About
About Watt Cottage
Watt Cottage is a small set of free tools for households getting ready for power cuts and choosing backup power: how big a generator to buy, how long a power station or UPS will last, what a plug, lead or circuit can take, and what to do when the lights go out.
How it works
Every calculation runs in your browser. Nothing you type, from appliance lists to the time your power went off, is sent to us or anyone else. Once a page has loaded, its tool keeps working without a connection.
Where the figures come from
Typical appliance wattages come from generator makers’ published sizing guides (Honda Power Equipment and Champion Power Equipment) and from Electrical Safety First, the UK electrical safety charity. Safety advice comes from official bodies: the US Consumer Product Safety Commission, the CDC, Ready.gov and FEMA, USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service, the UK Food Standards Agency, Ofgem, the UK government’s Be Ready campaign, the NHS and the Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland. Each page lists its sources with the date we checked them, and where a figure is a maker’s own, we say so. Where we could not find a reliable source, we leave the figure out rather than guess.
What it is not
Watt Cottage gives general information, not electrical, medical or legal advice. Your appliance’s nameplate and manual beat our typical figures. Anything wired into your home, such as a transfer switch, a changeover switch or new sockets, is a job for a qualified electrician. If someone relies on powered medical equipment, follow the device maker’s guidance and talk to your care provider.
Analytics
The site uses Cloudflare Web Analytics, which counts page views without cookies or cross-site tracking and never receives what you type into the tools. There are no ads and no trackers. The privacy page has the details.
Recommended sites
The footer and the home page also recommend CleanTempMail and WebTraceCheck, two free tools from the same owner as this site.