Editorial Policy
This page is the checklist Embercrest holds itself to before anything goes live. It is public because "trust us" is not an argument; process is. Who "we" are is covered on the about page; this page covers how the work gets done.
One page, one question, real numbers
Every page on this site answers a single, specific question a homeowner actually asks: what a repair should cost, whether tankless pays off, why the pilot light keeps dying. Each page must carry at least one verifiable data point (a measured price range, an efficiency rating, a code requirement) traced to a named source. A page that cannot clear that bar does not get published, and we never pad word counts to look thorough.
The source ladder
Numbers come from a strict hierarchy. Federal sources first: the Department of Energy, EIA, ENERGY STAR, CPSC, and OSHA. Model codes second: the ICC's International Residential Code and its commentary for venting, relief valves, and permits. National cost marketplaces third, always named and always with an "as of" date, because installed prices drift. Electricity rates are the most restless input we track. For May 2026, EIA's Electric Power Monthly put the national residential average at 18.44 cents per kWh, against 17.37 cents twelve months before. Because that figure keeps shifting, every operating-cost table on this site states the month it was built from and gets re-checked each time a page is revised.
Where AI fits in the workflow
Software produces the first draft of most pages here; a person decides what survives. An editor reads every draft against this policy, traces each figure back to its source, and cuts anything that cannot be confirmed. We do not attach AI-written text to invented human names. The byline is the editorial team, and this policy is its biography. On images: illustrations and diagrams may be AI-generated; they are labeled as algorithmically generated in their embedded metadata, never depict people, and are never presented as photographs of real jobs, real staff, or real customers.
Safety copy has veto power
Water heaters sit at the intersection of scalding water, natural gas, and carbon monoxide, so safety guidance overrides style, brevity, and search strategy. Standing rules: temperature advice always pairs the CPSC's 120°F scald-prevention setting with OSHA's Legionella guidance, because the two pull in different directions and readers deserve both sides. Every gas-related page carries the leave-first protocol: smell gas, get out, call 911 and the utility from outside; no switches, flames, or phone calls indoors on the way out. And no page here will ever describe capping a temperature-and-pressure relief valve as anything but dangerous.
Dates you can believe
The publish date on a page is when it first went live. An "updated" date appears only when the substance actually changed: new prices, new standards, a correction. Nobody here nudges a date forward to fake freshness. If the substance of a page has not moved, its dates stay exactly where they were.
How corrections work
Errors get fixed on the page, not buried. Send the URL, the exact claim, and your source through the contact page; verified corrections are made promptly, and material fixes are noted in the page's updated date. Correction reports are the mail we answer first.
Independence from partners
Installation partners pay for qualified referrals, never for coverage. They do not see drafts, suggest topics, or review verdicts before publication. When a comparison concludes you should repair rather than replace, that conclusion costs us referral revenue, and it runs anyway. The money mechanics are documented, in full, at how we make money.