Staying powered through outages — and hurricanes

If you live anywhere storms knock the power out — and along the hurricane-prone Southeast coast like here in Charleston, that's often — a battery earns its keep. Unlike a generator, it kicks in automatically and silently the instant the grid drops: no fuel to fetch, nothing to start.

What matters most to keep running, roughly in priority:

• Fridge & freezer (saving your food)
• A few lights and phone/device charging (light + staying reachable)
• Internet / Wi-Fi (info during the storm, working from home)
• Medical devices — CPAP, oxygen — if anyone relies on them
• For flood-prone homes: your sump or septic pump
• Cooling — a window unit or mini-split runs for hours; central AC and electric water heating drain a battery fast

The trick is planning for the loads that matter most, not running the whole house at once.