diff --git a/src/bbbul.rs b/src/bbbul.rs
index acd3f96..f46594a 100644
--- a/src/bbbul.rs
+++ b/src/bbbul.rs
@@ -66,6 +66,7 @@ impl Node {
 
     #[allow(clippy::mut_from_ref)]
     fn new_in(block_size: usize, bump: &Bump) -> &mut Node {
+        check_node_base_size();
         let total_size = Self::BASE_SIZE + block_size;
         let align = mem::align_of::<Option<NonNull<Node>>>();
         let layout = Layout::from_size_align(total_size, align).unwrap();
@@ -92,6 +93,15 @@ impl Node {
     }
 }
 
+fn check_node_base_size() {
+    let size = Node::BASE_SIZE;
+    debug_assert!(
+        size == 16,
+        "⚠️ Node::BASE_SIZE is {}, but expected 16 — check architecture assumptions",
+        size
+    );
+}
+
 impl<'bump, B: BitPacker> Bbbul<'bump, B> {
     /// Construct a new `Bbbul` type.
     pub fn new_in(bump: &'bump Bump) -> Bbbul<'bump, B> {
@@ -295,11 +305,6 @@ unsafe fn fatten(data: NonNull<u8>, len: usize) -> *mut Node {
     ptr::slice_from_raw_parts_mut(data.as_ptr(), len) as *mut Node
 }
 
-/// Make sure that Node base size has a size of 16 bytes.
-const _NODE_SIZE_16: () = if Node::BASE_SIZE != 16 {
-    unreachable!()
-};
-
 /// Make sure that Bbbul does not need drop.
 const _BBBUL_NEEDS_DROP: () = if needs_drop::<Bbbul<bitpacking::BitPacker4x>>() {
     unreachable!()