Two numbers decide whether a power station runs a CPAP machine, and readers arrive using them interchangeably. Watts are the ceiling on what the inverter can hold at any instant — this load needs 22 W of them while it runs. Watt-hours are how much energy the battery holds, and this load gets through about 176 Wh in a day. A machine can have plenty of one and not enough of the other.
Of the 26 station records we publish — every model we hold a page for, with its US and EU versions counted separately — 19 run it, 7 are a tight fit and 0 are out of reach. Each of those is a calculation against that machine’s continuous output, its surge ceiling and its inverter waveform — not a lookup table — and the reasoning is on every row.
The three numbers a power station is judged against
Running power22 W7.0–44 W Official spec · verified 2026-08-01 · high confidence
Start-up surgeNot found in the sources we checked no figure to date
Duty cycle100% Official spec · verified 2026-08-01 · high confidence
The band is the spread across real models in this class, not a tolerance. Size against the top of it unless you know which unit you own.
Start-up figure: No start-up figure found
We have found no published start-up figure for this class. This library does not invent one: where a start-up check is required, the engine caps the verdict below green rather than assuming the machine starts cleanly.
Official spec · verified 2026-08-01 · appliance record
This page answers an electrical question, not a medical one.
Where this page puts hours on a pairing, that figure is how long a power station’s battery lasts running this machine’s wattage — an electricity calculation, not a judgment about whether a break in therapy is safe. A small watt figure alone does not settle a verdict here either: this machine also carries a documented waveform requirement, and a station with no waveform on record is held at a tight fit regardless of how easily it clears the watts.
Where a verdict below reads a tight fit — the amber triangle on a row in the list of stations — read it as don’t rely on this pairing, whatever reason the row gives for that particular verdict, and not as a compromise likely to hold anyway. That state means the same thing here however it was arrived at: this site cannot clear the pairing with confidence, and that isn’t a passing grade with a footnote. Where a row says a check could not be run at all, that is a weaker claim than a near miss, not a stronger one.
What to do about a power interruption during therapy is a question for a clinician, the durable medical equipment (DME) supplier who set the machine up, or the manufacturer’s own guidance for it — not for this site. For the electricity side of an outage plan, this page can help: what a station needs to run this machine at all, and — where both makers publish enough to work it out — how long a given battery keeps it running.
What actually decides it
A switch-mode supply: milliseconds, not seconds
A switching power supply charges its input capacitors at the instant it is connected, which can be a large current — but it lasts a few line cycles, two orders of magnitude shorter than the second-scale event a station’s surge rating describes. The two are not the same quantity and this site does not hold that spike against a verdict. What decides the outcome here is the steady draw, and where the power factor is poor, the VA the inverter actually sees behind it.
What kind of motor is inside
The motor is brushless and driven by its own inverter board, which is why the start-up demand is modest: the electronics ramp the motor rather than connecting it straight to the line.
There is no start-up figure, and there should not be
Nothing here has a locked rotor to publish a figure for: a heating element, a switch-mode supply and a variable-speed drive all start without an inrush worth rating. The absence of a start-up number on this record is a fact about the hardware rather than a hole in the library, so the engine does not cap any verdict below for it — which is the opposite of what it does when a figure is genuinely missing.
Watts are not what the inverter is holding
At a power factor of 0.50 this load presents 44 VA to the inverter. An inverter is sold in watts and limited in volt-amps, so a machine that looks comfortable on the watt figure can be at its ceiling on the VA one. The engine checks both.
The manufacturer requires a pure sine wave
This is the strongest waveform claim in the library and it comes straight from the manufacturer: ResMed’s own battery-power guide asks for a pure sine wave inverter and gives the continuous and surge ratings to size one by. Both of those figures are in the sizing table above, labelled as the manufacturer recommendations they are rather than as measurements of this device — the machine itself draws a small fraction of them.
The same document carries a warning rather than a preference: ResMed heated humidifiers outside its named exception list must not be run from an inverter at all, and it recommends powering the device from DC directly instead of through an inverter wherever that is possible. Check your own model against the manufacturer’s document before relying on any verdict on this page.
Every row is a live calculation against that machine's continuous output, surge ceiling and
inverter waveform. Of the 26 station
records we publish — US and EU versions counted separately — 19 run it, 7 are a tight fit and 0 are out of reach. The percentage is
this load as a share of that machine's continuous output; anything past 82% drops out of the green. Rows are ordered by verdict, then by
price — cheapest first inside each band.
7.9 h — on a full charge, with the station’s own 9.0 W idle draw in the denominatorWe have found no published surge rating for the US 120 V build. The start-up check runs against its continuous output as a conservative floor, which is ours, not a manufacturer specification. $239 · checked 2026-08-17 Show the working →
EcoFlow RIVER 3 PlusEcoFlow · US 120 V600 W continuous · 1,200 W surge ceilingRuns it3.7%
22 Wh per hour — averaged over this load’s duty cycleNo runtime in hours: 4 of EcoFlow’s own published documents, read 2026-08-08, carry no depth of discharge or inverter efficiency for the US 120 V build, so there is no defensible usable-capacity figure to divide. $279 · checked 2026-08-17 Show the working →
21 h — on a full charge, with the station’s own 18 W idle draw in the denominator $549 · checked 2026-08-17 Show the working →
EcoFlow DELTA 3 PlusEcoFlow · US 120 V1,800 W continuous · 3,600 W surge ceilingRuns it1.2%
22 Wh per hour — averaged over this load’s duty cycleNo runtime in hours: 3 of EcoFlow’s own published documents, read 2026-08-08, carry no depth of discharge or inverter efficiency for the US 120 V build, so there is no defensible usable-capacity figure to divide. $719 · checked 2026-08-17 Show the working →
50 h — on a full charge, with the station’s own 10 W idle draw in the denominatorWe have found no published surge rating for the US 120 V build. The start-up check runs against its continuous output as a conservative floor, which is ours, not a manufacturer specification. $899 · checked 2026-08-17 Show the working →
23 h — on a full charge, with the station’s own 22 W idle draw in the denominator $999 · checked 2026-08-17 Show the working →
EcoFlow DELTA 2 MaxEcoFlow · US 120 V2,400 W continuous · 4,800 W surge ceilingRuns it0.9%
22 Wh per hour — averaged over this load’s duty cycleNo runtime in hours: 5 of EcoFlow’s own published documents, read 2026-08-08, carry no depth of discharge or inverter efficiency for the US 120 V build, so there is no defensible usable-capacity figure to divide. $1,049 · checked 2026-08-17 Show the working →
EcoFlow DELTA Pro 3EcoFlow · US 120 V4,000 W continuous · 8,000 W surge ceilingRuns it0.5%
22 Wh per hour — averaged over this load’s duty cycleNo runtime in hours: 4 of EcoFlow’s own published documents, read 2026-08-08, carry no depth of discharge or inverter efficiency for the US 120 V build, so there is no defensible usable-capacity figure to divide. $2,799 · checked 2026-08-17 Show the working →
7.9 h — on a full charge, with the station’s own 9.0 W idle draw in the denominatorWe have found no published surge rating for the EU 230 V build. The start-up check runs against its continuous output as a conservative floor, which is ours, not a manufacturer specification. €219 · checked 2026-08-17 Show the working →
22 Wh per hour — averaged over this load’s duty cycleNo runtime in hours: we have found no depth of discharge or inverter efficiency for the EU 230 V build, so there is no defensible usable-capacity figure to divide. €279 · checked 2026-08-17 Show the working →
EcoFlow RIVER 3 PlusEcoFlow · EU 230 V600 W continuous · 1,200 W surge ceilingRuns it3.7%
22 Wh per hour — averaged over this load’s duty cycleNo runtime in hours: we have found no depth of discharge or inverter efficiency for the EU 230 V build, so there is no defensible usable-capacity figure to divide. €299 · checked 2026-08-01 · 17 days ago Show the working →
EcoFlow DELTA 3 PlusEcoFlow · EU 230 V1,800 W continuous · 3,600 W surge ceilingRuns it1.2%
22 Wh per hour — averaged over this load’s duty cycleNo runtime in hours: we have found no depth of discharge or inverter efficiency for the EU 230 V build, so there is no defensible usable-capacity figure to divide. €849 · checked 2026-08-17 Show the working →
EcoFlow DELTA 2 MaxEcoFlow · EU 230 V2,400 W continuous · 4,800 W surge ceilingRuns it0.9%
22 Wh per hour — averaged over this load’s duty cycleNo runtime in hours: we have found no depth of discharge or inverter efficiency for the EU 230 V build, so there is no defensible usable-capacity figure to divide. €949 · checked 2026-08-17 Show the working →
22 Wh per hour — averaged over this load’s duty cycleNo runtime in hours: we have found no depth of discharge or inverter efficiency for the EU 230 V build, so there is no defensible usable-capacity figure to divide. €999 · checked 2026-08-17 Show the working →
22 Wh per hour — averaged over this load’s duty cycleNo runtime in hours: we have found no depth of discharge or inverter efficiency for the EU 230 V build, so there is no defensible usable-capacity figure to divide. €1,799 · checked 2026-08-17 Show the working →
EcoFlow DELTA Pro 3EcoFlow · EU 230 V4,000 W continuous · 8,000 W surge ceilingRuns it0.5%
22 Wh per hour — averaged over this load’s duty cycleNo runtime in hours: we have found no depth of discharge or inverter efficiency for the EU 230 V build, so there is no defensible usable-capacity figure to divide. €3,299 · checked 2026-08-17 Show the working →
limited by inverter waveform 22 Wh per hour — averaged over this load’s duty cycleNo runtime in hours: 3 of EcoFlow’s own published documents, read 2026-08-08, carry no depth of discharge or inverter efficiency for the US 120 V build, so there is no defensible usable-capacity figure to divide.We read 3 of EcoFlow’s own published documents on 2026-08-08 and found no inverter waveform for the US 120 V build in them. This load needs a pure sine wave, so no green light is given, whatever the watts say. $1,279 · checked 2026-08-17 Show the working →
Anker SOLIX C300Anker SOLIX · EU 230 V300 W continuous · 600 W surge ceilingTight fit7.3%
limited by inverter waveform 22 Wh per hour — averaged over this load’s duty cycleNo runtime in hours: we have found no depth of discharge or inverter efficiency for the EU 230 V build, so there is no defensible usable-capacity figure to divide.We have found no published inverter waveform for the EU 230 V build. This load needs a pure sine wave, so no green light is given, whatever the watts say. €269.99 · checked 2026-08-01 · 17 days ago Show the working →
Jackery Explorer 1000 v2Jackery · EU 230 V1,500 W continuous · 3,000 W surge ceilingTight fit1.5%
limited by inverter waveform 22 Wh per hour — averaged over this load’s duty cycleNo runtime in hours: we have found no depth of discharge or inverter efficiency for the EU 230 V build, so there is no defensible usable-capacity figure to divide.We read 8 of Jackery’s own published documents on 2026-08-08 and found no inverter waveform for the EU 230 V build in them. This load needs a pure sine wave, so no green light is given, whatever the watts say. €519 · checked 2026-08-17 Show the working →
limited by inverter waveform 26 h — on a full charge, with the station’s own 10 W idle draw in the denominatorWe have found no published inverter waveform for the EU 230 V build. This load needs a pure sine wave, so no green light is given, whatever the watts say. €579 · checked 2026-08-17 Show the working →
limited by inverter waveform 22 Wh per hour — averaged over this load’s duty cycleNo runtime in hours: we have found no depth of discharge or inverter efficiency for the EU build, so there is no defensible usable-capacity figure to divide.We have found no published inverter waveform for the EU build. This load needs a pure sine wave, so no green light is given, whatever the watts say. €599 · checked 2026-08-17 Show the working →
limited by inverter waveform 22 Wh per hour — averaged over this load’s duty cycleNo runtime in hours: we have found no depth of discharge or inverter efficiency for the EU build, so there is no defensible usable-capacity figure to divide.We have found no published inverter waveform for the EU build. This load needs a pure sine wave, so no green light is given, whatever the watts say. €999 · checked 2026-08-01 · 17 days ago Show the working →
limited by inverter waveform 51 h — on a full charge, with the station’s own 13 W idle draw in the denominatorWe have found no published inverter waveform for the EU 230 V build. This load needs a pure sine wave, so no green light is given, whatever the watts say. €1,149 · checked 2026-08-17 Show the working →
The cheapest US 120 V machine in the list that runs a CPAP machine outright, and it holds it at 7.9 h.
$239 · price checked 2026-08-17
The buy link is in the bar at the bottom of the screen — one action per page, and it
goes to the merchant we last checked the price at.
Everything else we hold on this load
Each figure carries the tier it came from and the date it was checked. Sizing guidance is
kept apart from measured draw on purpose: one says what the machine pulls, the other says
what a manufacturer or a standard thinks you should buy for it.
Measured and published draw
Standby draw5 W Official spec · verified 2026-08-01 · high confidence
Power factor0.50 Official spec · verified 2026-08-01 · high confidence
The inverter is loaded to 44 VA — 22 W ÷ 0.50 — which is the figure its ceiling is actually measured against.
Pure sine wave requiredYes Official spec · verified 2026-08-01 · high confidence
Energy per day176 Wh Official spec · verified 2026-08-01 · medium confidence
Not a published figure: computed from this load’s running draw and its duty cycle, which is why its confidence sits below the specs around it.
Typical daily run time8 h Official spec · verified 2026-08-01 · high confidence
Sizing guidance — not a draw figure
Minimum continuous output300 W Official spec · verified 2026-08-01 · high confidence
A sizing figure, not a draw: it is what this class needs a machine to be RATED at, headroom included.
Minimum surge capability500 W Official spec · verified 2026-08-01 · high confidence
The start-up headroom this class needs an inverter to have. Where it comes from a manufacturer’s inverter recommendation rather than a measured inrush, it is deliberately generous.
Usable energy for one night272 Wh Official spec · verified 2026-08-01 · high confidence
A CPAP machine has a dedicated guide: the same records this page computes from, worked through in prose with room for the reasoning a table can only summarise — How many nights can a power station run my CPAP?
Questions people ask about this load
How many watts does a CPAP machine use?
22 W while it is running, and 7.0–44 W across the models in this class. Those are different questions and most pages answer only the first. The running figure decides whether a machine can hold it; the start-up figure decides whether it can get it going at all, and it is usually the one that fails. We have found no published start-up figure for this class.
What size power station do I need for a CPAP machine?
For a CPAP machine, the BLUETTI Elite 30 V2 (US 120 V) is the cheapest machine in our library that runs it, at 600 W continuous and $239 against a running draw of 22 W. That is a verdict computed from this load’s running watts, its start-up demand and the inverter waveform — not a rule of thumb about doubling the wattage. 19 of 26 machines clear it, 7 are capped below green rather than shown to run it — this load is documented by its maker as needing a pure sine wave, and we hold no inverter waveform for those builds, and a check that could not be run is not a check that passed.
How long will a power station run a CPAP machine?
It depends entirely on the machine, which is the part most pages skip. Against a CPAP machine at 22 W of running draw, our figures put the BLUETTI Elite 30 V2 at about 7.9 h, and the Jackery Explorer 300 Plus at about 6.8 h. Those hours come from usable-capacity figures derived from each manufacturer’s own published usable-capacity coefficients — depth of discharge and inverter efficiency where a brand states them separately, with each machine’s idle draw in the denominator — not from dividing a nameplate watt-hour number by a label wattage. Most machines in the list carry no hours at all: we hold nothing for those builds that makes a usable-capacity figure defensible, so those rows give an energy rate instead of a number we would have had to invent.
Does a CPAP machine need a pure sine wave inverter?
Yes on our sources, and unusually this is a manufacturer statement rather than an internet one. This is the strongest waveform claim in the library and it comes straight from the manufacturer: ResMed’s own battery-power guide asks for a pure sine wave inverter and gives the continuous and surge ratings to size one by. Both of those figures are in the sizing table above, labelled as the manufacturer recommendations they are rather than as measurements of this device — the machine itself draws a small fraction of them. The same document carries a warning rather than a preference: ResMed heated humidifiers outside its named exception list must not be run from an inverter at all, and it recommends powering the device from DC directly instead of through an inverter wherever that is possible. Check your own model against the manufacturer’s document before relying on any verdict on this page. Where we hold no inverter waveform for a station build, this site refuses the green light rather than assuming one — which is why 7 of the 26 machines above sit at amber.
Which power stations run a CPAP machine?
19 of the 26 we hold, listed above cheapest-first within each verdict band, starting with the BLUETTI Elite 30 V2. 7 more are a tight fit on a CPAP machine and 0 cannot. That amber is a withheld verdict rather than a narrow pass: this load is documented by its maker as needing a pure sine wave, and we hold no inverter waveform for those builds, so the check that would settle those rows never ran — and a pairing cannot earn a green verdict from silence. Read them as not established, rather than as established by a thin margin.
19 of 26 machines run itBLUETTI Elite 30 V2 · from $239