FIRST RUN OF THE 1940s KOHLER GENERATOR

[@mustie1]

nthing like the old stuff, when compamies were proud of what they made,

[@SmallEngineMechanic]

+mustie1 That's the truth, its neat to see. Thanks for watching!

[@FixItStupid]

Right

[@ahmedqasim7761]

Mustie1 You're absolutely right 👍👍👍, I like your videos and repair, absolutely wonderful, Mustie ❤❤❤

[@benjaminwallace4626]

Funny seeing you here Hello Daren

[@ahmedqasim7761]

Benjamin Wallace Hello 👋👋👋

[@neil6212]

You hit on two of my favorite things! Old m,machinery and electrical, especially generators!

[@dsnicker9719]

You, sir, are a mechanical genius, and I love to watch your analytical process.

[@bonesx7799]

Boy! If that were mine I could make is a jewel of a generator. I worked with those electrical relays in the late 60's until retirement.

[@Roudter]

I guess the concept of 'planned obsolescence' hadn't quite taken hold at the time this beauty was put together....Nice!... Thanks for sharing...

[@johnclarke2814]

I always get a kind of "Joy" in taking a seemingly worthless piece of machinery and making it run again. W either it be a generator,motorcycle,outboard lawnmower or whatever most people just don't understand.(like my wife god bless her,she puts up with me when i come in smelling of oil & old gasoline).

[@aeoliankid1]

The 2 small resistors are battery charging regulators. One for fast charge, the other for slow charge. Cheerio, -- Henry

[@ttyR265]

I have an early 40's Kohler 1A21 and a 1950 3.5A21. Both run excellent, make good power, and people love to hear them run at iron shows. I use them to power everything in the display I have. It's a bunch of fun to show people the old equipment doing its job and doing it well.

[@rayg9069]

You sir find some brilliant old equipment, I thank you for finding the time to save it and make it run again.

[@jmyers9853]

i have a very old honda generator that is powered by one of the early two cylinder car engines. it is quite an antique. but it weighs several hundred pounds more than the lightweight equivalent generators of today

[@ramade9040]

j myers does it have vtec in it?

[@not2fast4u2c]

It sounds and runs good with a load on and warmed up ..You can always add an oil pressure sensor switch .It would be Great to be able to run on gasoline or propane It will make you a good shop back up generator

[@Firby1988]

This kind of tech will be still going when we’re pushing up the daises

[@jussikankinen9409]

New generator died after 1 year

[@crispychicken2743]

The old tech was the best tech , made to last. Now everything is made to brake. How and they make money if things are made to last forever . Greed has destroyed the world.

[@ahmedqasim7761]

michael lennon 👍👍👍👍👍

[@chipwright6193]

That is a really cool little genset. It's nice that the engine is multi-fuel. Hearing that run makes me want to pull out my old Kohler genset. I believe it is an emergency start unit too. It needs a little work in the electrical cabinet, but runs good.

[@DeadKoby]

I have a modern stand-by generator... they are just great to have. This unit was likely in a very high-tech house for 194X

[@gregorymalchuk272]

I think he said it came out of a nursing home facility.

[@bartonrobinson4266]

That sounds great and is going to be a dandy unit for any desired use, emergency power, garage heater as it's set up now for this test, rescue unit, endless possibilities, heck I'd use it no problem for off grid power, Thanks Mike,Happy New Year !!

[@steveallen5496]

I lust for an old one like that.

[@albonyo]

When people took pride in their work and planned obsolescence was unheard of

[@brucerogermorgan2388]

Kohler still do take pride in their work, and there is no planned obsolescence. They still make the best auxiliary and stationary engines you can buy.

[@urbanitesgarage3299]

@@brucerogermorgan2388 funny, kohler is junk, riding lawn mower engines use plastic cam gears, they always blow up

[@ayp1938]

@@brucerogermorgan2388 Kohler stopped making good engines back in the early 2000s

[@brucerogermorgan2388]

@@ayp1938 OK, we still sell and service them and we don't have any trouble with them. Maybe we get better engines than you do! I'm in NZ.

[@ayp1938]

@@brucerogermorgan2388 I got a 25 year old Kohler command that runs strong

[@ProbablyDrunkATM]

Incredible old power plant, reminds me of the original willys jeep motor.

[@michaelconroy8060]

The oldest i've ever ran into was at Atalaya Castle. A Kohler from the mid 30's, Waukesha, gasoline, dual bearing alt, still in place but not being used. The leather fan belt was a hoot but the neatest thing for me was the spark plugs. They were Champion, part number was... 1!! The genset and some of the connection apparatus looked like something straight out of Frankenstein's Laboratory! Strangely enough, prior to that, the oldest I'd had come upon was at least 15 years earlier, but just down the road at Bernard Baruch's plantation. It was an Onan with a Studebaker engine, gold crinkle paint, extremely good shape. It appears some wealthy people did some bigtime land grabbing during..."reconstruction"

[@Boot_185]

I would love to have an old trusty generator like that for my house back up I would even make it have its own little building

[@dsloop3907]

I do and I did.

[@gregorymalchuk272]

@@dsloop3907 Please make a video on it! It would be really cool.

[@dsloop3907]

It is just a 8.5 kw generator in a small concrete block building, next to my well house.Nothing special.

[@Gollammeister]

well done on getting that kohler generator to run

[@neil6212]

Standard gas pressure by the way is measured commonly in inches of water column. LP gas runs 11 as a rule, and natural at about 4 to 6. If you ask them, most gas companies will turn up the standard pressure at your house to 11 to 12 inches. Made a huge difference on the generator, but mine is still starving due to the longish and small line. I'm planning running a 1" pipe from the gen pad to the gas meter, and they will then pressure test and connect it for me. Should be great standby power. 3 liter GM industrial four cylinder engine, and 25Kw 120/240 60Hz output.

[@rupe53]

Electrical Engineering … The proper way to get the right amount of fuel is to size the gas line to meet the required amount of BTUs for the unit. When sizing a gas line you need to consider the length of the run plus figure in the elbows, which have more restriction than a straight pipe. A 25 kw unit needs around 450,000 BTUs. Going from memory (I don't have the charts in front of me) that's going to require 1.5 inch pipe for something in the 60 - 80 foot pipe run. On natural gas you also have to consider the meter size (it has a rating for cubic feet flow) and if the supply from the street is large enough. BTW, the conversion from BTUs to Cu Ft is easy. 450,000 BTUs is 450 Cu Ft on NG. You mentioned a 1" pipe, which might be ok for the first 20 ft or so. (again, no chart in front of me)

[@PaulHigginbothamSr]

I really like this Koeler Mike. The reason the post was overheated was because of current load is much higher than when this genset was put in. Like airconditioning.

[@shawnmrfixitlee6478]

Very nice ole generator Mike .Free is a very good price !! Runs super nice .. Maybe a bit of CLR on that radiator and it might clean up nice .. Thumbs up Mike !!

[@regsparkes6507]

Ah , nice running Kohler, Mike. It is nice to see that you have this up and running again. This would make a dandy little standby for my house . ( there should be a 'smile' right here ! ) Good job 'brother' , you have a right to be proud.

[@SmallEngineMechanic]

+Reg Sparkes Thanks for watching Reg!

[@Gadgetstoolbox]

I put a couple of safety switches on mine to protect the engine. Coolant and oil pressure.

[@morganblu]

You always find the cool gen sets, I’m very interested in the Cat generator!

[@rupe53]

I used to work on stuff like that but these days they are few and far between. That style is post WWII and was basically the same through the early 60s. I believe another poster mentioned the serial number came back as 1950. At any rate, the magneto ignition is the give-away so it's a knock off of the typical military unit of the era, which is why it's got the odd ball starting voltage. Most of the military units were 24 volt start. I never saw a 32 volt unit before so I have to wonder if someone modified it or if it's just easier to start on the higher voltage.

[@gantmj]

Looks like the algorithm has picked this video up in the last week. Very cool equipment.

[@repeatman]

thats a sweet generator! Nice to see and hear it run.

[@McCuneWindandSolar]

It would be nice to find an old generator like this, I love older equipment because it was built to last unlike to days stuff. Like my ford 1943 2n tractor still going to this day.

[@johncostabile3742]

Very nice and interesting set. A1 explanation and demo.

[@philhall5609]

Great video!!! I have a 1949 Kohler gen with a 3.5 kw. Runs great now. I would love to put a 7 to 9.5 kw on it if you ever get or know of one mine is onle 110 volt. I understand that they used the same engine on all from 1 5-9.5 kw gen heads.

[@NotSoCrazyNinja]

Sounds better than the new small generators. Looks nice (could use some touch ups). Didn't seem bothered by that load at all. A rebuild and cleanup and it would probably still be running after you're dead.

[@cdoublejj]

may have missed it but, i wonder how many watts it can pump out. wouldn't mind having one my self

[@Farmall450]

Great video! Thanks for posting again.

[@SmallEngineMechanic]

+The American Outdoorsman Thanks for watching!

[@DRNEGOLICIS]

Beautiful machine. I have a slightly newer Onan, 2cyl air cooled it's smooth, but not as smooth and quiet as this one. I'd love to have one of these, it be the last one I'd ever need

[@TheRebelOne.]

Great job, runs like a Swiss watch. That would make an ideal back up genny for any garage. I believe there are still a few Lister generators in the states being used for back up. Can anyone confirm this for me please. I believe they might be the diesel Lister ST2 (20h.p) and ST3 (30 h.p) and the later TS 2 and TS3 models. The reason I ask is I have rebuilt a TS2 to run as a back up generator. I think everyone should try and aquire some sort of back up as the weather systems world wide are changing and flooding and storms seem to be on the increase. Here in Ireland and England severe flooding and loss of power over Christmas was prevalent and not the norm. Anyhow.....nice Kohler!

[@SmallEngineMechanic]

+0BMM1 Thanks for watching! I know of a few Lister gen sets around they are not common though.. In fact one just sold locally, think it had an TS2 engine. A guy clear across the country bought it. We have been having some strange weather around here for the past few months. Luckly no power outages!

[@AWAradiola]

I just did this on my generator. great to see I'm not the only youtuber into these things!

[@SpringDivers]

Very nice, Mike. Thanks for the video.

[@SmallEngineMechanic]

+Wayne Bjorken Thanks Wayne!

[@HansFormerlyTraffer]

A fearless genius. I would be afraid to run that old electrical stuff. lol

[@OTAlucard]

thats a really nice generator

[@realvanman1]

Serial Number 155320 shows as built in 1950. Very nice set, love the old 1200 rpm-ers. Some may say they're thirsty, but I'll bet it's not all that bad compared to a modern, screaming, 3600 rpm piece of junk. AND, you don't have to buy a new one every few years!

[@SmallEngineMechanic]

+realvanman1 Thanks for watching and the date info! I am curious to see how many gallons per hour it will burn on gasoline!

[@Schlipperschlopper]

you can run them on Alcohol or Autogas! No problem with these old low compression ratio engines! In Russia they have similar engines in their GAZ Jeeps and those run on most combustible fluids ;-)

[@51farmalla]

That's comparing apples to oranges. A modern 1800rpm continuous duty liquid cooled gas engine would be the equal. Not a homeowner grade genset from Walmart.

[@jamesisbusath8028]

Miss hearing from you. Hope all is ok at home health wise

[@ericschultz8651]

Cool old generator, great to see someone is trying to take care of it. Wish I could find a generator head for mine as I have one of these engines. Hope you are planning to go to engineering school or at least a tech college ,I think you have the mind for this stuff.

[@ils360]

Beautiful old Generator :-) what are the bulb / filaments you're using to load it?

[@stephenwilliams5201]

Triplet meters ...Bluffton ohio. Had govt troubles. My vision. they are fine meters. Tks om Fer fine video

[@Jimmyzb36]

I once had a Triplet multimeter. I hate that I let it get away.

[@heliarche]

Hey Bud, I have an old Fairbanks Morse head with a similar voltage regulating resistor and I'm thinking it's sketchy. Is there a solid state replacement for it kind of like a points eliminator? It was putting out 270V, I messed with the slide and then I couldn't get it to do anything.

[@williambeard4777]

heliarche m

[@alexpowers3697]

Awesome machine. Definitely a candidate for Evans coolant. Is there a small preheater in the blue hose?

[@somerandomguy3868]

I like that contactor safety interlock set-up

[@rmel3798]

I use to have the same unit with a crank start

[@mcallahan9060]

Great piece of equipment Mike. Nice to see it running for you. What are your plans for that unit?

[@jackthompson1382]

This little bugger is truly ahead of its time

[@rickcampbell2673]

Wondering if you can help me , i have an old lighting plant that has 12volt starting in the generator head , a piece shorted out and now its trying to put 120v ac through the 12 volt dc side , no one can tell me what this part is and the power plant is useless , it was working fine till the part shorted out , hope you can help

[@mkrp4]

Updraft carburetor?

[@Journeyman-Fixit]

Nice vintage power. Thumbs up!

[@farminwithfergusons]

just bought a kohler 6.5kw marine power plant. looking for wiring schematic, the one under the controls is almost gone..6.5A27

[@normandoty6133]

have you tried contacting kohler directly? they have a lot of old information in their archives.

[@icarus901]

very nice mechanism in the transfer switch. Out of curiosity, what are the differences between this unit and the one you did a few years ago?

[@davidhoekje7842]

that thing sounds like it would run forever

[@hugh007]

Late comment, sorry. That looks like a modified Ford 'A' engine. There's even a plug in the center of the head where the Ford distributor would be. Any ID on it?

[@timothynewkirk2654]

Sweet Mike. Did you say what year this was? ...Newk from Kentucky

[@waynecreech]

I would love to have something that big. I've got an old 4000w for emergency. Just an idea, you could build a simple little monitoring unit that opened the primary ignition circuit or whatever. simple oil press sending unit and temp unit as well as as coolant level sensor all tied in.. if any are in a bad state no juice to the coil..

[@SmallEngineMechanic]

+wayne creech Thanks for watching! Yes, it would be very simple to add some automatic engine monitoring controls to this unit. I wanted to mention the fact that there were none because the damage that can be seen in this video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/gJqTZaqgqMRkbqs&lc=z13rernjmkexvxa3f223zr55sqqzinkz104 can result!

[@waynecreech]

+SmallEngineMechanic Wow, that poor thing was a mess. did you fix it?

[@SmallEngineMechanic]

+wayne creech That will be coming. Both of these generators will be part of a large display/ project.

[@waynecreech]

+SmallEngineMechanic Thanks Buddy :)

[@queenofyeay]

Very interesting, nice genset once you get her running right with no load it will be ready for another 60 years. I was slightly curious when you panned up to the heating elements at 10:12 and saw that the red glow of the coils seemed to only be on one side of each element... then I remembered you were outside and the wind probably was blowing, and if so it was coming from your right as you were looking at the back of the the genset... am I right?

[@SmallEngineMechanic]

+MISTERComaToes Don't quite remember which way the wind was blowing but I would say you are correct! Wind was just cooling one side of the coil. Thanks for watching!

[@aserta]

If you get this on a set of wheels so you can haul it around, give it a bit of TLC and an engine clean up, this is perfect to keep in the garage or "behind the house" for that one time you'll need it. It's not huge enough to be cumbersome and it's not small enough to be useless, and let's be honest here, these things were overbuilt in an era that didn't have off the shelf knowledge about how much you should put in to an item until it breaks.

[@SmallEngineMechanic]

+aserta This would make a good home back up. Only downside being that these old timers are thirsty and really suck down the fuel! There is something about the way things were built in this era that keeps me interested1 Thanks for watching!

[@allenwilliams6882]

I have an old serial number list from Kohler, according to that your unit was made in 1951.

[@aleblanc3547]

Nice. Well done, Mike.

[@SmallEngineMechanic]

+A LeBlanc Thanks for watching!

[@starpuss]

Looks to run nice for the year of the unit. Are you going to make her run on gas again?

[@DrFiero]

StarPuss www.ToxicRedNeck.Com - for a standby set, natural gas is far superior. Or diesel. That, or you need an auto cycler that will run the set once a week or so - even then, the liquid fuel dies too quickly when it just sits, especially this horrid ethanol gas that’s everywhere now.

[@allanegleston13]

lovely sound compared to the small units . :)

[@jonas2431]

I need a lawn chair and a beer just to watch him work

[@Schlipperschlopper]

Is that a Ford A type engine in that Kohler?

[@ziggassedup]

Very cool Mike.

[@cantbyou3086]

What a beauty.

[@deandepew5183]

hi mike i watch the videos that you and road king put up very nice gen set where did you get the heating elements for your load bank?

[@SmallEngineMechanic]

+Dean Depew Thanks for watching Dean. I picked up those heating elements new old stock at a swap meet. I don't know where you can get them brand new.

[@rogeroconnor5182]

i knew it was going to the right person mike. sounds pretty good for a old unit,since you already have gas at your house are you planing on hooking it up???? as far as no engine monitoring,i would think a oil pressure sensor wired to the kill side of the magneto would be better then nothing. keep doing what your doing,merry xmas and happy new year

[@metvelle]

does it backfire when you shut it off like a modern Kohler?...lol

[@campermike8879]

Cool to see the old beast running

[@tom7601]

Selenium rectifiers smell REALLY bad when they burn!

[@normandoty6133]

that is very true, however do not inhale the fumes as burning selenium is poisonous and will cause permanent damage that will manifest itself later on, there is no cure or repair to the lung damage as well as to the blood cells.

[@sasquatch5680]

ur like a mad scientist..well done

[@bledlbledlbledl]

Sounds better than some of the new ones

[@1944johndeerel]

Wow that sounds nice and smooth! Is that a kohler built engine or did they outsource that?

[@SmallEngineMechanic]

+1944johndeerel Nope not a Kohler engine, this engine is a Waukesha FC182. Thanks for watching!

[@1944johndeerel]

My Oliver has a 4cyl 155cyi Waukesha engine they seem like decent engines

[@chuckhaynes6458]

I have a WW2 Hobart generator powered by a Hercules ZXB-5 11 hp. 4 cyl. Quality made products.

[@allmihi]

very nice, built to run forever and pretty quiet!!!!!!!!!!

[@SmallEngineMechanic]

+Nails Thanks for watching!

[@AikoukaOokami]

where did you get the screw in heaters?

[@jmstew642]

Wounder how much that cost new?

[@EZRider1979]

Good job Mike!!

[@SmallEngineMechanic]

+EZRider1979 Thanks!

[@barrb6134]

I have an older 4 cyl gas genny that needs a rely...Onan parts are very hard to find using the units set#. So where can I find a run rely (12VDC) to replace this old one? I had to install a bypass toggle sw to keep it running.after it starts

[@jmyers9853]

did you try going to an electric motor repair rewind shop and ask if they can repair it

[@barrb6134]

@@jmyers9853 No, I haven't, never even gave it a thought...But thanks I will now!

[@nicksrandomadventures]

Does that generator sit indoors and the exhaust gases vented to the outside is that how it was designed just curious

[@mikeking7038]

yes sir! you are correct! when thing is for sure it wouldnt be a very safe generator indoors as it is GAS. not diesel so special precautions would need to be taken to prevent sparks...

[@nicksrandomadventures]

michael king thank you for answering my question I appreciate it

[@robr1656]

How does this unit produce 60Hz and only run at 1200 rpm. I'm quite new to generators yet starving to learn more. I get the two poles 3600 rpm 60hz and 4 poles 1800 rpm 60hz.

[@SmallEngineMechanic]

Right, so to continue on... 1200 rpm needs 6 poles for 60hz, 900 rpm needs 8 poles for 60 hz, 720 rpm needs 10 poles for 60 hz etc... Formula is: RPM = 120 X Frequency / Number of Poles

[@robr1656]

@@SmallEngineMechanic Thanks. I watch a lot of your videos. Great learning. That little 2kw fairbanks-morse you picked up has had me on a search for one ever since. Only a W3S. What a cool looking vintage machine.

[@Boot_185]

Where can you get heating elements like those?

[@SmallEngineMechanic]

+Travis “Boot” Babcock Think you can still get them online somewhere. I found these at an engine show. Thanks for watching!

[@hunter88310]

Interesting, thanks for sharing

[@TheFurriestOne]

Interesting heating coils, what are they from?

[@SmallEngineMechanic]

+TheFurriestOne Thanks, I think they are made for old style space heaters. I got these new in the box. Thanks for watching!

[@TheFurriestOne]

SmallEngineMechanic Neat, thanks! Love seeing old equipment!

[@TheFarCobra]

The height of irony must be to use this to charge a Tesla.

[@patbutete1722]

?

[@jensenmiller6410]

If your local power co-op is a natty gas fired plant then this is effectively already what is charging your tesla, lol.

[@nicksrandomadventures]

Looks like a great generator for is’s old age

[@wazza33racer]

Engines that run on NG or LPG/Propane last much longer than on gasoline.

[@TheMrRuger]

If you side glance the thumbnail pic it looks like it says the word snow.

[@SmallEngineMechanic]

+TheMrRuger Thanks for watching!

[@bansheemania1692]

I Need This.. what a Machine

[@ryanjames170]

i would love to have that thing..

[@elliottgraham]

Thanks again.

[@marceltimmers1290]

Hi mate. Well done on that nice gen set. I don't know what it cost you altogether but I think you could do worse. I would suppose that you have a UPS already but if not, this might be a good set give that it runs on natural gas. The white stain/crud might be from people over filling the radiator.

[@SmallEngineMechanic]

+Marcel Timmers Thanks Marcel! I have a smaller unit that I can run on gasoline or natural gas that I use for backup now.

[@marceltimmers1290]

It's quite strange, but for some reason I have always wanted a nice old diesel generator. Something like a 2 cylinder with a flywheel of 500 or 600 kilo, you know a stumper that goes all day on the smell of an oily rag. I love old diesels. Once I saw a little tug boat in Amsterdam, that had a single cylinder on board, an with every stroke you could see the boat go up and down. It was lovely I fell in love with that boat right away.

[@SmallEngineMechanic]

+Marcel Timmers I know what you mean, I have a 12 horse Witte Dieselectric Plant that is on the list of things to get running. It is a single cylinder unit with two flywheels that probably weigh 300 pounds each. It is an 8Kw gen set, the engine turns at 720RPM.

[@marceltimmers1290]

They are the nicest. Close to where I lived in Holland was a one cylinder water pump to keep the reclaimed land dry, as parts of Holland are 10 mtr below sea level. It sat in a purpose build pump house, and you could hear from quite some distance when it was being started and running. I would say, that operating RPM would be about 12 to 14 BPM. A good friend of mine and I could sit there and listen for a long time. He had an old canal boat that was converted into a house. It had a 20Hp SAMOFA 2 cylinder in it. We could have a whole 14 day holiday on it and still only spend $15. on diesel. Old diesel are wonderful aren't they?