About Know Your Watts
Know Your Watts is built by Dave, a generator and controls engineer. It helps homeowners work out what size portable generator, home standby generator or battery power station they need, and shows the math behind every answer.
Why it exists
Most generator calculators online run on rules of thumb, or come from one brand and end with a sales call. They give you a number but not the reasoning, so you can't tell whether it fits your house. Sizing goes wrong in predictable ways: forgetting a well pump's starting surge, ignoring that a generator makes less power on natural gas, or not knowing that an automatic transfer switch changes how big a standby generator has to be.
Know Your Watts sizes the way an engineer would and explains it in plain English.
How we work
- Every result shows its math. The formulas and the numbers plugged into them, so you can check them.
- Conservative by default. Typical appliance values are chosen on the high side, and results are rounded up, never down.
- Dated and reviewed. Every page shows when it was last reviewed.
- Corrections welcome. If you find a mistake, tell us and we'll fix it.
What this site isn't
Our results are estimates for planning and shopping. They don't replace a licensed electrician. Connecting a generator to a house needs a transfer switch or interlock, a home standby install needs a permit, and your local inspector has the final say.
How the site makes money
We plan to earn from affiliate links to generators and power stations, and from referrals to standby installers. That never changes the math. See our disclosure.