Editorial Process

Last updated: 2026

Why accuracy matters here

Backup power sits close to real safety concerns — carbon monoxide risk from generators, electrical load on a home's wiring, and life-critical devices like CPAP machines and oxygen concentrators. We treat wattage figures and sizing guidance as safety-adjacent content, not casual product copy.

Where our numbers come from

The running and starting watts used in the calculator on this site are typical industry averages, cross-referenced against manufacturer spec sheets and generator-sizing charts commonly published by power station and generator brands. They are planning estimates, not a substitute for the nameplate rating printed on your specific appliance — the calculator and every relevant answer on this site says so explicitly.

How we size recommendations

Our starting-watts calculation deliberately uses a conservative, worst-case assumption (only one large motor starts at a time, added on top of everything else already running) rather than an optimistic best case. When in doubt, our tools point you toward a larger power station or generator, not a smaller one.

What we verify before publishing

Product specifications come from the manufacturer's own documentation rather than from retailer listings, which are frequently wrong about capacity and surge ratings. Prices are checked against the retailer at the time of writing and shown with the date we checked. Where a figure is a typical value rather than a measurement — most appliance wattages are — we label it as an estimate instead of presenting it as precise.

Where we stop

Some questions cannot honestly be answered by a website. Whether your panel can take a particular load, whether a specific installation meets your local code, and whether a medical device should be trusted to a given battery are decisions that need someone who can inspect the actual equipment. On those we say so and point you to a professional, rather than producing a confident-sounding answer that would be worth nothing.

Editorial independence

Affiliate commissions and advertising fund this site, and neither buys a mention, a ranking or a favourable line. No brand reviews our articles before publication and none has ever been offered the opportunity. When a product is a poor choice for a given use case we say so, including when we would earn from it. Our affiliate disclosure lists every programme we participate in.

Updates and corrections

If you spot a wattage figure that looks off, or a recommendation that doesn't match your real-world experience, please tell us via the contact page — we review and correct the underlying data set directly.