Gordon Reyes, Fuel & runtime writer

I'm the fuel person on the team. Ask me how long a generator runs and I'll ask right back: on which fuel, at what load, with how big a tank? Listings love a runtime figure at 25 percent load. A real outage, with a fridge, a sump pump and a few lights, rarely sits that low.

So I go to the runtime tables in the owner's manual and the spec sheet and line them up model by model. Propane changes the picture: running watts drop, a 20 lb cylinder empties faster than most people expect, and cold weather doesn't help. I read owner reviews with that in mind and keep what people say about fuel and starting apart from everything else.

Maintenance is the other half of my beat. The break-in oil change, the spark plug interval, what the manual says about storing the unit with fuel in it, and whether the warranty asks you to keep records. Dull pages, expensive to skip. Noise ratings get the same treatment: a decibel figure means little without the distance and load behind it.

I write the guides on dual fuel versus gasoline, maintenance, quiet inverter generators and continuous runtime. I also edit Rebecca's guides on sizing, running a whole house and the outage plan.