Skip to main content
Power Station StationIndependent power planning
Menu

Runtime calculation

How Long Will a Goal Zero Yeti 300 Run a Mini Fridge

This estimate separates electrical compatibility from battery endurance. Published specifications control where they exist, and every planning default is labelled where the manufacturer leaves a gap.

Research by the Power Station Station Editorial Team

Estimated runtime
11 hours
From 296.96Wh rated capacity against a 21.7W average load.
Continuous output
350 W
What the inverter can sustain. Output decides whether the appliance runs at all.
Published peak
600 W
Manufacturer surge figure, used only for the startup check.

Our answer

On our planning profile the Goal Zero Yeti 300 runs a mini fridge for about 11 hours, or 8.7 hours if you keep a reserve back.

The checks behind this answer

Stored energy is the final check, not the first. Voltage, continuous output, and startup demand must clear before runtime means anything. Missing published evidence stays marked unverified instead of being treated as a pass.

Electrical checks applied to this station and appliance pairing
CheckResultWhy
VoltageClearsA mini fridge runs on 120V and the Goal Zero Yeti 300 supplies 115V AC.
Continuous outputClearsA 70W running load sits inside the 350W continuous rating, leaving about 400% headroom.
Startup demandClearsThe 500W start sits within the published 600W peak.

How the number is built

A battery holds back some of its rated capacity, and converting to household AC costs more on top. Of the 296.96Wh rated here, roughly 235Wh reaches the outlet under a conservative planning model.

That energy meets an average load of 21.7W, which applies a 30% duty cycle to a 70W running draw. Holding back a 20% reserve for battery age, cold, and a longer outage leaves 8.7 hours. These are calculations, not measurements from a test.

What we could not verify

These gaps are in the published evidence, not in the arithmetic. Each one is a reason to check before you depend on this pairing.

  • Neither manufacturer publishes how long the surge is held, so the margin above continuous output cannot be verified against a duration.

Replace our assumptions with your own

Compressor and thermoelectric mini fridges behave very differently. A thermoelectric unit draws a steady low load with no startup spike; a compressor unit cycles and surges.

Read the nameplate or data label for voltage and rated amps or watts, then run the appliance through a normal cycle on a plug-in energy meter for 24 hours. Use the measured watt-hours in the calculator instead of the default on this page.

Continue through this cluster

Use the next page that answers your unresolved constraint

Everything a Goal Zero Yeti 300 can runCompare this answer against the other loads the same station covers.Mini fridge power requirementsWork through the load itself before choosing hardware for it.Goal Zero Yeti 300 specifications and sourcesSee where every number on this page came from.All Goal Zero recordsCompare the rest of the range.Runtime calculatorReplace our planning defaults with your own measurements.

Evidence used on this page

Important fields are tied to a specific source. Manufacturer claims, government guidance, calculations, and planning assumptions remain separate.

  1. Published specification table: battery pack capacity, cell chemistry, lifecycles, inverter continuous and surge output, solar input window, weight, and warranty.

    official product page

  2. Model-level annual energy use and product attributes. It supports the energy figures used here. It does not validate any startup or surge preset.

    government data

  3. Defines the capacity, efficiency, reserve, duty-cycle, voltage, continuous-output, and startup checks applied across the site. Planning defaults are visible on every page that uses them.

    planning assumption

  4. Published specification table: inverter output and waveform, every DC and USB port with its rating, the solar input window and current limit, AC charge input, and expansion.

    official product page