages 20W (a modem plus a phone on charge, as an example; check your own gear). The EcoFlow RIVER 3 Plus is listed at 286Wh, so allowing 15% for conversion losses that's 286 x 0.85 = 243Wh, and 243 / 20 = about 12 hours. A 1,024Wh station like the EcoFlow DELTA 3 Plus gives 1,024 x 0.85 = 870Wh, or about 43 hours of the same load. The 0.85 is our assumption. Our small power station guide and keeping the NBN on in a blackout go into those loads properly.

If someone in the house relies on powered medical equipment, that comes first in the plan, and a power station is only a stopgap. Our CPAP blackout guide covers the life support register and what to ask your supplier.

The makers' heat limits

Those are the outside limits, not comfortable ones. EcoFlow gives an optimal operating range of 20 to 30°C for the DELTA 3 Plus and says that when its high temperature warning flashes you should stop using it and move it away from heat to somewhere ventilated. Jackery's manual for the Jackery Explorer 1000 v2 says running it outside its range may restrict charging and discharging. In practice that means a station sitting in a 42°C carport on a bad fire day may stop taking solar at the moment you want it.

Keep it inside, in the coolest room, off the floor and on a hard surface. If you're charging from solar, put the panel in the sun and the station in the shade on a long enough cable. Charge it in the morning before the heat builds, and charge it while someone's home, which the Queensland Fire Department asks for anyway.

Smoke, ash and a closed car

EcoFlow's manual says to keep the station away from fumes, smoke, steam and dust, and to keep it somewhere dry and ventilated. On a smoky day that's another reason to have it indoors with the windows shut, rather than on the verandah.

The car is the trap. Jackery's manual warns not to expose the station to direct sunlight or a vehicle under high heat, and the Queensland Fire Department says to keep lithium-ion batteries away from heat sources. A parked car in a Queensland summer can get far hotter than any of the limits above. If the station is going with you, charge it the night before and load it last, just before you drive off.

Leaving early comes first

The Queensland Fire Department is blunt about this: if you plan to leave, go well before a fire threatens and before the roads get dangerous, and don't wait for an official warning. On Extreme or Catastrophic fire danger days, leaving is the only safe option. A 10.8kg Jackery or a 12.5kg DELTA 3 Plus is a lot to carry when you're also loading kids, pets and documents. If it doesn't fit easily, leave it behind and take a charged power bank and the radio. Strap it down if it does go in the car, and our guide to charging a power station from the car covers topping it up on the way.

After a fire, or if the battery is damaged

If a station starts smoking or catches fire, get everyone out and call Triple Zero (000). Don't touch it or breathe the fumes. A station that's been through fire or smoke should be treated as damaged: the Queensland Fire Department says to keep fire or smoke-damaged batteries outside in a ventilated spot, at least 10 metres from anything combustible, and to contact your council urgently about disposal. Never put one in a household or recycling bin. Don't use or charge a station that's hot, swollen, cracked, leaking, hissing or smells odd.

Run appliances from the station's own outlets with leads rated for the load. Never plug it into a power point or the switchboard to feed the house. Queensland Health warns that this back-feeds the power lines and is extremely dangerous to you and the neighbours, and it's line workers who are restoring the network after a fire. The only safe link to house wiring is a changeover switch and inlet installed by a licensed electrician. If you're comparing a station with a petrol generator for longer outages, our power station vs generator guide covers the carbon monoxide and fuel rules, and the blackout and cyclone season guide sizes a station for a full day off the grid.

Where to buy in Australia

Buying from the brand's Australian store means 230V AU outlets, the local warranty and local support. Prices move around a lot, so check on the day.

• EcoFlow RIVER 3 Plus (286Wh, light enough for an evacuation kit)EcoFlow AustraliaSee it at EcoFlow Australia
• Jackery Explorer 1000 v2 (1,070Wh, about 10.8kg)Jackery AustraliaSee it at Jackery Australia
• EcoFlow DELTA 3 Plus (1,024Wh, about 12.5kg)EcoFlow AustraliaSee it at EcoFlow Australia