Battery & storage
Check off a middle-ground list of loads: more than the basics, but stopping short of the whole panel. Get a battery size for this common compromise.
How it works
Step 1
Kitchen, a home office, and extra outlets are common additions. The critical loads calculator shows the smaller baseline you're expanding from.
Step 2
Adding HVAC pushes this into whole home backup territory. The whole home backup tool shows what that jump looks like.
Step 3
Partial home backup still needs a dedicated subpanel isolating exactly these circuits from the rest of the panel.
Critical loads only backup can feel restrictive during a multi-day outage, since it typically excludes the kitchen, home office, and extra bedrooms. Whole home backup solves this but at a substantial cost jump, mostly driven by central HVAC, a cost driver ENERGY STAR's efficiency data confirms as the largest single load in most homes. Partial home backup splits the difference, adding meaningful comfort and function circuits like kitchen power and a home office setup while still excluding the single biggest power draw in most homes. This middle-ground approach often lands in the 2 to 4 battery range, a manageable step up from critical loads only without the cost of full whole home coverage, a range the quick financing comparison tool in our Financing category can help price out.
Kitchen circuits for cooking and food storage, one or two additional bedrooms beyond the main living space, a home office setup for remote work continuity, and general-purpose outlets throughout the home are common partial home additions, consistent with the load categories Ready.gov's power outage preparedness guidance recommends prioritizing. Central air conditioning and heating remain the most common exclusion, since that single system typically requires more battery capacity than every other addition combined. The HVAC backup tool shows what adding climate control specifically would cost in battery terms.
A partial home backup subpanel can sometimes be designed with room to add a few more circuits later without a full rewire, depending on available panel space and your electrician's initial design. Discussing this possibility upfront, even if you're not ready to fully commit to whole home backup, can make a future expansion simpler and less costly. The battery expansion planning tool covers what adding future capacity typically involves. If this number changes your budget, the quick financing comparison tool shows what the payments look like.
Compare this partial home figure against the critical loads calculator and whole home backup tool to see the full range of options before deciding where your household lands. The inverter sizing to support a partial home load list is covered in the hybrid inverter sizing calculator in our Inverters & Equipment category.
Questions
A partial home backup list adding kitchen circuits and extra outlets to the usual critical loads, at 2,280 watts for 12 hours, needs about 33 kWh, roughly 3 batteries, sitting between a critical loads only system of 1 to 2 batteries and a whole home system of 4 to 6.
Kitchen circuits for cooking and food storage, a bedroom or two beyond the main living area, a home office setup, and additional general-purpose outlets are common additions when expanding past a bare-bones critical loads list, while still stopping short of central HVAC.
For many households, yes. It offers meaningfully more comfort and function during an outage than critical loads only, without the substantial cost jump that comes with backing up power-hungry HVAC systems, making it a practical middle ground for many backup budgets.
Yes, many installers design a critical loads subpanel with some room to add more circuits later, though this depends on your specific electrical panel layout and available capacity. The battery expansion planning tool covers what adding capacity down the line typically involves.