kohler electric plant generator

[mjsnodgrass]

been looking for a 10kw winco pto generator, and came across a kohler electric power plant. it's a older unit, 10k hours on it and has a 4 cyl waukesha diesel engine. the thing works great. are these kohler electric power plants any good, or should i keep looking for pto generator. power off here probably no more than 10 days a year so it won't get used much. thanks for the advice.

 

[Billy Shafer]

Winco and Kohler both make very good units.I think the old ones are the best.

 

[Mule Meat]

Winco makes good generator heads. Waukesha made good engines. I think Dresser owns them now.

10k hours are a lot of hours on any generator engine.

The thing to look for is the voltage, hertz, amp output and mainly if it is a Sine or Pure Sine Wave unit. If not. You run the risk of damaging a lot of today's appliances and electronic devices.

 

[zuhnc]

All normal engine-driven generators are pure sine wave units, exactly like commercial power. If that Kohler has 10K hours on it, starts easily, doesn't smoke appreciably, and carries near full load, it must be pretty good. Waukesha is a very good engine; I don't know if parts are available.
If you have a complete model, serial and spec number, post on the Kohler forum of SmokStak (tm), and you will get boatloads of information about it. A lot of Kohler smart guys there.
As with any diesel, it needs to be run at least 75% load every month or so. This keeps fuel fresh and reduces wet stacking from running with light or no loads. If you need a generator for only a few hours a year, the PTO option is probably going to be more to your liking. Very little maintenance needed, unlike an engine-driven generator. About the only maintenance is check the bearings and the interior for mouse nests, etc. Mice can ruin the windings on a generator in short order. zuhnc

This post was edited by zuhnc on 08/26/2021 at 04:32 pm.