My Little Generator

John B. · Dec 25, 2014

Early this spring I was at a consignment sale. Met a neighbor there and after talking with him I said I was heading home since my legs were starting to hurt but would like to stay to see what that little generator on the wagon would go for. He said he had a generator he would part with for what he gave for it which was $100. I told him I'll take it sight unseen. A few days later I went to get it. I serviced it and checked to see if it had electronic ignition which it does. I had this little JD lawn sprayer cart and mounted the generator on it and added electric start along with a bigger muffler all from another engine I had. It's an 11hp / 42amp / 110/220 / 21 amps per leg and runs the house lights and furnace along with the refrigerator and freezer. I have about $128 stuck in it. I'm happy...

cole in mo. · Dec 25, 2014

They don't have to be expensive to do the job. I bought an older coleman with a 5hp briggs, recoil start, that was rated at 2300 watts. They didn't start it at the auction, gave $125. started on first pull at home. Only thing I saw wrong was the gas tank was too small for a prolonged use. I had it for years, used it now and then, sold it to my neighbor last week for a hundred.

Brad Buchanan · Dec 25, 2014

I see Midnight the Wonder Dog zipping by behind it!

Brad

John B. · Dec 25, 2014

I love these styles. Guess cause it's what I saw when I was growing up thru the years. I'm going to put a bigger tank on this one too plus a handle to roll it around like a two wheeler.

Mike (WA) · Dec 25, 2014

I got a Miller welder/generator at a sale for $175- thought it was a steal. Got it home, put a battery on it, and the motor just spun with no sign of compression (electric start, so no way to see if it had compression at the sale). Took the head off- no piston, no rod, combustion chamber in head all scarfed up from then it came unglued. The seller had gone to the trouble of buttoning the whole thing up, with a gasket, so he could put used oil back in it so it looked OK.

ericlb · Dec 26, 2014

neat to see this, i have that same generator sitting here, it was given to a friend of mine ,the story that came with it was it ran until a kid next door "overhauled" the carb, i guess he left out the parts he either lost or didnt remember where he got them, im tinkering with it, got a little bit of life out of it yesterday but need to go to town and get a new plug now, the one it has is pretty old

TomA in CA · Dec 26, 2014

I bought a 5 hp Coleman at a yard sale for $20 some years back. The guy said it worked but had been sitting for a while. It sat here for years. I finally decided to work on it and got it running good. The float leaks a bit but I keep the gas turned off when not using it, It runs fine. A new carb costs about $115, If the power ever goes off and I find it will run the house I might invest in a new carb.

Russ from MN · Dec 26, 2014

We have a Coleman like that, used it a few times when we lived near StCloud MN. Funny how we had more power outages there than we do up north. It would run the furnace, lamp, and the coffee pot, what more do you need, for a short outage. Of all my small engines I have more trouble with it than any, and I test run it twice a year and run it dry when done. Last summer I put premium with a little oil in it, we will see how that works. Even Sea-foam didn't fix it!

My Little Generator

John B.

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cole in mo.

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Brad Buchanan

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John B.

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Mike (WA)

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ericlb

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TomA in CA

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Russ from MN

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